Recruiting has taken a huge step forward and changed its familiar systems drastically. In-person interviews are replaced with virtual ones, and ads in newspapers are pushed out by online posts.
You can’t ignore the transformation of recruiting processes. Moreover, you need to keep up with the trends and go in the same direction to grow the workforce in the competitive landscape.
In recent years, social media have become an integral part of recruiting. More and more talents are discovered online. It allows for faster and easier positions to be filled.
What is social recruiting, and how can you use it effectively to force up your team and hire the best of the best? Check out our guide on social recruitment.
What is social recruiting?
Nothing difficult here: social recruiting is simply hiring activities held on social media platforms. That means the recruiter can use LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other social network to search for candidates and use social media tools to walk them through the recruiting process.
Does it work?
Many assume that social platforms are unsuitable for such responsible tasks as recruitment. Although, there is no better instrument to search for progressive, talented professionals.
Here are some statistics proving that recruitment via social media platforms does really work.
- More than 90% of applicants use social media when looking for a job.
- About half of companies’ followers on social platforms are there to stay aware of job openings.
- Each week almost 40 million people search for job opportunities on LinkedIn.
Those numbers speak for themselves, don’t they?
Social recruitment benefits
Promote your employer’s brand
Social media is a great place to show and promote your professional brand. Showcase your culture and let the candidates know that your company is a great place to work in.
Tricky point — the attractiveness of working in the company does not consider high wages and flexible hours. It is a lot more than that. Through the social platform, people will learn more about your company’s internal systems, goals, and values, which will help them objectively evaluate if this is where they want to grow professionally.
Save money and time
Recruitment takes up much effort, money, and time. Most often companies either handle this task independently, usually ending up with failure, or delegate these processes to professional HR firms, which can cost a lot.
Social media makes recruitment much faster, allows for more personal interaction with candidates, and provides an ability to learn more about the employee online.
Reach passive candidates
Your ideal candidate can be not looking for a new job. However, social networks allow them to see what your company is up to, what positions are open, and what the environment is like at the workplace. People always compare their current conditions with those they might have if they consider new opportunities. So, social media can spread the word about you even among passive candidates and interest them.
Target perfect applicants
Do not wait for people to apply. Instead, take the initiative, reach out to candidates, and share interesting content.
One of the greatest benefits of social media is the ability to build relationships with your followers. When people see your activity on the platform, it wins them over. As a result, you get the perfect conditions to start communicating with targeted candidates.
So how should HR specialists and business owners leverage social recruitment to optimize hiring processes and land the best employees?
The best practices you should implement
Choose the channel
Start with selecting the right channel to distribute your content.
When it comes to social recruitment, there are no limits. Qualified candidates can be users of any social media platform, and you can hire them even through Instagram and TikTok. However, if you expect the best results possible and want to make everything professional, concentrate on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is, without exaggeration, the largest professional network. Recruiters use this platform most frequently. Through this channel, you can maintain relationships with active and passive candidates, create brand awareness, and build a reputation as an expert in your working field.
Build your reputation organically
Again, build your employer brand online. On LinkedIn, you can create a brand profile and reach high visibility. Show off your workspace, share details and show how employees work and collaborate.
If you post just job ads, your account will turn into a boring list of vacancies that says nothing about your company. But engaging and honest content right from the workplace will help you build a positive reputation.
Automate everything you can
In general and familiar practices, such as putting job lists on job boards, there is a lot of manual work. It is hard to process applications and transfer them from an external resource to your CRM.
LinkedIn recruitment gives all the perks of automation. Tools like Linked Helper allows to automate almost everything and provides the recruiter with additional helpful tools. Specialists can use keyword search and personalize offers, auto-follow candidates, screen applicants, and all of that with minimum effort.
Involve employees and create more content
Get your employees active on social media. It is your strongest weapon in winning professionals. It is called employee influencing. Involve your team in sharing honestly about the company culture.
The more content you and your employees share, the better. Just keep the quality and value of it and diversify it with different types. Today people are more engaged with graphics and videos, photography, and live content.
To sum up
If you run over the great talents on social media once in a while, that is not an accident. Now you know that social recruitment is a new tendency in hiring and the strategy you must implement. With the right approach, you can force up your team, and good employees are the foundation on which any business rests.
Authored by Kristina Rodopska, esbo.ltd