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Recruiters are pretty social beings by nature, which is a good thing because being social is a big part of the job. Client meetings, candidate coffee dates, and industry events – it really is just another day at (or out of) the office. Recruiters connect people with opportunities and to do this, they rely on their solid network which they have built and fine-tuned to the highest quality over time.
It goes without saying social recruiting is the flashiest new talent acquisition method of the 21st century. When your internal rating, size of your income, or success of your team is at the mercy of unpredictable human elements and other variables outside of your control, it’s important to stay abreast of online candidate trends and get ahead of the game where you can. Recruiters have to give themselves every chance at attracting as much of the best possible talent into their pool, and that means utilizing social media properly.
We know LinkedIn is a major resource for recruiters, employers, and employees alike. Anyone who is anyone should really be on there, after all, it is the professional networking platform of our time with 400+ million members worldwide. But researching people and sending in mails or random invitations to connect is not all there is. There are a number of other ways to start recruiting socially.
It starts with unfilled positions
Did you know that 60% of employers are worried about empty chairs and staff shortages? Struggling to find the right talent is a huge concern for many businesses, and subsequently, recruiters, who attempt to find the right people on their behalf. The average time to hire is now 27 days – quite a long time when you consider most employers say they needed their next hire to start “yesterday”.
Failing to find good, available staff not only creates stress, but burns through money too. It’s believed that 48% of CEOs have said talent acquisition inefficiency costs them financially, so time is of the essence.
Add in some candidate competition
The talent shortage is a huge problem for some companies, and recruiters agree that more and more candidates are being won over by a variety of different roles at any given time. Currently, 67% of recruiters believe the fight for talent will only get harder. It reiterates the point that filling more jobs requires tapping into more potential candidate platforms.
Enter social media
Hiring managers sing its praises: 80% have said social media helped them find passive candidates, and 70% have said it’s helped them make successful hires. On top of this, 89% of companies plan to recruit using social media.
Time to step up your game
Here are some tips to get started on your social recruitment regime:
- Hold weekly Q & A sessions on Periscope to inform & engage candidates
- Use a mix of branded & job-related #hashtags on Twitter to maximum exposure
- Update your LinkedIn profile opener to let people know you’re hiring, without them even having to click
- Use Facebook audience insights to drive your posting strategy
- Use Instagram & Twitter to showcase the fun side of your company, not just roles
