Social Media Recruiting: What HR Managers Should Know

Did you know that many recruiters today are using social media for improved hiring outcomes? And, they aren’t using it for posting vacancies only! Recruiters are changing the dynamics of the entire hiring process with the power of social media. 

Most openings are at entry-level positions. The talent pools filling these positions consist mostly of millennial and Gen Z candidates. These two generations spend a major part of their lives on social media. The market for hiring these candidates is, however, extremely competitive. If done correctly, social media recruiting can help attract the perfect talent.

Here are some useful tips to use social media recruiting successfully:

1. Select the Right Platforms

The importance of creating the right mix of social media platforms for recruiting cannot be stressed enough. For instance, if you want to publish job postings, LinkedIn is an appropriate platform. Blog posts should be posted on the company website or LinkedIn. Pictures of workplace or company outings should be posted on Instagram. In-house training videos can be posted on YouTube. You need to define your requirements and the type of content you want to put up on social media. 

2. Build a Powerful Online Presence

A positive employer brand can make a world of difference to your recruiting results. Employer branding offers three benefits – improved hiring process, faster trust-building, and higher talent retention. Hence, put in efforts to build a powerful employer brand online. Portray the emotional facet of your company so that the potential candidates can organically connect with the workplace. Promote the uniqueness of your work environment, employee benefits, etc. on social media through thoughtfully created content.

3. Promote Company Culture

Candidates today aren’t satisfied with flexible work schedules, a friendly work environment, and other similar benefits. They are passionate about making a difference with their skills and talent. They want to know whether or not they can align their values with the company they’re associated with. Hence, promoting your company values and culture through social media platforms can help. One of the easiest and the most effective ways to achieve this is to encourage the existing employees to get involved. They can share their experiences, feedback, testimonials, etc. through posts, short videos, and other engaging formats on social media. 

4. Target Specific Talent Pool 

If you are not clear about your target group, you might end up wasting a lot of valuable resources. Hence, be clear about the type of candidates you want to hire and your expectations from them. Create a candidate persona and build your entire recruitment campaign based on it. This will help you narrow down and target a specific talent pool on social media. Besides, you will also save yourself a lot of hassles in the later stages of recruitment. 

5. Keep Potential Candidates Engaged 

You won’t be able to make the most of social media recruiting if you fail to keep your potential candidates engaged. Recruiters often make the mistake of creating a one-way street of sharing information on social media. It’s important to start a conversation and keep your potential candidates engaged by sharing useful, simple and valuable content. Talk to them about workplace culture, opportunities, etc. 

It requires some efforts and research to build a solid social media recruiting strategy especially to effectively hire Gen Z and other candidates. The strategies take some work for your organization, but the results are definitely worth the efforts. 

About the Author

Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager for Jobsoid – Applicant Tracking System. She is responsible for leading the content and social media teams at work. Her expertise and experience in the field of HR enables her to create value-driven content for her readers – both on Jobsoid’s blog and other guest blogs where she publishes content regularly.