7 tips for using social media for recruitment

Social media has become an indispensable component of building an employer brand that attracts dynamic talent. Effective social media can draw a crowd to your company at recruiting events.

In fact, 94 percent of professional recruiters cite social media as the key tool for recruitment. Job seekers respond favorably to recruiting on social media, which begins with learning about the employer brand before applying or accepting an offer.

It’s fairly easy to begin using social media for recruitment, but you should continually cultivate your employer brand online. Here are seven tips for leveraging the power of social media to attract qualified candidates for your organization.

1. Choose the right platforms

Each social media platform has distinct advantages and disadvantages depending on the demographic you’re trying to reach. Carefully select the appropriate platform keeping these guidelines in mind:

• LinkedIn is a professional social networking site where users look for information on companies, especially job postings. Three million jobs are posted every month on LinkedIn. The platform also has tools for recruiters to find and contact potential candidates interested in hearing about opportunities.
• Facebook is primarily associated with leisure engagement, but the company launched a jobs feature two years ago to compete with LinkedIn. Business pages can post jobs on their profiles, and candidates can apply directly from Facebook.
• Instagram isn’t conducive to overt recruiting, such as job postings, but many businesses find it very effective for visually establishing their brand as contemporary and vibrant.
• Twitter is a good way to amplify your job postings, such as tweeting the link to an open position posted on LinkedIn.

2. Optimize your presence on your platforms of choice

Never be haphazard about your online presence. Fill out your business profiles completely, on every platform where you post, including the logo, header image, and a company description optimized for search, particularly on LinkedIn.

Don’t be content with a simple posting of your company profile. Make a schedule for regularly posting company updates, insights on trends, and industry news on your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

You don’t want candidates seeking more information about your company to see a profile that hasn’t been updated in months. This creates the impression that you aren’t current with developments in your industry and the business world.

3. Enlist employees to help

Your employees can be your best recruiters. Encourage them to amplify your job postings by sharing them with friends they’d be proud to introduce to the company. Job postings shared on the Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts of company employees are powerful endorsements.

The point is not just greater reach for your job posting. Your employees will share the posting only with people they’re willing to vouch for, and those people will pay more attention to a tip about a job from someone they trust than from some headhunter they don’t know. Your next great hire could be an acquaintance of your superstar in sales who shared the job post on social media.

4. Monitor social media for opportunities and potential issues

Use tools like HootSuite to monitor social media for mentions of your brand and potential issues. You can set up streams to monitor mentions of your company name or hashtags, as well as topics of interest to your potential audience. This will provide a reliable source of content that will appeal to candidates; you can share this content on your social networks.

Being vigilant on social media will also get you moving sooner and quicker when problems arise.

5. Use LinkedIn groups and hashtags

Posting openings in LinkedIn groups for your industry and using relevant hashtags on Twitter make it far likelier that job candidates will find and read your job postings.

This cuts through all the noise to get through to potential candidates who are using groups and hashtags to keep up with industry news as they hunt for jobs.

6. Use filters to find candidates

LinkedIn recruiting features include search filters to help you find candidates who are qualified but either missed your post or aren’t actively looking for jobs. You can search by location, years of experience, past positions, and any other keyword. It won’t take much research for you to gather a list of candidates to contact about opportunities at your organization.

7. Reach out with a personal touch

When you reach out to candidates directly on any social media platform, always include a personal note. Tell the candidate what caught your eye and why they should consider quitting their job to work for your company.

Aside from a personal introduction, social media is the most effective tool for recruiting qualified candidates. Follow these tips to develop a social media presence that appeals to talented people in your industry. Always consider both active job seekers and those who would be interested if they learned what you have to offer.