I don’t know about you, but my least favorite thing to create is a job posting. Don’t get me wrong, it brings in great candidates, but I prefer to be on the phone speaking up the position than putting an ad online. In today’s day and age, with social media ruling the way many of us receive information, I first rejected the idea of posting onto Facebook or LinkedIn. I didn’t want my competitors knowing who my clients were. I didn’t want to discourage anyone from applying because the job that was too boring. And I didn’t want to deal with hundreds of unqualified candidates. Looking back, I feel these were all excuses for me to not learn and grow with the time.
LinkedIn & Facebook
Today I love posting on Facebook and LinkedIn. With regards to LinkedIn, I occasionally post what I am looking for in groups. I also post a message (not necessarily a job ad) to reach out and network. With Facebook, I take all my first-degree connections from LinkedIn (DuxSoup is a great tool for this) and second/third degree with similar titles and in the same industry to then advertise to them on Facebook. This can cost more than a job ad, but at least it gets the message to roughly 70% of the people from your LinkedIn list. Remember those times you get candidates from a chain of forwarded emails? The same can work for Facebook ads, with tags to their friends or forwarding the ad to their friend. Granted, Facebook ads are much more expensive, but when you target an ad to 500 candidates in who you’re looking to hire with the same title/experience, then your chances of getting qualified leads go up exponentially.
Job Ads
My best job ads have been typing in the requirements and the sales pitch that the role was confidential. I described much of the perks in a job advertisement without giving away too much detail. I end the job ads with a guarantee no one will be submitted to the client without speaking me first and me telling them who they are, etc. and everything will be kept confidential. This significantly lowers the number of applicants (probably by 50%), so I spend less time going through unqualified people. When a candidate sees the “must haves” they are less likely to apply.
Marketing
Moving away from job ads, and into “marketing” which I find a better return these days, I post onto Facebook and LinkedIn just looking to market and network with individuals. If I want to get a salary survey, I post a Facebook ad or LinkedIn. I’ll expressly say, “Doing real-time market research for a client on salary info for this type of role, please call to discuss your current, previous, and desired salary.” I do the same thing when looking for a candidate; I may make an ad talking about the exciting opportunity I have without labeling it a job ad in the title. If I can get them to read my article that discusses the exciting technological aspects my client is dealing with, it can pique a passive candidate’s interest to learn more. “Do you have ideas on how to make this project better?” at the end of the article goes a long way in getting candidates to share their insights. And then you can see if they would be interested in contributing to the project.
I find Facebook groups to be better than LinkedIn groups when looking for candidates or posting jobs. LinkedIn has difficult navigation for its users, which is why I prefer Facebook. Whenever you get a response from potential candidates, always make a point to reach out to them. Going the extra mile rather than just posting the job or being the thread starter will make the candidate appreciate the effort you made. They will be more willing to speak with you. You already have a soft intro, “I saw your post on the thread I made, and I wanted to speak with you about it.” If they aren’t interested, they probably know someone who is.
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid of social media, nor the cost that comes with it. Creating articles, job ads, or videos to target the individuals rather than posting on Indeed or ZipRecruiter, etc. goes much further utilizing social media.