Clubhouse is the hottest new social media platform to hit the App Store. An audio-based social media app, it describes itself as “a new type of social product based on voice [that] allows people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships and meet interesting new people around the world.” But is Clubhouse an app that can be used for recruiters to grow business?

Let’s learn how it works first. In short, you can jump in and out of different chats on a variety of subjects from people all around the globe. If you’re serious about it, you’re going to need some good wireless headphones. It’s sort of like a live podcast where you can simply listen or join in with your two cents. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, you probably aren’t wrong. Here’s the thing, though: you have to be invited to join. 

Who uses Clubhouse?

Like most new apps, this is big with celebrities. You can join chats with people like Oprah, Tiffany Haddish and Jared Leto. Other than celebrities, the app seems focused on people it considers an elite clientele and it has become somewhat of a status symbol for Silicon Valley types right away. Don’t let that deter you; it is growing like crazy. By the end of 2020, The New York Times reported Clubhouse had 600,000 registered users. 

According to early results, the top moderators are people with magnetic personalities who attract audiences not just because of their titles and accomplishments, but because listeners want to spend time intimately hearing their thoughts with a chance to weigh-in themselves. These top moderators are generating big audiences on Clubhouse even if they don’t have large followings on other social platforms. 

Right now, it is only available to iPhone users, so Android users are out of luck until they expand. 

How does it work?

If a friend or colleague sent you an invite, consider yourself lucky because each user starts with just one invite. For the rest of us, download the app and reserve your Clubhouse username to get on the waiting list. 

Once the heavens open and you receive that invitation, you’ll be prompted to choose people or topics to follow. Based on what you choose, you can scroll through a list of currently ongoing and upcoming discussions. You can also enable notifications so you get alerts when discussions you might be interested in are happening. 

If you’re in a discussion and want to have more of a one-on-one continuation with someone in the room, you have the freedom to move to a private room as well.

Why is this helpful to recruiters?

Networking, networking, NETWORKING! 

As a recruiter, you are no stranger to this, and that’s all this app is about. There’s no recording of conversations and nothing is saved for later. It’s authentic and live, and it can help open a dialogue between potential clients, candidates and colleagues alike. If you are a CPG recruiter who solely works in Montana, creating a group or topic based on just that is as easy to create and facilitate as a bio-med sales recruiter who works internationally. 

This about going to a convention and getting an all-access pass to your favorite panels and speakers. Each chat room has a title, brief description and the names and profiles of moderators—except you don’t have to wait in line for hours just to get in the door. You just log on and listen and, if the discussion isn’t what you want, or something else catches your eye, quietly exit and flit over to the next conversation. 

Remember cocktail parties? You know, before the looming fear of getting COVID at every turn? Clubhouse remembers too, and they brought that real life interaction as close as they could to face-to-face.

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As with any new social media tool, it’s difficult to know what the future will hold for Clubhouse. But as the app grows, both in user base and profile, it’s sure to figure into conversations at Recruiters Websites and beyond.