Job boards no longer deliver relevant results as they once did.
It turns out that many recruiting methods that recruiters relied on earlier are now quite obsolete.
Nowadays, social hiring efforts have become the go-to strategy for attracting and converting top talent in this competitive job market.
If you’re still unaware of this approach’s many benefits and how to adopt the best social recruiting strategy, keep reading for more.
To put it briefly, social recruiting refers to advertising jobs and connecting and engaging with potential candidates through social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and various other career sites.
Social media recruiting has become intrinsic to recruitment marketing and employer branding strategies.
It goes beyond posting open vacancies on social networking platforms.
Instead, recruiters can use social media networks along with social media schedulers which have the features to schedule Facebook posts, LinkedIn Posts & much more to proactively source potential candidates, build relationships with them, and encourage passive job candidates to apply for positions.
Social recruitment helps recruiters identify and reach out to high-quality job candidates without wasting time and resources.
Also, engaging with candidates through social media platforms can help build more meaningful relationships in the long run.
If you’re still not convinced, take a look at these social recruiting statistics proving how social media strategy is a must-have for all recruiters.
- Glassdoor found that 79% of job seekers use social media to conduct a job search
- Over 84% of organizations recruit via social media, with another 9% planning to do so
- 73% of job seekers between 18 and 34 found their last job through social media
- 78% of recruiters expect the use of social media recruiting to increase
Traditional hiring methods no longer serve the needs of modern recruiters.
Outdated methods like job advertisements and cold calling fail to attract ideal candidates and not to mention how time-consuming it can be.
As a result, recruiters must adapt to the evolving trends to stay relevant to today’s job seekers.
As of January 2022, there are almost 5 billion social media users worldwide—leaving a massive opportunity for recruiters to engage with active job seekers.
Traditional recruiting methods relied on strategies that were much more time-consuming and expensive, making them far less efficient than social recruiting strategies.
Here are some of the many benefits of social recruiting–
1. Reach out to passive candidates
Passive candidates comprise a large part of the job market. Even though passive candidates are not actively looking for new job opportunities, recruiters cannot ignore these potential candidates as they make up 70% of the candidate pool!
Social media is an excellent way to increase the visibility of your job listings that otherwise may not be seen by passive candidates.
You won’t find passive candidates active in a job search, but they can come across a job posting through their social media feeds.
With platforms like LinkedIn, recruiters can quickly gauge the most relevant candidates according to their experience and skills.
They can always drop a quick message to passive candidates to check if they are interested.
2. Showcase company culture
Attracting potential candidates by showcasing company culture has become a popular recruitment strategy.
In traditional recruiting methods, company culture was unheard of.
However, times are changing, and today company culture attracts the top 20% of job seekers.
This shows how a strong employer brand and positive online presence carry weight, especially for passive job seekers.
Social media allows potential candidates to get an inside look into life in a particular organization.
Building and displaying a unique company culture is crucial for attracting potential candidates and positive employer branding.
If recruiters use social media to display a great company culture, job seekers will want to become a part of it.
In fact, 47% of job seekers state that company culture is the main reason for wanting to leave their current employer.
Recruiters can showcase company culture and values to attract top talent with a solid social recruiting strategy.
3. Amplify employee referrals
Employee advocacy is the best way to increase your recruitment outreach efforts, and social recruiting is the best way to implement this.
Some of the best candidates are often recognized through employee referrals, and social media makes it easier for employees to get involved.
Moreover, employee referral programs can help amplify your employee referral efforts.
A single job posting can easily be seen by thousands of potential candidates just by a few shares from employees who have a large following.
Content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels.
Employee referrals are a powerful recruiting strategy that recruiters shouldn’t underestimate.
Social media simplifies this process, and sharing posts makes it easier to attract relevant talent.
4. Target relevant candidates
There’s no doubt social recruiting provides a much wider talent pool, but the prospective candidates are often not always the most relevant.
To target the most relevant group of candidates, make sure you post to Instagram from PC and other channels too, and share your job postings in the most relevant groups and platforms.
Make sure you are actively involved in relevant groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other relevant social platforms.
There are many different social media platforms, but not all of them will effectively attract relevant talent.
To begin with, identify niche networks where your target groups are active in.
For example:
- Talented developers can be found on platforms like GitHub and Stack Overflow Jobs
- Startupers and Angel List are great platforms for finding candidates for startup positions
- Surprisingly, many talented professionals can be found sharing their expertise on Quora
Ultimately, if you are not advertising and posting on the right platform, you will fail to attract the ideal candidate, no matter how many applicants you receive.
Finding high-quality candidates starts by tapping into the right platform depending on the role you’re trying to fill.
In addition, identifying these niche platforms will also help diversify your talent pool.
1. Build your employer brand
A desirable workplace that is reflective through its employer branding will continue to attract potential candidates.
In fact, 75% of active job seekers are more likely to apply to a vacancy if an employer actively manages their employer brand.
If your online presence does not reflect your organization’s culture and values, attracting top talent will be a challenge.
To build your employer’s brand and recruitment marketing strategy, share relevant content which presents the organization as a great place to work for.
With a compelling employer brand and recruitment marketing strategy, recruiters can easily attract potential candidates organically. Adding support from social media experts can further enhance this by utilizing platforms that naturally draw a large, diverse talent pool, boosting the company’s visibility and engagement.
Here are more tips to highlight your employer branding efforts through social media:
- Share employee-generated content
- Keep your audience informed of company benefits and the latest initiatives
- Share insightful and relevant content with relevant groups
- Create a QR code that can be used and shared to integrate your brand’s content
Overall, employer branding should effectively represent an organization’s mission and values to attract the ideal candidate.
2. Stay active & engage with candidates
If you want to engage with candidates effectively, don’t just spam your audience with irrelevant content.
Instead, stay active by sharing engaging and insightful content that adds value.
By sharing relevant content, recruiters can build a community of like-minded clients and candidates, building credibility and authority.
Remember—don’t throw information at them by creating an echo chamber. Instead, start a conversation and carry it on.
Just make sure you share valuable and relevant content that will make candidates want to engage with your job postings. Such regular postings on various platforms are required, which can be done by creating a social media posting schedule.
Most importantly, pay attention to what kind of content your audience engages with the most and which social media platform gains the most attention.
Track key metrics to gain insight into what kind of content is attracting the most candidates. Consequently, you can also modify your approach according to the data.
3. Leverage a recruiting software
Recruitment software is another integral tool that has taken over the recruitment and staffing industry.
This intelligent and multi-use tool also serves as an effective social recruiting tool.
How so?
By integrating social media platforms with an Applicant Tracking System, recruiters can easily communicate with candidates through multiple job boards and social media platforms without opening multiple tabs.
In addition, recruiters can entirely automate their social media functions through an ATS—saving a massive amount of time.
An ATS can also provide valuable data and insight about your social recruiting strategies, helping you tailor your methods.
Frequently asked questions
Social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are practical social recruiting tools.
Apart from social media platforms, job boards and career sites like LinkedIn, Monster, and Glassdoor serve as the most effective social recruiting tools too.
With several recruitment tools and software, recruitment marketing software makes social recruiting much more streamlined.
Some recruiting software like a Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) and an ATS also provides effective social recruiting solutions.
Social media recruiting reduces time and effort in recruiting activities, including sourcing, attracting, and communicating with candidates.
Social recruiting methods allow recruiters to attract a broader and more diverse talent pool.
With social media platforms like LinkedIn, potential candidates can easily access and apply to relevant positions.
As a result, recruiters do not have to manually search and screen potential job applicants.
Mostly social media is used for recruiting as it helps attract a diverse talent pool. Also, social recruiting strategies can help attract passive candidates who would otherwise not consider a job search.
Social media also helps recruiters target specific candidate pools and increase their reach to relevant candidates.
Most importantly, it reduces costs and resources, shortening the hiring process.
