Social media recruitment does not have to be difficult, after you learn the things you ought to know.
Start with three key players in social media recruitment: LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
With billions of users, the “big hitters” of social media recruitment, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, have become a natural draw both recruiters and candidates.
Job seekers can get the latest information on new opportunities, while (ideally) employers get to choose from the best talent.
Although there are many advantages in social media recruitment, like timeliness and reach, there are also significant disadvantages. Understanding the drawbacks in social media recruitment can help you customize your hiring strategy for your needs, and make the most from each platform.
The downsides of social media recruitment—and how to overcome them:
As of 2012, users send nearly 175 million tweets daily. It is a virtual tsunami of messages, both important and trivial. Millions of users have hundreds (or thousands, or millions) of followers apiece, so individual tweets can be buried quickly.
Social media recruitment means getting the jobs seen by the right people. This short “shelf life” of job posts on Twitter makes it difficult.
Solution:
The key to social media marketing on Twitter is hashtags. The right hashtag will vastly improve the chances of a superior job post achieving maximum visibility.
Regular engagement with followers also helps get the word out; your followers will soon begin look forward to extraordinary things coming from your account. Not just jobs, but entertaining, relevant content.
Facebook is more personal than business. Since the majority of users view Facebook as a way to connect with friends and family, some candidates might be reluctant to connect with companies through such a “personal” site.
Privacy settings are another obstacle for social media recruiting on Facebook. Heightened security could make it difficult to reach out to potential candidates.
Solution:
Developing a fan base is the primary goal of a Facebook Page. A career tab on your Facebook page allows your fans (as well as interested active and passive job seekers) to get a taste of your corporate culture.
An active page, with industry-related content and timely discussions, can keep the information fresh in the minds of your fans.
You can achieve social media recruitment by making interaction easy on your Facebook page. This will encourage high-quality candidates to become interested in what you have to offer.
LinkedIn only allows a limited number of internal emails, and emails can be only sent to connections. A recruiter cannot send messages to users they are not already connected with. This hurdle makes connections with job seekers somewhat problematic. Social media recruitment through LinkedIn is slightly more time-consuming since users must build relationships first.
Solution:
The key to LinkedIn is referrals. The strength of LinkedIn is in its ability to leverage networks of your best employees and colleagues in your industry.
LinkedIn is better for social media recruitment when your targeted audience gets a constant stream of current positions on your company’s careers site. Share LinkedIn updates about new openings directly from the recruiting platform powering your careers site.
In addition, share all available jobs with your connections, which in turn can move it along to their contacts, and so on. A good job can go viral, giving you an extensive network of referrals for highly talented potential applicants.
Do you have suggestions for getting the most out of social media recruitment? We would love to know! Join the conversation in the comments below.
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