23 Sep Hiring? Using Social Media for Recruiting Great Talent
You would have to be under a rock, inside a hole, in the middle of the desert to not know LinkedIn and Facebook. But, many people think of them as an individual user tools, for personal professional promotion and social use, and not enough for business recruiting purposes. But that kind of logic could cost you great opportunities to connect with the perfect candidate.
LinkedIn has over 380 million members as of 2015, and over 100 million are in the U.S. And as we discussed in our article about jobseekers ditching paper resumes, LinkedIn profiles have essentially become the leading way to promote yourself in the job market.
Using social media for recruiting can be highly effective when done smartly.
For example, if your organization is large and you are seeking new talent for a specific division, you can use the Showcase pages on LinkedIn. Showcase pages are an extension of your company page, and can highlight one brand, product or service in particular. This way IT professionals who might not otherwise consider your apparel company, can be notified that your tech department is looking for new members.
But also think about using social media for recruiting by using it more broadly to build your brand and attract new hires more generally.
[bctt tweet=”What you choose to post on your Facebook company page, or tweet on the corporate Twitter account, is being read not only by potential customers, but potential employees.”]
You can promote your business as a great place to work by showcasing photos of your offices, or put out on Instagram some pictures from the holiday party. The idea here is not about a traditional job announcement to find applicants, but about getting your brand into the minds of possible talent, even before you need them. Then by the time you really are publicizing specific opportunities, you have already established yourself as the kind of place they want to work.
A recent report found that 94% of recruiters plan to use social media in their recruiting efforts. So if you are not, you could be losing out to your competitors who are using social media for recruiting.
And if you feel overwhelmed by the enormous breadth of platforms like LinkedIn, don’t forget you can find your own niche group to begin to socialize in. You can also find a LinkedIn group not just for human resources, but human resources for IT organizations in the greater New York Area, specifically.
Another option is to follow those with like interests. There are thousands of professional organizations that tweet, and re-tweeting them can put your organization on their radar. Or follow on Twitter university clubs for students in certain majors. This will narrow down the field and make it feel more manageable.
And of course, there is no reason to drop traditional recruiting methods. You can leverage headhunters (all who will have their own social media resources) and job placement agencies as well. And be sure to let them know when you are broadcasting relevant information on Facebook or Twitter so that they can re-tweet it on their own account.
Just consider using social media for recruiting as part of your overall arsenal for finding new employees, because the mix of traditional and virtual recruiting will only increase your chances of finding the best candidates. Done well, you not only will find the right people for you, they will come and find you first.
