The Art of Recruiting: Why Social Recruiting Is Necessary

By Cheryl Morgan

Finding the perfect hire is both an art and a science. It's tricky, and a bad hire can be costly. That's why employers of all sizes pay recruiters to do the legwork for them when it comes to finding top talent. Recruiters have to go where the talent is, and these days, top candidates are on social networks. How has this digital migration affected recruiting? Why is going social important for recruiters?

Social networking has changed the idea of the resume.

Just 10 short years ago, a resume was a piece of paper (or sometimes two) that provided a brief overview of a candidate's qualifications. Now, recruiters can go beyond the resume to find out much more about candidates. The resume is only a small piece of the puzzle. Participation on social networks and in online communities helps recruiters determine if a candidate has a positive personal brand image and if he or she will be a good fit within the company culture.

 

Social platforms allow you to network with candidates who aren't looking for jobs.

Think about it. When you post an ad to a job board, who's going to see it? Odds are that only people who are currently looking for a job will find the ad. However, you shouldn't limit yourself to only individuals who are currently looking for a job. In fact, some top candidates who are happy in their current positions may be willing to make a change - if the right opportunity comes along. These passive candidates may not be on LinkedIn or searching the job boards, but you'll be able to find them on other social networks. Social networking is the best way to get the word out to those candidates that have no incentive to visit job boards. 

Job seekers visit social platforms regularly.

According to Pew Research, 73 percent of adults use one or more social networks. LinkedIn remains the most popular network for connecting with professionals, and it's the one most recruiters prefer. It's easy to search for candidates and make professional connections on a network where most of the users are looking for bigger and better opportunities. 

However, Facebook and Twitter are social recruiting powerhouses as well because they're so popular among frequent social users. Facebook is one of the most engaged platforms with 40 percent of users logging in multiple times per day. Twitter users are also known to log in multiple times. This means that recruiters have multiple daily opportunities to interact with users in their talent communities. There's simply no better way to engage users and develop relationships with top candidates. 

Social recruiting allows employers, recruiters and HR professionals to reach millions of people to showcase the employer brand, search for job seekers, generate referrals and vet candidates. Not only that, but using social networks to find candidates is more cost effective and results in superior hires. This is because recruiters can get a better picture of how particular candidates will mesh with employers. In other words, if you're not using social recruiting to look for hires, you're missing out on top talent.

Want to find out more about social recruiting and creating talent communities online? Check out the monthly webinar on How to Get Results on Social Media.

 

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