The recruiting world has seen some landmark changes since the close of the first and second decades of the new millennium. The days of collecting paper resumes have gone the way of the dying fax machine. If your business wants to stay competitive in the talent war, then you need to recruit online via social recruiting channels. What is social recruiting, you ask? That’s exactly what this blog will address.
From the jump you need to know that social recruiting is the best digital recruitment strategy that is primarily focused on recruiting younger talent from the Millennial and Gen Z populations. Keep in mind that the oldest Millennials are now turning forty, and the older Gen Z’s are out of college and have quickly gathered a few years of professional experience in the real world. Hopefully that quells the painstaking involuntary urge to assume that you’re targeting newly minted newborns. You are in fact going after skilled and experienced talent, and talent that has both come of age and entered the workforce in today’s tech-heavy world. So if you want skilled talent then these are the demographics you want to target, and the best way to reach them is through social recruiting.
Let’s get to it. Here is your ultimate guide to social recruiting.
What Is Social Recruiting?
Social recruiting is the digital recruitment process of using social media as a tool to help find and hire top talent.
In the last decade, the average number of times that people change jobs in their career has grown from 4.6 to 7.1. The tough economic times of late have only accelerated this trend, leaving a lot of talented individuals looking for new job opportunities
At the same time, social media has become woven into the American culture, as well as the culture abroad. According to recent studies, 71% of Americans use social networking sites. That’s more than 2/3 of the population! So it’s no surprise that digital recruiters are turning to social media to find new talent.
Where Social Recruiting Happens
There are a number of different social media platforms that you can use for recruiting. The most popular ones are LinkedIn and Facebook. But there are other “peripheral” social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube that you might not traditionally think of as recruiting grounds.
Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses for digital recruitment, so you’ll want to tailor your social recruiting strategy to fit the specific platform. Let’s run through a digital recruitment strategy for each platform so you know the best way to use them for your digital recruitment efforts.
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that is widely used by recruiters. It has more than 400 million users, and it is especially popular with older professionals.
LinkedIn is a great place to find high-quality candidates. The site has a number of features that make it perfect for digital recruiting, including:
– A resume database that allows you to search for candidates based on their skills, experience, and location.
– The ability to send messages to candidates directly.
– A “LinkedIn Recruiter” account that gives you access to more features, such as the ability to see who has viewed both you and your company’s profile, leading to improved data accuracy as well as job posting and saved candidate searches.
You should also consider using LinkedIn’s “Sponsored Updates” tool. This allows you to promote an update on your company page or a job opening directly in front of the LinkedIn users who match your target demographics.
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world, with over 1.5 billion active users. It’s also a great place for digital recruiters to find candidates, especially for jobs that require a more creative skill set.
Facebook has a number of features that make it ideal for digital recruiting, including:
– The ability to message a potential candidate directly.
– A “job” page that lets you post jobs and specify who can see them.
– Job applications built right into the news feed. Users don’t have to leave Facebook if they want to apply for a job with your company.
You can also use Facebook’s “Sponsored Posts” tool to promote your job openings to the right people.
Twitter is a microblogging site that is popular with younger professionals of both the Millennial and Gen Z generations. It has over 313 million active users.
Twitter is perfect for digital recruiters looking to fill jobs that require quick turnaround times or that are located in specific geographic areas. Tweets may be only 160 characters, but that’s plenty of space to post your open roles. If anything, it forces you to be more direct and succinct, giving potential candidates everything they need to know in a streamlined fashion.
Twitter has the following features that make it great for digital recruiting:
– The ability to message a potential candidate directly.
– A “jobs” page that lets you post jobs and specify who can see them.
– The ability to search for tweets that include certain keywords to find talent currently looking for a new role or those who are leaders in their industry.
You can also use Twitter’s “Promoted Tweets” tool to promote your jobs to the right candidates.
In recent years, Instagram has soared in popularity as a recruiting tool. It is especially useful for digital recruitment efforts focused on younger candidates who are interested in creative positions. Instagram is the perfect place to find candidates for specialized roles like a Social Media Manager or a Content Manager as well as broader roles like a photographer and or a videographer.
Overall, here are some of the main reasons why you should consider using Instagram to recruit talent:
– The content on Instagram is visual, which makes it more engaging than other social media platforms.
– Instagram has over 500 million active users.
– 84% of millennials use Instagram.
– Instagram is perfect for recruiting candidates for creative positions.
As a Facebook-owned company, Instagram also has a “Sponsored Posts” tool to promote your job openings to the right people.
YouTube
YouTube is the world’s most popular video-sharing site, and it is especially useful for digital recruiters looking to hire candidates with technical or academic skills. YouTube gives you access to content creators in a way that lets you assess their communication and research skills. It’s also a great place to advertise for a job with a high-quality video that details your company and your open positions.
There are two ways to use YouTube when recruiting. You can upload videos about your company culture or create videos related to your jobs.
Here are some of the main reasons why you should consider using YouTube to recruit talent:
– YouTube has over a billion users, meaning that you have a huge audience to reach.
– Over 7 million hours of video are uploaded every day.
– You can upload videos related to your jobs and promote them in front of the right candidates.
Need a Digital Recruitment Partner?
Hopefully you now understand the importance of social recruiting, but the fact is that it can be quite challenging if you don’t already have the knowledge and experience to recruit via social media. Talentfoot has that knowledge and experience in social recruiting as well as a boutique size that allows us to provide a high level of personalized service without sacrificing on a deep pool of stellar talent. Contact us today to start your journey towards finding your next great hire.
