Social media hiring has got to be taken seriously after social networks have transcended idle networking and led to purposeful connections, knowledge-sharing-led interactions within forums, and an ever-increasing number of active users.
The mixed bag of social media recruiting includes myriad benefits
The benefits of social media hiring far outweigh the stress of being ever-present and forever-on. Being open all hours of the day and week, measures to recruit and hire using social media can quickly spin out of control. Limiting the access of the general public turns challenging. Social media handles take the brunt of negative feedback and trolling. But this is an opportunity for a brand to turn around its image and bring positive associations. In doing so, it can extend its consumer-centric, employee-friendly values and demonstrate balance.
Young people – mainly in the age group of 18-24 are strikingly conversant with the social arenas of networking and are adept at using the services to their advantage. For instance, Twitter is an excellent platform through which professionals in each industry get to follow industry leaders, thought-leadership hashtags, and mentors.
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For at least a decade now, recruitment and selection of new employees have had a strong virtual element to them. Starting with emailed references across conventional borders, expansive networking opportunities, accelerated background checks, and verification of credentials, online recruiting and onboarding veered in favor of expedited hiring. Even so, speed is only one of the many marked advantages of an online hiring platform. Enter the proliferation of web 2.0, and social media hiring made the processing of filling job roles an exercise filled with intent and organic reach.
Speed in producing results via social media hiring is something of a by-product. Few recruiters hit the bull’s eye the moment a new listing is posted. The understanding about candidates’ psychometric skills, value-match with the vision of an organization, and temperamental insights are the bigger gains. In addition, the advantage lies in the number of accessible profiles, better-than-before response times thanks to mobile and data penetration, and propensity to maintain catalogs of potential talent through social media-powered communities.
A potent social media hiring strategy is more than combing through listings
Social media recruiting tips are incomplete without the mention of hashtags. Hashtags allow sorting and searching for opportunities in specific domains and industries, while also allowing participation in conversations that add to one’s knowledge and growth potential.
The most unexpected tactics lie in tiny nuggets of social media marketing wisdom. For instance, Instagram, LinkedIn (which is where 87% of recruiters first start their recruitment efforts), and YouTube also work as search engines and not mere social networks. They have powerful algorithms that bring up sponsored as well as organic suggestions of probable candidates, groups and discussion forums, and even threads or posts made by individual professionals. These posts can be a candidate’s real-time evidence of their body of work and portfolio of demonstrable experience. All this is available to the discerning recruiter if they only bother to look in the right places.
Tempering social media hiring trends
The downside of social media hiring and job listings is that posts calling for talent to respond and apply quickly become obsolete. Statistics show that the number of social media users is set to reach 400 million by the year 2021 and 440 million by 2023. Experts who study these trends use rather low margins to comment that the tide has turned away from Facebook in favor of Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Since these trends are set against the backdrop of a highly dynamic and short window, social media hiring cannot be the only or even the major channel for an organization’s hiring efforts.
Social media hiring best practices
- A social media presence isn’t merely for listing open positions. It should ideally be a strong platform for the organization’s brand strategy and promotion. “Pillar posts” that mirror the brand’s voice and tone can help visitors of the page understand the values and ethos that the organization stands for
- Beyond posting, actively engaging users, visitors, and participating in meaningful debate is a ruling guideline for a brand’s social media pages. These are places all the comments have to be answered, brand news and informative content such as facts are dispensed, and leads are nurtured
- Creating value before moving on to action items or soliciting feedback is the first commandment. It can take the form of answering questions, solving potential queries, and redirecting interested parties to relevant company pages. It is an essential part of retaining engagement
- While contacting prospects on social media networks, the traditional expectations of courtesy and formality may take a backseat. On the other hand, it is a welcome site for quick interactions and decision-making that reduces the number of steps
- Use social media hiring channels to divert applicants to a job portal or the employer’s careers page to move the transaction to a familiar, systematized format
- Glance through candidates’ social media pages and behavior as a key to understanding their personalities. This is an effective starting point for getting to know them on a personal level; however, it cannot be the only factor for evaluating candidature. Rather, it’s a revealing window into traits, beliefs, and ethos that they may not make obvious at a traditional interview. For this reason, social media hiring offers extra insights that are otherwise discovered much later in the candidate’s tenure at an organization. Example: leadership qualities or management ability
- A social media manager and tools to help maintain multiple social media accounts are essential to champion a successful brand proposition that converts into attracting the right kind of talent for the business. Hootsuite and Buffer are obligatory tools for any business with a digital presence. Hubspot and SEMRush are revered, senior players that enjoy the patronage of small businesses, solopreneurs, as well as established names in personal care, consumer durables, and electronics.
Through the entire exercise of maintaining social media accounts, documenting and executing social media hiring strategies, and following through with candidates via various channels, the one major takeaway is that recruiters need to establish, cultivate, and optimize their social media avatars. This takes time, energy, and an eye for trends. It is a form of hiring strategy that companies cannot ignore in the Information Age.
References:
- How to Use Social Media to Recruit and Hire | Recruiterbox | Trakstar | Sept 2020
- Why Every Business Should Be Using Multiple Social Media Accounts | business.com writer | April 2020
- Number of social network users India 2015-2023 | Statista.com | Sandhya Keelery | Oct 2020
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