Recruiting new talent is one of the most daunting tasks for any hiring manager. You need to find the right candidate, explain your company’s culture, and explain benefits that go above and beyond the money. And you can’t just insult people haphazardly—you need to find a candidate who shares your company’s values and will fit in. So how do you do this?
By establishing your brand as a desirable workplace, social media can be a valuable tool in helping prospective employees decide whether your company is what they are looking for. Communication is key, so be sure to communicate your values and culture through key brand moments, also known as your social “touch points.”
What Is social media?
Social media is a modern phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. Every person has at least one social media account. It’s used for everything from social networking to business. It has become a huge part of our daily lives. As more social media platforms are created and more people join, the demand for social media marketing professionals rises.
Here are five ways you can use social media as a recruitment tool during the hiring process.
Select the appropriate platforms.
Connecting with potential candidates on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn was the only way to conduct a hiring process. These days, however, hiring professionals have the opportunity to take advantage of social media to expand their reach, receive feedback, and garner a wealth of other recruiting information. In today’s workforce, candidates are less likely to use traditional formats for interviewing for a job.
Optimize your presence on your preferred platforms.
In the modern-day age, social media is how we communicate and how we connect with our friends, family, and coworkers. It also plays an important role in the ever-evolving job search. Getting a job is just as dependent on the relationships you have with your network as it is on finding interesting positions, which is why it’s important to spend a significant chunk of your time building a solid network and becoming known.
Enlist the assistance of employees
We all know how important it is to use social media to find and hire top talent. After all, 20 percent of job applicants report social media as being one of the top three resources they reference when researching potential employers. While you can’t stop people from posting personal information on the internet, you can engage in social media monitoring to learn about the qualifications of potential candidates.
Keep an eye on social media for opportunities and potential problems.
Hiring a new employee is a big task. Not only do you have to find the right person, but also you have to take care of all the paperwork, hold their interviews, and conduct pre-employment tests. Employing staff online may be an option, but a wrong hire can be an expensive mistake.
Make use of LinkedIn groups and hashtags.
Find LinkedIn groups with relevant topics. Find out if your candidates are active in these groups. Use hashtags when posting on LinkedIn. This can help you find candidates. For example, #entrepreneur or #executive.
Conducting an effective search for qualified candidates can be extremely challenging—especially when your goal is to fill your role with candidates who best fit your company and your organization’s culture. But you can do a lot to increase the odds of finding exactly what you’re looking for: use social media.
Social media gives companies the ability to share their company story, their culture, and their values. Companies that use social media can streamline their hiring process. The platforms give employers the power to find candidates, tell their stories, and determine if a candidate is the right fit for the company.
As social media has evolved, so have the ways in which candidates use it. While some of your candidates may be on your personal social media channels, your profile is a closed one. Similarly, LinkedIn and your company page are private, with public company pages only visible to certain connections. Candidates need to be creative and involved when researching your company, but they still can’t reach out to employees directly. Job seekers can spread the word about your company by friending and connecting with current employees on LinkedIn and posting on company pages.