People haven’t changed but the way we communicate with them has. In our fast paced, ‘want it now’ society technology and new digital tools & platforms are making it easier than ever to access information which is literally at our fingertips. We no longer wait for anything.

The same applies in the world of business and although recruitment is essentially all about people, in 2016 how we find clients and candidates relies on much more than just knowing a few people in our network. Your potential clients and candidates are starting the ‘people finding’ process online and they cannot find you, then you are missing out on business.

One of these channels is social media. Social networks are becoming the preferred channels for promoting talent brand. Many recruiters are using social media as an affordable channel to promote their talent brand messages however often use them in the wrong way.

Word of click is the best form of word of mouth making social recruiting a way to amplify your  efforts and promote high-quality brand content to remain top of mind with candidates.

Are You Doing What 99% Of other recruiters are doing on Social Media?

Doing what everyone else is doing will continue to dilute the results you get from the time you are spending following the pack. So how should recruiters be using social media?

1. Start with the right channel for your candidates – just because other recruitment agencies are on Facebook doesn’t mean it is right for you and your audience. Start with audience first then channel selection next. The size, demographics and engagement level of the audience you reach depends on which social network you choose and what content you choose to post.
2. Put the “Social” in “Social Recruiting” – One of the main obstacles in social recruiting is getting candidates to respond and communicate with you. Encourage your recruiters to build their own professional social media accounts and showcase a little bit of their personality in their professional pages. Uploading pictures of workplace mascots and events, or sharing funny work-related photos, can help make their pages more welcoming. People want to do business with people they like.

3. Personal, relevant communication – a personalized message to a single candidate is much more effective than an automated message to a group of applicants. When sending out messages on LinkedIn, keep this in mind. More than 90% of hiring managers report using LinkedIn to search for potential candidates. Encourage your recruiters to send individualized, personal messages to each potential candidate, leveraging the information they locate on social media.
4. Have a clear strategy – not having a social or digital strategy is a great way to waste lots of money but taking a shotgun approach and hoping something sticks. It’s like wandering aimlessly around the jungle and hoping someone will find you. Be realistic. The time & money spent on hiring a specialist to create a strategy will save you much more than the initial investment in the next 6-12 months
5. Use new technology & digital tools – there is a plethora of digital tools, apps and new tech that can you and your team be smarter when it comes to using digital. Saved time on admin or content creation means more time in front of potential clients & candidates.

There are plenty to reason to use social media platforms for recruitment.  Recruiting through social networking platforms is a good way to find the perfect candidate however according to Jobvite’s 2015 Social Recruiting Survey, 67% of job seekers are on Facebook.

Just using Linked In to recruit is outdated and ineffective. Why? Because so are 93% of companies (so you are in a busy & competitive space) and only 36% of job seekers are actually active on LinkedIn.

It’s time to get smarter. Put a plan in place, invest some time, money & resources and treat social media as a serious marketing channel that should be included in your marketing budgets.