HR/Recruiting Social Networks in the UK

Social Networks are popping up everywhere and there are many dedicated to recruiting. One of the most popular is Recruiting Blogs, which has more than 13k members! You have to dig a bit, but if you have the patience you can find all sorts of helpful tips and network with some really good recruiters.

The problem is that many of these networks are US-focused, and while some of the content is relevant, much is not.

We are lucky to have several of our own HR/recruiting social networks based right here in the UK, including:

Talent Cloud
Social networking guru Peter Gold created Talent Cloud on Ning and is actively growing the network. There are several ways to get involved at Talent Cloud, including creating your own profile, writing blog posts, and starting discussions. There are also Gadgets – which have all sorts of fun applications much like Facebook. Peter has put a lot of thought into creating the network and it is one of the best options.

HR Space
HR Space is Personnel Today’s new HR network. I signed up for it a few weeks back, and will return and rewrite this when their technical difficulties are sorted.

Changeboard
Changeboard is basically a job board for HR people. You have to head over to the old HR Circles site to find the networking area. It's a bit of a stretch and not very user-friendly, but you can participate in some lively forums. Natalie, the community editor is on the ball and very helpful.

HR  Zone
HRZone claims to have an online network of 25,000 HR professionals and to be UK's most active online human resources community. Check it out and see what you think.

Talent Social
Rosie Sherry created Talent Social on Ning to promote discussion on all items related to talent management. The network is new, but growing quickly.

Don’t like any of these? Create your own social network on Ning. It’s free and easy – you just have to put up with their ads!

Why join a social network?
Many people are put off from social networks because of the perceived time commitment. But there are two really good reasons for participating: to meet and learn from people in your industry with minimal effort.

It used to be that you had to travel to conferences, sit through boring meetings and endure an expo to meet other like-minded people who have to deal with the same burning issues as you.  Now with just a click of a button you can start a discussion or write a blog post and get relevant feedback from others in the know.

So check them out. It’s worth getting a photo you like of yourself (or create an avatar for FREE). People are more likely to want to “socialise” with you if they have a picture.

Come on, what are you waiting for?

-Susanna

PS -- If you are a Web 2.0 novice, read our recent post on Join the Web 2.0 Revolution – 12 Steps to get up to speed quickly with Web 2.0.

Comments

[Rosie]

There's also http://www.talentsocial.com where we have also searched high and low for UK based bloggers on HR/Talent. That can be found at http://blogs.talentsocial.com/

[Susanna]

Thanks Rosie. I added Talent Social to the article.

[Peter Gold]

Susanna

Thanks for the mention re Talent Cloud.

Peter