Did you know - LinkedIn has 7 million + members, Facebook has 2.7 million + monthly active users, Twitter gets 500 million tweets per day, and nearly 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. These statistics are astounding. The social media platforms definitely can’t be ignored by businesses with the widespread penetration and adoption they have among the masses, especially Millennials & Gen Z with smartphones in hand.
“73% of millennials (18-34 age group) found their last position through a social media platform”(Source).Gone are the days when recruiters posted jobs on portals and sit back to get applications. In this talent competition, recruiters need to be proactive. They need to be present where talent goes, i.e., social media, to connect with active and passive candidates and meet their hiring goals. You can attract, identify, engage and hire candidates by leveraging social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and many more based on the target audience. Candidates are on them for multiple reasons, such as finding new opportunities, networking, learning, or staying updated at the personal or professional front. Organizations are harnessing Social media’s power for Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding as part of their recruitment strategies to attract top talent.
Why to use social media for recruiting
• Expand your outreach to passive candidates: According to SHRM – “Recruiting passive job candidates (82%) continues to be the top reason that organizations use social media for recruitment”. Most passive candidates do not have their resume on job boards to appear in a recruiter’s search list, but they frequently visit multiple social media platforms. By consistently sharing relevant content on social media, you can grab the attention of passive candidates and, over time, turn them into potential applicants. You can connect and nurture relationships with passive candidates through personalized communication by sharing information related to their interests or expertise or even your open positions.
• Build your Employer Brand: Your content on social media is key to creating brand awareness and influencing the potential talent community to consider you as the preferred employer. It is like a storytelling board that enlightens professionals about the company’s mission, vision, values, and culture, showcasing why one should work for it.75 % of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job. The company culture, life at work, benefits, growth plans, diversity and inclusion, recruitment events, open positions, and other such points presented through images, videos, blogs, infographics, text, reports, podcasts etc., make the post more engaging among candidates. An employee testimonial video or infographic for employee benefits or virtual tour video of office or attractive recruitment drive template – all this will drive candidates to relate to the organization and wish to be part of it.
• Save on cost: Most of the basic features of social media sites and publishing content on company or career page are free, making it more economical than huge fees paid to agencies or consultancies. Recruiters along with employees can be employer brand advocates on social media. Paid services like LinkedIn Premium Account, LinkedIn Recruiter subscription, Facebook or Instagram ads can also be availed, which are reasonable in cost.
• Assess Culture Fit: Candidate’s profile and activities on social media through likes, posts, comments, and shares give an overview of candidates’ persona and serve as an assessment of culture fit within the organization. Hard and soft skills required for startups may be entirely different from established large enterprises. A resume may not give a clear picture of a candidate’s personality. Social media profiles and engagements can indicate if a person can fit the role and a company culture based on which candidate can be approached.
Platforms for Social Media Recruiting
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LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional networking site with 300 million + monthly active users, making it a great place to find your purple squirrels. Organizations can create their company’s LinkedIn page and post relevant content to exhibit their employer brand. They can also take LinkedIn Recruiter subscriptions and allocate seats to their recruiters. This subscription allows recruiters to post jobs, send Inmails to 2nd or 3rd degree connections not directly connected, and advanced search with keywords and filters. It can also keep track of Analytics and get insights about jobs posted, application status, or recruiter’s activity. Recruiters can connect or follow prospective candidates and nurture relationships with personalized messages. LinkedIn Recruiter has multiple features like Projects, Talent Pool, Pipeline, Spotlight, Advanced search with custom search filters, and many more, making sourcing effort easy for recruiters to save on time. LinkedIn Groups can be explored for targeted audiences, and LinkedIn Live can conduct sessions by experts.
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Facebook: With more than 2 billion global users, Facebook is the largest social networking platform, making it all the more important for recruiters to explore FB to find talent. Organizations can create Company and Career pages to advertise jobs and promote employer brand. Conduct virtual recruitment events or expert sessions through Facebook Live or events. Facebook has groups for a targeted audience/specific skills or interest groups. FB messenger allows creating rooms for discussion among participants. Paid Facebook Ads with links to a landing page (website or career page) can generate leads by targeting a segmented audience based on algorithms.
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Twitter: With a 280 characters limit, Twitter has become go-to place for quick headlines ,updates or views with relevant hashtags # to join conversations and connect with like-minded candidates. Use hashtags with short job post Tweets and provide links to career pages. Like, Comment, Tweet, and Retweet to engage with candidates. Tweet Chats can drive Q & A sessions regarding role and company. Use the Advanced Search option to find prospective candidates and add them to the Twitter list to send out personalized messages for open positions.
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Instagram: This is known for visual content popular with millennials and GenZ and more relevant for creative roles. Instagram Live with candidates can make recruitment fun with informal discussion or Q & A sessions on industry trends, recruitment process, preparation for interviews, etc. Make use of the Story feature to share updates, employee testimonials, success stories, and open roles to increase followers on the company’s page.
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YouTube: YouTube is one goldmine of videos. Organizations can create videos about the company -its mission, vision, values, life at work, benefits, employee testimonials, and much more to get the candidate’s attention. Recruiters can create videos about the job search, recruitment process, and interview tips to help candidates.
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Other Platforms: Snapchat, Whatsapp groups, Quora, Glassdoor, and many others also contribute to social recruitment, gradually picking up usage. Recruiters can explore platforms like GitHub or StackOverflow for Tech roles. Freelancers are available on sites like Upwork.com or Freelancer.com.
Conclusion
Social media is a way forward to step up your hiring game. It has become a big game-changer in transforming the recruitment process digitally with maximum outreach. An effective social media recruitment strategy is imperative to gain traction of passive candidates and enhance your employer brand.