Are you using social media in your search for finding good candidates that could be filling your roles? Your ideal candidate could be passively looking or lurking as I like to call it to see what and who is looking for someone like them without having to go through the whole process that is often broken and considered a black hole when applying to a role.
Candidates or what I like to call them, people, want to connect to other you know, people. Before I get into the different platforms with you, let’s make something abundantly clear YOU need to be social with folks, and that means doing more than posting job descriptions out there. Interaction is critical here, and there is a reason more and more sites are using tools to weed out bots from interacting with them. Now on to the most commonly used platforms of social media:
The Right Way to Use Social Media
LinkedIn and Facebook contain many fruitful groups that are both public and private. Both social media sites have pages in which you can join in just about any conversation. This can benefit you as a sourcer if you join a professional group and hope to better your craft, or potentially track a candidate.
In the favorite sourcing groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, you can ask various questions to the group about searches you are conducting, best practices that others may have used, or you can help others and share information. Some of the open groups are SourceCon, Recruiters Online, or Recruiters Who Make Placements. Once in these groups, a look around and be sure to check the rules as some moderators can be rigorous.
LinkedIn has plenty of groups that you can join but many, like a JAVA Users Group, can be closed and they prefer not to have recruiters in them as it is more social for them or programming based. Personally, groups on Facebook seem to be more beneficial than those on LinkedIn.
Furthermore, on Facebook and LinkedIn, you can have more than one profile page, and you can create a profile that can be used strictly for professional conversations and putting up job ads. When doing so use a hashtag (#), such as #job, or #employment or #(job skill). This will make your jobs more discoverable by people who are interested in that subject. On both LinkedIn and Facebook, you can get the team involved if they have accounts on the sites by sharing openings, with a hashtag as well the culture of the company and why they like working there. I would suggest making this optional though as not everyone is happy in their roles.
Videos
A new approach is also to have 30-second videos showcasing actual employees. These videos feature a variety of different employees saying why they like working for the company. Some of the videos go further and take a deep dive into their job and how they are growing. Videos can capture fun moments at company-sponsored events. Showcasing your employees having a great time is another excellent concept that will give others a preview of your company culture.
Lastly, there is Twitter. There is a limit of 280 characters, so you need to be short and creative with your message. Once you get the hang of it, you will start to attract followers. The best way to attract other users is by putting your jobs up, and that is it. Just kidding, that doesn’t work. What you should do is post once or twice a day with media that may interest people to look at your career site. Post relevant information. And most importantly, engage with people. Don’t act like a robot.
The Wrong Way to Use Social Media
- Beware of bias and open yourself up to new conversations.
- Don’t overspend. Social media should be an inexpensive platform if used correctly.
- Social media should complement your recruitment strategy. Everyone is not on social media.
- Don’t expect all the information shared on social to be entirely accurate.
- Interviews and background checks are still valid and legal.
- Avoid the sales pitch.