Dan Serfaty

On July 4, Digital October center hosted a lecture by Dan Serfaty, the founder and CEO of the professional social network Viadeo.com.

In 2004 Dan Serfaty together with his partners founded Viadeo.com service. This social network was created for placement of personal information and maintaining of professional contacts with colleagues, business partners or with the people from another spheres of activities but who you are interested in. Even if you don’t place information in this social network that you are looking for job, recruiters still could view the information about you in your profile and offer you a good position on favorable terms. Since its creation, the portal has been expanding rapidly and today more than 45 millions people have accounts at Viadeo.

Professional social networks change the ways of sales at the labor market. The rules of online-marketing significantly change both job search and hiring. On the one hand, anyone become aware of the information about the company, its distinctive features and problems. On the other, potential employee’s experience, background and value are expected basing on his social profile and links.

Mr. Serfaty predicts that the beginning of talents war era with the rules of the game to become transparent to anyone. Profile at professional social network provides equal opportunities for career progress for anyone, reducing the impact of “smoking room” as an effective career lift.

This also changes the work of companies’ HR-departments. Recruiters not only deal with direct hiring, but also get new responsibilities, that is to keep companies profile at social network, involve employees in the process of sharing of positive information about the company, to maintain backup and to response at negative references. This is the game with no losers: companies acquire loyal valuable employees and persons get their chances to get a job of which they dream, not a pig in a poke on the qualifying period. Dan Serfaty told guests if it is really so and is it possible.

After the lecture by Dan Serfaty, discussion with representatives of Russian HR-companies took place. They talked about such approaches to employment and are they applicable in Russia.