The Art of Social Recruiting

Over the last decade, social media has dramatically changed just about everything we do. Specifically in business, social media has become an asset for finding and recruiting new talent. As businesses continue to grow their workforce and the job market becomes increasingly competitive, it’s crucial to have social recruiting strategies in place to make your company a top competitor.

Today, 92% of companies are using social media for hiring and 25% of all job seekers use social media to research job opportunities. The question is no longer how important is social media, but instead how can you utilize it to your advantage in recruiting?

Using social media to recruit employees allows you to efficiently narrow down your applicant pool and open the doors to people who are qualified for the job. When you properly implement recruiting strategies, it allows your business to expose itself to qualified job seekers who will want the job. Here are some statistics on just how useful social media is:

• 73% of 18-34 year-olds found their last job through social media
• 59% of recruiters rated candidates sourced through social media as “highest quality”
• 21% of candidates said they found their dream job through social media
• 83% of job seekers prefer Facebook over any other social network

There’s no doubt that social media recruiting is paving the way for the future of hiring and finding talent. However, as we move away from traditional recruiting, it’s important to understand what makes social recruiting effective. Here are some tips that will help you master the art of social recruiting:

DETERMINE YOUR GOALS
Before starting the social recruiting process, it’s important that you have a foundation. You should determine the goal of how you will use social media in your recruitment strategy. For example, if you want to understand how a candidate presents himself to the world you might consider checking Facebook or Instagram, whereas if you were wanting to know more about their professional history you would check LinkedIn. Are you simply running background checks or truly searching for qualified candidates on the platforms?

USE THE RIGHT PLATFORMS
It's important to note that you do not need to be on every single platform to be successful. Recruiters need to be diligent — the key is to tap into the right platforms depending on the position you’re trying to fill. Before starting your social recruiting strategy, you should understand your ideal candidate and then plan accordingly. For example, if you’re looking to fill a creative role, you should consider using more creative or visual platforms. For each platform you will need to consider the best approach.

MAKE SURE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE REFLECTS YOUR COMPANY'S BRAND
Company culture and values are key to creating a strong reputation while also attracting solid talent. It’s critical that the company’s social media reflects those values and positively represents your brand. The way you choose to present yourself online will make or break your success. In order to develop a strong social media presence, take time to think on your core values, how you want your brand to be seen and try to highlight this on your social accounts. A great way to show off your brand identity is to feature current employees and their experience with the company. Your employees are your biggest advocates — utilize them!

BE CONSISTENT
Lastly, when it comes to social recruiting and social media in general, it’s important to be consistent. You should constantly be engaging on all social platforms and have a strategic plan for when you will post and interact online. This doesn’t mean only focus and post about job opportunities. As discussed before, your posts should represent your company’s values, and while it's important to have a professional presence, you should also maintain an interesting one. Post content that engages your audience and sparks conversation, by doing this you are setting a tone for your company that will be more desirable to candidates.

As we shift towards a more modern approach of social recruiting, it’s still important to understand that one size doesn’t fit all. Your social media recruiting strategy should make sense for your company and the roles you want to fill. Think of social media as an extension of your recruiting strategies and another way of representing your brand identity.