Recruiting on Google+

Between LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, it’s about time that Google+ joins the party in online recruitment. While it’s more of a social networking platform like Facebook, it still has merit in social media recruiting. Not only does it provide an outlet for networking but also drives exposure for job opportunities and company brand.

Introduction to Google+

On Google+, you can either build a page for yourself or your recruiting firm. What’s unique about Google+ is that it can be a platform for both your personal and professional life. You can group your contacts into different circles, i.e. friends, family, colleagues and job candidates. From there, you can determine what is shared with each of these groups.

To achieve maximum Google+ recruiting potential, it’s best to create a page for your business or firm as well. These pages function a little differently, though the basic concept is the same. While you won’t necessarily be including friends and family, unless you’re assisting them in a professional capacity, you will be reaching out to colleagues, potential candidates and other professionals in your industry.

How It Works

A Google+ page won’t just help in keeping your colleagues and potential job candidates informed of your business and industry practices, it will help to spread awareness of your company brand as well. According to SmartRecruiters.com, a Google+ recruiting page can reach up to 25 million unique visitors in just the first month. To put that into context, it would take nearly three years to get that much exposure on Facebook.

To attract those conducting an online job search, create your page using keywords for your industry. Also, post relevant content on a daily basis; and again, make sure you’re utilizing the effectiveness of keywords in both the content you’re posting and the actual post itself. Unlike other social networking sites, Google+ depends heavily on SEO to help visitors find exactly what they’re looking for as they search. By using SEO in the development and update of your page, you’re ensuring that your Google+ page will be an invaluable resource in your recruiting efforts.

Google+ can be a great tool for your recruiting efforts this year. Though it won’t be as vital to the online recruitment and application process as sites like Spark Hire and LinkedIn, it will help to build your company brand and attract job candidates who might not otherwise apply. And when it comes to recruitment in the digital age, you know now that you need all of the help you can get!

Would you use Google+ in your recruiting efforts — why or why not? Share now in our comments!