Social recruitment is so much more than simply posting a job advert. When social media is used effectively for recruitment it can help your company to attract both active and passive candidates. The days of simply being able to post a job advert, however, are long gone and Social Recruitment is much more involved than that. Read on to learn 5 ways that you can use social media recruitment to not only boost your applications but also to connect you with the right candidates.
Showcase Your Company Culture
Social media gives businesses the perfect opportunity to showcase their work life and company culture. Your potential candidates are likely to be using social media to find out more about who you are as a business so regularly posting about what you do as a company for and with your teams is essential. Social recruiting isn’t just about attracting candidates it’s about attracting the right type of candidates. Showcasing who you are and what is important to you plays a part in attracting the right people. In a competitive market, it could be your company culture that makes you more appealing and helps you to stand out.
Add A Human Touch
As humans we connect much better with humans than we do with logos or brands. Showing the human side to your business by showcasing your team and their achievements can help your candidates and potential candidates to understand your approach to your people management and how you support them.
Both passive and active candidates are likely to take into account your people management as part of their decision making process. Case studies of promotion or advancement or highlighting certain policies like parental leave and how they have benefitted members of your team, with their own personal testimonies, can directly appeal to candidates.
Employee Advocacy
Employee advocacy on social media works in two different ways.
Firstly, through your employees sharing and commenting on your recruitment posts, it can amplify your message and push it out through their network enabling content to reach a much wider audience. If your company page has 1,000 followers on LinkedIn then great! If each of your team on LinkedIn has 500 connections, with the majority probably being in a similar industry to yours, how many more people would see your content? Remember that LinkedIn favours personal connection in the feed so the potential reach if your team all shares it with a comment is much bigger.
Secondly, never underestimate the power of personal recommendation. As an organisation you can tell everyone how great you are to work for and how much you value your team but how much more powerful is that same message if one of your team is saying it? Like this example below from Google, the message appears genuine and authentic and much more believable than a HR document detailing support available.
Reach Out To Potential Candidates
Social media has communication at it’s very heart so it’s not surprising that you can use it to reach out and start conversations with potential candidates, both passive and active. Depending on the type of role you are recruiting for, this could be done through relevant groups on Facebook, or through a more direct approach through messaging on LinkedIn. This needs to be done strategically though for it be effective.
In groups you need to be an active member so don’t just post and run! Comment and be part of the community – it will make your content more likely to be seen. On LinkedIn you need to do some good old fashioned research before you reach out so that you can personalise your message. Cut and paste messages are obvious, particularly if you receive the same message from different talent officers at the same business (it’s happened to me). A personalised approach is much more likely to get a positive response. Comment on their personal experience or on something that they have recently posted so that they can see your approach is genuine and that you have a real interest rather than a mass message in the hopes that someone says yes.
Make It Easy To Be Contacted
Social media conversation should work both ways. Candidates should be able to get in touch with you easily with as few barriers as possible. Make sure that your About section lets people know how they can contact you, or how you preferred to be contacted. Give them options as well if you can as depending on their current circumstances some methods may be more difficult than others.
Also ensure that your bios and about sections make you seem approachable. If a possible candidate wants to reach out to you then they will most likely check your about section before they get in touch.
If you want to learn more about how we can help you to use social media for recruitment so that you can increase both the number and quality of your applicants then get in touch or join us on our next Social Media for HR & Recruitment Course
