Using social media platforms to engage with potential job candidates has many advantages.
Here are a few benefits of using social media for recruitment:
It supports a two-way conversation
Job seekers can quickly and easily get their questions answered in a comfortable, informal environment.
It allows you to share information with a large pool of potential candidates
Depending on the size of your network and the success of a post, you can reach thousands of job seekers at once.
It gives you a glimpse into a potential candidate’s personality
By engaging job seekers in conversation, you can get a feel for their professional background and character before you even set up a phone interview.
It helps foster a connection with your company’s brand
When followers engage with your recruiting profile or your company’s official account, they’ll quickly become more familiar with your organisation.
Whether you’re just getting started using social media for recruitment or you’re looking for ways improve, here are nine tips to help you excel in your social media recruiting strategy.
1. Set up separate accounts for recruiting efforts
Personal social media accounts often contain beliefs, opinions and other information that may not be relevant to a job seeker searching for more information about what it’s like to work at your company. It’s best to create separate, public accounts for your recruiting efforts. Keep these accounts entirely focused on your organisation, its people, its culture, its benefits and other information relevant to job seekers.
2. Link posts back to your company’s official account
When you share a job posting on social media, interested followers will likely want to research the company—especially if they’re hearing of your organisation for the first time. By linking back to your company’s official social media account in every post, you’ll help job seekers learn more about the business and grow your organisation’s social media following which, in turn, will fuel your recruiting efforts.
3. Share photos of your office and events
When someone is considering applying for a role with a company, they want to gather as much information as possible about your culture to make sure its a place they’d fit in. Sharing photos of happy hours, team outings, conferences or just daily office life, will help potential applicants determine whether they’d mesh with your culture.
Providing a visual representation of the experiences of current employees will help job seekers envision themselves in the role, drum up excitement and help applicants develop a greater connection with the company.
4. Make use of hashtags
When you use a hashtag on a post, it’s indexed by the social media network you’re using—which means anyone who searches the hashtag could discover your post. By adding relevant hashtags to posts, you help interested job seekers find your content. For example, if you’re sharing a link to a job posting for a software engineer position, you might include hashtags like #softwareengineer, #engineeringjobs or #techjobs.
5. Publish regularly
Make a habit of posting multiple times per week. By keeping up a healthy cadence, you show potential job seekers you’re active and ready to engage them in conversation should they have any questions. The more often you post, the most opportunities you have to connect with interested candidates.
6. Use personality
It’s no secret people respond best to social media posts that are entertaining. Be personable, be friendly, be approachable and—if it fits your brand’s identity—be humorous. When your social media recruiting efforts are human, job seekers will be more likely to connect with you.
7. Ask followers to share
The more shareable a social media post, the better it will perform. So when posting a link to a new job posting, remind followers they’re more than welcome to share with a friend. Even if someone isn’t interested in an open position, there’s a good chance there’s someone in their network who might be a better fit.
8. Get other employees to participate in social sharing
Job seekers are interested in posts published from an official company account, but employee posts provide a more honest, relatable peek into what life looks like within your organisation. Encourage employees to share photos at events or around the office, and ask them to tag the official company account. Consider re-sharing this content from your recruiting account to provide even more insight into company culture.
Also, ask employees to share links to job postings if they feel there are viable candidates in their networks.
9. Check messages frequently and respond quickly
When you invite communication via social media, it’s crucial you stay on top of incoming messages. Make it a habit to check messages on each of your social accounts at least once per day. If you receive a message, be sure to respond quickly. As a recruiting professional, you know how important it is to engage potential candidates at just the right moment during their job seeking process. If you wait too long to get back in touch, they may accept an offer elsewhere.
Social media recruiting is a more modern and convenient method of networking that can help you connect with potential candidates you may have never reached through a more traditional approach. By using these tips, you can build authentic relationships with qualified professionals all across the globe.
