The New Cover Letter

There’s quite of bit a caution being advised these days in regard to Social Media. “Be careful what you choose to say.” “Think twice before posting that photo.” “Be mindful of your brand.” “Follow the Social Media Policy responsibly.”

Good advice, all of it.

However, because of Social Media’s two cherished principles, transparency and authenticity, the traditional job interview has become obsolete.

And employers should be forever grateful.

Because of transparency and authenticity, employers no longer have to consider the genuineness of a candidate’s rehearsed answers to hypothetical questions. In many cases, employers can now gain true insight to how a potential employee will respond to a task, a challenge, or a character-testing situation.

More importantly, employers can now discover how a potential candidate interacts with other people in the cocktail party of life and business. They can uncover other interests and passions. They can tap into talent that might not appear in the actual job description, but may be required as unforeseen circumstances arise in the future.

Think of Social Media as the new cover letter.

If your organization is not using Social Media as a recruiting and interviewing tool, you are missing out. If you’re not using Social Media to discover talent, you’re going to continue conducting traditional interviews with people who just stepped off a Google search for “job interview questions.”

Seriously.

If I’m an interviewer, I can guarantee you that I’m really not interested in canned responses to my questions.

I’m interested in observing the future of my company from afar, from a seat in the corner of the room, with my eyes taking in a glimpse of the “real” person.

The things I want to know are things like:

How do you act when you’re having a bad day?
What makes you laugh?
What are the things you find interesting enough to share?
How do you really define a success?
What types of people do you interact with the best?

Social Media provides you with the authentic answers to those questions. It provides you with a more complete picture of a candidate than the traditional interview ever could, and more than a cover letter ever will.