How to Activate the Benefits of Using Social Media for Recruiting

By Kate Russell

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An estimated 2.95 billion people were using social media last year. This number is only expected to increase.

It’s expected that people will only become more connected digitally. An estimated 3.43 billion people are expected to use social media.

The expansive reach of social media presents a unique benefit to businesses who face talent gaps during the COVID–19 pandemic.

Vacancies can incur significant costs over time, which makes recruitment freeze challenges for many businesses.

By leveraging social media channels, businesses can fill costly role vacancies without spending too much.

Execute the following steps to activate the benefits of social media recruitment and access top talent during the economic downturn.

 

1. Consider Your Options of Social Media Channels

Businesses should assess the variety of social media platforms available to them to maximize their time investment.

The expanse of social media platforms may result in many feeling overwhelmed about where to invest their valuable time and financial resources. Social media platforms range from video-sharing platforms such as TikTok to localized messaging platforms such as QQ.

To effectively extend your reach and maximize your investment, you can focus your recruitment efforts on Facebook and LinkedIn. A majority of companies use the two platforms to recruit candidates: 70% use Facebook; 67% use LinkedIn respectively.

Facebook features a Jobs tab, user groups, and organic user referrals. In the Jobs tab, you can create a job post using the status updater tool on your company’s profile. You can specify the desired qualifications to guide candidates. Interested candidates can click “Apply now” to send their personal information directly to you via Messenger.

Job seekers search for part- or full-time positions in their industries and regions through the job board. If interested in a position, candidates can share their qualifications, which are sent via Messenger.

You can leverage LinkedIn to fill specialized and technical roles. The platform features filters for skills, physical locations, and professional experience.

LinkedIn allows you to narrow your talent searches with filters. This supports recruitment for highly skilled candidates whereas Facebook functions better for recruiting less-experienced workers.

Businesses should review the different functions of Facebook and LinkedIn to maximize their social media recruitment efforts.

 

2. Take Advantage of Social Media Job Posts

Businesses should consider increasing their investments in social media job posts to attract top talent during the pandemic.

Job postings on social media is a popular recruitment strategy. A majority of businesses (93%) use their social media profiles as a recruitment strategy.

Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users, making it the largest social media channel. This means your best chances for people to come across your recruitment ad is if it’s on Facebook.

To reach your target audience, you should appropriate the necessary resources to the effort. You can improve your social media job postings by using paid advertisements targeted to your audience. Using Facebook Ads, you can set your budget for paid advertisements and adjust it as necessary.

You can also repurpose posts in different formats such as videos to engage a broader audience. Another strategy to increase the success of your job postings is to join industry groups on Facebook or LinkedIn. This helps your posts to reach the right candidates.

Greater time and financial investments in social media job postings may support your efforts to secure qualified candidates.

 

3.Review Potential Candidates Social Media Profiles Carefully

Businesses should assess their policies of evaluating a candidate’s personal social media profiles.

A majority (70%) of companies look at a job candidate's social media profiles before offering a role. Businesses may review candidates’ social media profiles to familiarize themselves with candidates.

The primary reasons for employers to screen a candidate’s social media profiles are to find information to support a candidate’s qualifications and to ensure the candidate has a professional digital presence.

It’s legal for you to review public social media accounts. However, assessing personal social media profiles could place your company at risk of violating discrimination laws.

For example, you may find a post that reveals unsavory information about a candidate. If that information is irrelevant to the role but influences your decision, you may be at risk of allegations of employment discrimination.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces various non-discrimination laws, which protect against workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

You can look at a candidate’s profile to familiarize yourself with them. If you learn about a candidate’s sexual orientation, you can’t make a hiring decision based on it.

Social media is a valuable recruitment tool, but you should be cautious in the application of personal profiles in the process.

 

4. Emphasize Your Culture on Your Business’ Social Media Profiles.

Businesses should leverage their social media profiles as a tool in their branding strategy to attract qualified candidates.

Frequent updates to your business’ social media profiles increase your online visibility. This allows you to remain top of mind for customers and job seekers.

You can attract the right candidates by highlighting your workplace culture in social media posts.

Use different channels to share employees’ professional and personal stories related to your company’s brand.

For example, Google produced a video that featured the company’s interns for a day and published the content on their YouTube profile.

The video includes interviews with different interns about their backgrounds and what interested them in Google. Through the discussions, Google emphasizes its unique atmosphere and characteristics that drew the interns to the company.

By using social media to emphasize its workplace culture, Google can access a greater number of applicants and attract candidates interested in their culture.

You can highlight your company’s culture by engaging employees in social media branding initiatives.

Encourage employees to post about their own workplace experiences using different mediums to reach a broad audience. Ask them to use branded hashtags to help interested job seekers find and follow the content quickly.

Businesses should post content that features their brand and culture on social media profiles to entice qualified candidates.

 

Engage Social Media Channels to Improve Recruitment Efforts

Businesses should leverage social media channels to support cost-effective recruitment initiatives.

You should tailor their social media recruiting to the different social media platforms. LinkedIn and Facebook both host a wide audience but feature different user bases.

By investing resources in social media job posts, you can increase their visibility to target audiences.

Review a candidate’s personal social media profiles with caution. You may risk a violation of discrimination laws.

Use your social media profiles to promote your brand and culture. This can help to filter out candidates who won’t fit into your team.  

About the Author:

Kate Russell is an Editorial Associate for Clutch — an Inc. 1000 private company that helps decision-makers determine the best B2B service providers to solve business challenges. She is also an HR research and content lead.

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