Social Recruiting
In the 21st century, messages are no longer retrieved from a postbox in the morning, but rather read on a desktop or smartphone. The same principle applies to job vacancies. The young talent that companies want to recruit for their vacancies no longer leaf through job ads in the daily newspaper, but go online. For recruiters, this means that new paths have to be discovered in order to find good candidates. One of them is social recruiting.
What is Social Recruiting?
How Social Media Redefined Recruiting
Recruiting through social media requires a whole new approach to the task of recruiting from corporate talent acquisition teams. For example, the design of the company’s website, especially their company’s career section is of particular importance. The career portal must function without errors, clearly emphasize the benefits of working at this company, and also be regularly stocked with new content. Employer branding is a key topic and a very important foundation for recruiting. You can read more about it in our article 9 Reasons Why Employer Branding is Essential in Recruitment.
However, that doesn’t mean that only the website career pages are important when it comes to an employer’s space on the internet; certain social media channels that can also be used by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn also play a major part. Some would even say that a company’s approach to recruiting on social media is far more important than anything else. This is because social media offers an active and direct channel to reach potential candidates and start a conversation. This means that recruiters have more to do, but also lots of possibilities.
The Platforms Suitable for Social Recruiting
It is well known that there is often more appearance than substance in social networks. Therefore, platforms such as Tik Tok, Snapchat, or Instagram are generally not necessarily recommended as social media recruiting channels, although there are certain opportunities for certain professional groups.
In any case, recruiters who are active in social recruiting should keep an eye on trends and new developments as much as possible. Other platforms, on the other hand, allow recruiters to get at least an initial picture of a candidate and to actively approach promising talents on this basis. The most used social media recruiting platforms are:
- YouTube
Each of these channels has its own landscape, communication style, and culture of connecting with one another. This means that recruiters should approach each channel individually, taking these differences into account.
Social Recruiting Strategies
If your company wants to search for new talent on social media, you should approach it with caution. This type of recruiting requires a precise plan and the allocation of resources to effectively put that plan into action. Your company’s channels on social networks must be continuously filled with content and paid campaigns. If you engage influencers, you must be prepared and recognize this type of approach needs to be monitored, and the active approach to connecting with possible candidates must be coordinated. You have to consider the respective environments.
Career- and job-oriented platforms such as LinkedIn already offer the right environment for a direct approach, which on these networks should be more formal. Other social media sites like Facebook usually require a more casual tone. However, the presence of candidates on these networks is usually of a more private character and when actively making contact, recruiters must be aware that they are entering an area that is actually separate from professional life.
Benefits of Social Media Recruiting
If you want to learn more about the predictions of tomorrow’s talent, check out our Talent Management infographic.