“Meet your audience where they are.” Marketing and media professionals alike have lived by this code for decades. In the era of social media and the 24/7 information cycle, it is more important than ever to reach your target audience on their platform of choice.
If marketing and media professionals follow this rule, why not recruiters? Is your company utilizing social media recruitment to its fullest capabilities? If not, chances are you are missing out on a large pool of quality candidates. In fact, according to BetterTeam, 94% of professional recruiters use social media to post jobs.
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Why Social Should Be in Your Recruitment Plan
We know that Millenials currently make up the largest faction of the American workforce (there were 56 million of them as of 2017). In fact, more than one-in-three American workforce participants is a Millenial. So, what’s the best way to reach this young group, which represents the immediate future of the young labor force?
Social media, of course.
According to Adobe, Millenials view social media ads as the most relevant ads they consume. This alone explains why social media should be included in your recruitment plan. If we know Millenials are using social media (88% of people ages 18-29 use some form of social media), and they’re saying that the ads they consume there are the most relevant to them, why would you resist sharing your open jobs in those ads? There is a reason 93% of businesses are expected to increase social ad spend this year alone.
But it’s not only young people you can reach using social media. According to the PEW Research Center, some 78% of adults ages 30-49 use some form of social media.
Social media not only allows companies to reach a vast talent pool of potential candidates, it also allows them to create a brand image that speaks to their target audience. According to BetterTeam, 59% of employees said they chose their current workplace in part because of their company’s social media presence. There’s a reason for this. Social media allowed these candidates to get a look inside at the company’s culture.
There is the marketing cliche that says, “reach somebody with the right message, in the right place, at the right time.” In this case, social media platforms are the right place, narrowing down your audience to target people who have shown job seeking behaviors makes it the right time, now you just have to give them the right message.
Social Allows You to Recruit Proactively
Traditional recruiting methods, which were costly and inefficient, required candidates to find employers. This left employers and their recruiters essentially sitting around twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a candidate to pop into their inbox, all while open positions sat unfilled. BetterTeam says that, on average, it takes companies 27 days to fill an open position, which is an all-time high.
Image by BetterTeam
Social media allows recruiters to track down their target candidates and present them with the message and opportunity they’re looking for. Recruiters love social media because of its cost-efficiency and versatility.
For example, LinkedIn allows recruiters to target passive job seekers by posting job openings on their platform for professionals to come across, whereas Facebook has the ability to narrow down a talent pool using defined characteristics, behaviors and qualifications to find active job seeking candidates for hard-to-fill positions. Easy-to-fill positions can be aimed at a less expensive, broader talent pool, leaving more recruiting dollars to be spent on hard-to-fill positions
Social media also allows employers to get a snapshot of what a candidate is like before they commit to an interview. The traditional resume allows no such liberties. When you can attract candidates who you can be sure will be a culture fit, your odds of making a productive hire improve greatly.
Tips to Effectively Recruit Using Social Media
- Promote your job openings on as many social platforms as you can
- Use targeted recruiting smartly (broader searches for easy-to-fill positions and narrowed searches for hard-to-fill positions)
- Use social media to give potential employees a look inside the company culture
- Use social media to focus on your current employees in addition to the services you may provide
- Recruit more efficiently by using social media to evaluate a candidate’s personality and character before committing to them for an interview
- Encourage your staff to share job postings within their social communities
