2 Recruiters - Kathleen Taylor & Ryan Coleman (#8)

"Social Media radically changed my business. (Kathleen Taylor)"

"Social Media became a part of who I am and what I’m about. (Ryan Coleman)"

"A social media profile is a window into who you are and what makes you tick. (Ryan Coleman)"

"You’re doing a great disservice to yourself by not having that kind of presence online. (Kathleen Taylor)"

"Social Media has opened up a whole world of opportunity. Literally, I built a business on Facebook. (Ryan Coleman)"

"In the blink of an eye, you have a fairly complete job picture. (Kathleen Taylor)"

"Those who do not have a web presence…are not making themselves available. (Ryan Coleman)"

John Lawlor, host of SocialMedialogy™ Conversations, interviews Kathleen Taylor and Ryan Coleman, recruiters who use social media networks for their businesses.  Ms. Taylor is the co-founder of Talent Planet, an executive talent recruiting firm, and she is the co-author of How to Succeed in Business Using LinkedIn.  Mr. Coleman is the “Chief Executive Optimist” of Nextforce, a recruiting and consulting firm focused on the next generation of the work force that conducts virtually all of its business on social media networks.

Ms. Taylor explained that social networks have had a profound effect on how she finds potential senior executives.  “Social Media has radically changed my business,” she says.  In the years before the Internet, an executive search would entail a tremendous amount of research and it often meant hiring researchers to investigate key competitors.  The challenge with this approach is that information was not readily available.  With the advent of LinkedIn, this all changed.  “In the blink of an eye,” Ms. Taylor says, “you have a fairly complete job picture.” 

Although Ms. Taylor praises the ability to readily find information about senior executives on social media networks, she does concede that in an executive search, she believes that the face-to-face interview is essential.  Networks such as LinkedIn can assist her in finding appropriate candidates for a position, but ultimately she must meet with her clients directly.

Whereas Ms. Taylor uses social media to find executives, Mr. Coleman’s company was founded with a very different market in mind:  young college graduates who are just starting a career.  He founded Nextforce because he wanted to enable young college graduates to find an employer who cared about their needs and wanted to make their employees feel happy and valued. 

Mr. Coleman explains that after his boss told him that he would never accept advice from someone under 30 years of age, he went home that evening and essentially began to compile a list of thousands of Facebook users who were looking to voice their opinions about employers.  Having created such an enormous network, he founded Nextforce and began to recruit talented college graduates.  “Social Media became a part of who I am and what I’m about,” he says.  He has clients from around the nation in every industry, and his company’s business is conducted entirely on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.