How to use social media to recruit

Although a large part of social media is still dominated by cat videos, the prospects still look bright for recruiting as at least 66% of job seekers use social media and a growing number of companies are using it for recruiting. If you too are ready to harness the power of social media to recruit, let’s get started.

How to hire through social media?

Using social media to recruit can broadly be done in 2 ways:

1. Sourcing

Sourcing is the first step of recruitment. It involves finding job candidates who might be the right fit for the current positions or any future job openings. Here are a few ways in which social media helps with this stage of recruitment:

I) Job posts on social media: This is the most straightforward use of social media for recruiting. Some of your followers may already have wondered if it’s possible to work with you and this can be one way to reach out to those candidates. Additionally, it can help you reach a wider audience through shares, retweets, reposts, and so on.

II) Employer branding: While people may know about your product or service, they might not know so much about behind the scenes at your company. So use your social media page to show what kind of a workplace you have and generate interest among people. When the need finally arises for hiring someone, you would have already established what kind of an employer you are and are more likely to receive applications from the relevant candidates.

III) Networking and outreach: Social media is also a place to reach out to passive candidates who may be the right fit for your organisation. Since their social media accounts would already give you insights into their work, you can make your outreach more personal.

2. Screening

Once the candidates have made it past the job application phase, the next step is screening. At this stage, the employer wants to select the best candidates for an in-person interview and one of the ways to do this is through social media.

The recruiter may use a candidate’s social media presence to see more of their work, to assess if the candidate would be a good cultural fit, or to conduct a background check.

Now that we know what social media recruiting is used for, let’s find out how to do it.

Social media recruiting on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is pretty much synonymous with professional networking in India, which is the second largest user of the platform. So if you are looking for local talent, then LinkedIn is the place to be.

1. Post a free job

If you are just getting started with LinkedIn, you can try posting a job for free on LinkedIn to get a hang of how the platform works. You can do this either through your company page or your personal profile. Once you have posted a job, it will be visible to the entire LinkedIn user base. The only drawback is that the visibility of your post decreases over time. If you want to make the application process easy for candidates, you can also allow them to apply through their LinkedIn profile. However, remember that this will put candidates who have an updated profile at an advantage.

Once you have understood the platform, you can check out their paid offerings, which allow you to reach out to 3rd degree connections. This can be useful if you want to use LinkedIn to find passive candidates.

2. Use the right keywords when posting a job

Just like Google, LinkedIn scans your job post to know if it’s relevant for a user’s query. So make sure you include the keywords that the candidate is likely to use when searching for a job like the one you have posted. This means saying goodbye to using terms like ‘rockstar’ or ‘ninja’ and using relevant keywords like ‘Business Development Associate’, ‘Content Writer’, and so on.

3. Take out the time to write personalised InMail messages

Always do your research about the candidate when sending an InMail. For example, you can look for their work or see the kind of topics they are interested in. It shows that you value the candidate’s time and might help you create a connection even if they aren’t looking for a job at the moment.

4. Create a top-notch LinkedIn page for your company

Once a candidate sees a job post, one of the first things they do is check out your LinkedIn page. Therefore, create a company page that resonates with the type of candidates you want to attract. This includes:

I) writing a clear and error-free ‘About’ description

II) posting quality content such as thought-leadership content, interesting company news, employee stories, event updates, and so on.

III) updating the job section

IV) showing what makes your workplace unique in the life section

                                                                                         Source: Ola’s company page on LinkedIn

5. Join LinkedIn groups

Since LinkedIn is a great place for networking with people within your industry, there are a number of groups for various industries. You can join the groups that allow you to post a job.

Social media recruiting on Instagram

A favourite among Gen Z and millennials, Instagram is a good resource for many of your recruiting needs, especially if you are hiring for creative professions such as designing, animating, photography, video editing, and copywriting. So, let’s see how you can get into it.

1. Make employer branding an all-year around affair

Posting about your workplace shouldn’t come into picture only when you are hiring. Instead, make it a regular thing. You can do this by celebrating your employees, posting about perks such as company retreats, sharing pictures that show your company culture, and so on.

Moreover, you can also make use of your employees’ social media presence. For instance, you can create user-generated content such as your employees posting about their workplace. This can include any events that they attended, their favourite things about the company, etc. You can also encourage them to use unique hashtags such as #LifeAtGoogle.

2. Use Instagram Ads

If you are a relatively new brand, it might be a bit difficult to gain a lot of visibility organically. In this case, targeted Instagram Ads along with the right hashtags can increase your reach. Besides giving the viewers an option to learn more about the opportunity, you can ask them to tag their friends and family who might be a good fit.

3. Try out influencer marketing

Collaborating with influencers who believe in your company’s mission can be an excellent way to tap into a completely new pool of candidates. In addition to reaching a wider audience, influencers can bring their fresh take on your recruitment activities.

Social media recruiting on Twitter

Let’s find out how you can find the right candidates among the Twitterati.

1. Ace the hashtag game

Since Twitter is a space for conversation, keep with the discussions in your industry by following the right hashtags. Share your insights in the right conversations and increase your brand awareness among candidates.

When sharing job posts, make sure to include relevant hashtags. Besides using hashtags like #wearehiring, you can also use location-specific hashtags such as #GurugramJobs.

2. Post engaging content

Social media users are generally looking for content that is educational or entertaining. So you can share engaging content from your own website or retweet any interesting post that you might have come across and that your users might find helpful.

3. Use images

Although Twitter is largely a text-centric platform, adding visuals can improve your engagement. You can add pictures while posting job ads or showcasing your company culture.

Social media recruiting on YouTube

Video is swiftly becoming the preferred mode of content consumption and YouTube is the beloved video sharing platform. Some ways in which YouTube is being used as a recruiting tool includes:

1. Talk about your hiring process and how to nail it

Talking about your selection process can help with any uncertainty that the candidates may experience and show that you want them to succeed. This can improve candidate experience, which can lead to a higher offer acceptance rate. For example, Google talks about different steps in their selection process such as creating resumes and interviewing.