Spotlight Online for College Employment and Recruiting Professionals, October 28, 2009 

In terms of being an accepted method of communication, social networking has evolved into a mode with pretty lofty company, according to Shama Kabani, president of Click to Client, a Dallas-based online marketing firm.

“Essentially, social networking is now what e-mail was to the early 1990’s,” Kabani says. “It is a new mode of communication—and one that is growing rapidly. A tweet is considered as okay as e-mail.”

Kabani explains that when the mainstream started using this method to communicate, it should have been a signal to employers to make sure that their employees can use the medium as well.

“If customers, partners, vendors want to communicate using social networking sites, employees have to be savvy to handle their requests as well,” she says.

Employers not only need to ensure their employees are proficient in social networking skills, but they should seek these skills in the college graduates they recruit. Kabani says employers seek two main skills. The first, she notes, is having an understanding of proper social networking etiquette, meaning they aren’t going to naively get themselves or the company in trouble.

“Secondly,” she adds, “employers are looking to hire people who can leverage these skills. Good communication skills have always been something employers look for across the board. But now they are making sure that these skills can be applied across different platforms by their employees. Yes, employees can network well offline. But can they do the same online?”

Kabani points out that a simple Google or Twitter search for the candidate can often provide more than enough information about the candidate’s social networking skills. Employers can also ask “what if” questions during an interview to determine these skills.

“It is very much like any other skill,” she says. “For example, an employer could ask ‘Let’s say a customer asks to befriend you on Facebook. How do you handle that?’ The response should tell employers a lot.”

A recent example of an employer specifically requiring candidates to have social networking skills occurred when one company required candidates for an online marketing position to have at least 250 Twitter followers.

“For that specific position, I think [the requirement] made all the sense in the world,” she says. “It isn’t the number of followers that I believe the company was looking for, but a general sense of ‘does the online marketing person walk their talk?’”

Kabani says that while it isn’t necessary for all online professionals to be on Twitter, in this case, the company was looking for someone who was social media savvy.

“What you see these days is a lot of people claiming expertise in the area of social media,” she says. “This isn’t a bad thing—it is a growing field and all are welcome. But this expertise can’t be measured by years since the field is in its infancy, but by practical, hands-on experience”

Kabani feels that more employers with openings in marketing, branding, sales, and human resources will require social networking skills.

"Personally, I can tell you that I research all potential employees thoroughly,” she says. “I have hired candidates after seeing the recommendations and more on their LinkedIn profiles, and I have also decided to pass on candidates because of what they made public."