Using Social Media in Recruitment

The use of social media as a business tool to help hire is quickly rising. It will be, or some might say already has become, a necessity as part of your overall approach to finding new candidates and staying in touvh with existing ones .

Social media’s significant prominence in both the business world and people’s personal lives means it is the communication channel of choice of many to the world. From keeping in touch with family to chatting with friends, networking with business contacts or keeping up to date with news and events, online profiles can do it all.

Facebook, for instance, has an active monthly user base of over 2.2 billion*; Twitter is known for its ability to host job search chats, while many millennials and Gen X job seekers actively use LinkedIn as a job seeking platform.

Over 90% of recruitment consultants now routinely use social networking platforms to help with talent acquisition. And if it’s good enough for professional HR companies, in-house personnel functions must make sure they don’t miss a trick.

So when you’re looking to fill a job vacancy and you’ve already written a great job advert, here are 4 ways social media will help you boost the returns on your efforts:

Budget Friendly and precise

Traditional methods of advertising, such as print advertising in newspapers or magazines, attending and networking at job expos, even tele-sales. But the democracy of the internet means using social media can cost you little to no money at all and still get your clients/ roles exposure to the right people. If you were to look at different types of advertising as weapons: a television advert could be nuclear (massive exposure and totally indiscriminate) whereas a social media post could be a spear (small attack range but very precise). Not only can social media sites help you find candidates they will also allow you to advertise the right roles to them without ever paying for a single advert. Direct messaging is usually free (or free with a premium account.

To add a bit of a boost to your recruitment drive, there are additional social media features that do cost money such as paid advertising on Facebook. LinkedIn has a number of recruiting solutions where you get the most bang for your buck.

 

The personal touch

The informality of the personal message can be pivotal in securing a long term working relationship with a new client. People are happy to display lots of valuable information about theirprevious roles, future job preferences and there overall personality (and therefore their suitability to particular companies) for any recruiter to see. Use this to personalise your approach and start a meaningful conversation. To resonate with a wider audience you can also use hashtags on Twitter like #nowhiring, #jobs, #joblisting, #hiring, #joinourteam to help people searching for these terms to find you instantly. Try sharing your job post in a LinkedIn Group that’s specific to that role to see how much more traction you’d get from it, a well placed ad is better than an expensive one.

 

Demonstrate the Pros with pictures

Social media can be fun and companies can have fun with this too! If the job your advertising is with a company that demonstrates is redeeming office culture online a lot then be sure to utilise those positive vibe by directing potential candidates to those posts. Not only is this helpful in fostering a better candidate relationship, it’s also a great advert for any roles that company sends your way.

Social media can be a powerful tool to show the human face of the business in the digital sphere. Share pictures of your team and blog posts about your company’s achievements, shout about charity events you took part in, and update your followers with industry news and your latest vacancies. The advantage is that you’ll be reaching out to people who are already interested in your company, engaging with existing advocates of your brand.

 

Screen your candidates

Have you ever placed a candidate who didn’t fit into an office at all? It’s a loss for all involved and an issue that can be avoided if you’ve done your due diligence on the compatability of the candidate to the company. Most people have a digital footprint and it’s up to you to use this publically available information to measure the qualities a candidate you’re talking to against the standards of the company who’s offering the job. Social media is a valuable tool for screening your applicants above and beyond the traditional process of interviews and references.

 

*facebook’s 2.2 billion active users [https://www.forbes.com/sites/dantedisparte/2018/07/28/facebook-and-the-tyranny-of-monthly-active-users/]

Write a great job ad https://www.rec-irp.uk.com/news-and-insight/i-love-recruitment-blog/top-tips-for-writing-a-winning-job-ad

**LinkedIn recruitment https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions