Social media and recruiting

Many of us have Facebook, Instagram or Twitter but did you know that 94% of recruiters use social media? With the Millennials now forming the backbone of the worldwide workforce and the Generation Z keen to establish themselves in their chosen industry, targeting these groups is spread with recruiters. A large part of people’s lives play out on social media, and not just their lives, but all aspects, including looking for new job opportunities.

Social media has become a huge talent pool for recruiters as part of their sourcing strategies, and also a place for job advertising.

It is the practice of identifying, attracting, engaging and hiring both active and passive candidates, by using the social networks they’re on. Recruiters can check out potential candidates’ social media profiles to get a sense of who they are and what they’re looking for.

Social media recruiting allows recruiters to connect daily to active and passive candidates. Engaging with them through shared passions, networks, and ideals recruiters can connect to key candidates.

Build a company’s online reputation

Build your brand up and be the company everyone wants to work for. Don’t just target your customers with your branding — people nowadays want to have an emotional relationship with the company so give them something to be passionate about. Apple is the right example of branding and engaging with everyone. Share the content that represents your company in the best light and that is the best place to work for. Think about Google, Microsoft and all the best companies with unique environments and working spaces, but also great employee benefits. That is the branding you need to aim for.

Sharing your posts on social media

The point of social media is expanding your reach. Lean on your existing employees to spread the word. Ask them to get involved in your branding and share the posts on their social media platforms.

When sharing know the reach of your hashtags, how many people use it, the geography, the demographic — if your hashtag isn’t targeting your key audience, it is redundant, lose it.

On the flip side, if it is too popular you run the risk of your message getting lost in the tidal wave of messages also using it. Try and be inventive with your hashtags, personalize your hashtags to you, your company and what you want to achieve with them. Ensure that you have company’s social media policy and that all employees know it and are aware of what is expected of them, think of them as your brand ambassadors.

Use LinkedIn smartly

LinkedIn estimates that 87% of recruiters use their platform to source talent, 55% use Facebook and 47% Twitter. You’ve already optimized your company’s LinkedIn page to show you’re actively recruiting but that’s not enough. Join groups that are relevant to your industry too, and participate. There’s a wide array of specialized communities on LinkedIn where candidates are actively involved. If you’re seeking for good HR specialist join a large number of groups that are involved in HR and reach out to potential candidates. It is all about networking and in these groups, you can find top talent and attract the best professionals.

It’s not all in big social media

Sure, everyone is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter these days. But you can find specific candidates by perusing niche networks and forums. For example, developers are sharing knowledge on GitHub and StackOverflow. Marketers are bouncing ideas off each other on Moz and Warrior Forum.

There are great benefits from social media recruiting since we can surely say that all social media is a great sourcing channel. You can reach out with a personal touch to the passive candidates, on LinkedIn, and to some extent on Facebook, you can filter out the right candidates, see the resume details without seeing an actual resume and it puts you in a position where you can pick out the ones who fit you the best.

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