Smart recruiters also use social media to conduct background checks among potential hires and confirm their qualifications for a position.
Having a social recruiting strategy is valuable for companies and it can bring in significant ROI when done correctly. Here are some more reasons why social media should be an essential part of your recruitment:
You can get higher quality candidates
Candidates who have social media presence tend to be more tech savvy and knowledgeable about current business trends. They also tend to be more productive as an employee and stay longer at a company.
Additionally, social media allows employers to identify and reach passive candidates who have the right qualifications but are not thinking about changing their current jobs. Social media activity makes passive candidates aware of new job openings that may motivate them to consider leaving their current job for another, better paid one.
It’s cost-effective
Using social media sites for finding and recruiting candidates is significantly less expensive than traditional search methods, such as job fairs or newspaper advertisements. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are free to set up, and if you want to run recruitment ads, it’s relatively affordable.
Traditional recruitment and branding methods such as running an advertisement through TV, billboard, newspaper or magazine can reach a large number of candidates, but it will cost the company an arm and a leg.
A Jobvite survey showed that 60 percent of companies estimate the annual return on investment for recruiting a single hire via social media to be $20,000 per year while 20 percent report an ROI of $90,000.
It shortens hiring time
With social recruiting techniques, you can shorten the time-to-hire. First, you can communicate with potential candidates faster through direct messaging, and candidates can respond immediately. Second, acceptance rates are higher among applicants who share common interests, values or work styles with a company or hiring manager, which means the vacancy will be filled more quickly.
It gives you the competitive advantage
Social media can provide immediate insight into potential candidates, in real time. If candidates and hiring managers are connected in some way, it may result in greater candidate-to-employee conversion rates.
It’s also easier for current employees to refer people based on shared interests, former colleagues, volunteer organizations, academic backgrounds, personality traits and online social groups. Employmee referral software like Firstbird allows employees to easily share your company’s jobs on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Xing. They can also share their personalized link privately over email and Whatsapp. You can sign up for a free trial here.