I can imagine the intensity of marketplace idiosyncrasies in locales like China or Saudi Arabia, when it comes to the intersecting dynamics of social media and employment. Wow.

It’s always nice to see you in these threads Nick. Thanks for lending such thoughtful perspective on a chilly Minnesota mid-September morning.

Of course the real issue here is how you draw the line between encouraging your staff to build their own online identity and making them an ever larger and more inviting target for headhunters or competitors.

This is a particularly big problem in Russia as the web market as skilled employees are scarce but demand is sky high. Like the late 90’s in the UK everyone wants the good programmers/designers and they are willing to pay well for them. We’ve lost graduate programmers to blue-chip companies in Moscow who are happy to pay $4-5k/month (USD) – which is a good salary by Russian standards.

Unfortunately once these companies/headhunters realise your company is a good source, they will keep returning for additional workers. In one case, the acquiring company offered a bonus to an old staff member to help recruit from our company. This is a common practice here.

When I first arrived here I broke the mold and actively encouraged my employees to build out their online portfolios. Since then I’ve learned that isn’t the most sensible move in such a competitive market. While I still believe that is a good path in the West, where applicants are more available, it simply doesn’t work here. You have to be more careful about what information is publicly available.

I do still believe in pushing my staff and helping them develop their online career but I will only be so vocal about selective members of the management team from now on. We do work hard on making a good work culture though, providing bonuses, free lunches, private gym membership and days out. As Paul suggests, sometimes the work environment is a bigger attraction than the salary.

BTW, sometimes happy employees are available for hire. That’s why companies have going away parties where the staff cries, hugs and wishes well.

There is a barrier to using a sites like Facebook, MySpace and the hundereds of others.

Most people are not on the site looking for jobs. Facebook is not LinkedIn where most expect to be contacted. Most recruiters forget this part and try to recruit right from the site. This frequently does not get a great response. After all, most people are being social, making friends, talking about stuff, posting pics. The last thing they want is a recruiter like me or one from the corporate side checking their stuff out.

Some delicate communication is usually needed.

Of course, if an employer is keeping the employees happy they have little to worry about anyway.