Social Recruiting: Sourcing best talent in social media

Social Recruiting: Sourcing best talent in social media

You scrolled through 10 pages of Linkedin search results, posted your job description on every job board you could find and sent it to university career centers… But there still aren't enough relevant candidates to interview.

We feel your pain, and are here to tell you that it's time to switch your efforts to social recruitment. Here is why and how:

The Why

The reason you are not able to find the right talent on job boards is because you only target active candidates when posting your job description there.

By reaching out to passive candidates you increase your talent pipeline. A person may not be actively looking for a job, but you have a chance to interest him or her in working for your company. There is also a higher chance that someone might share your message with a friend who might be just the right candidate for you (hence Like, Share, Comment)

By posting your jobs on social media you address your audience directly and on equal footing, enabling potential candidates to ask further questions and get in touch.

Now let’s move on to:

The How

Always begin your communication efforts with defining your target audience.

Success of your social media efforts depends on proper definition of your target audience in the first place, so it is worthy to devote some time into defining it. And no, your target audience is not described by your job requirements.

It is a common practice for marketers to use images for target audience portrait: habits, thoughts, demography. For your social recruitment campaign to be successful you will also have to create a detailed portrait of your potential employee. Here are some questions that will help you on this journey:

  • Where has my perfect candidate worked or is currently working? (it it your competitor, same industry or else, which location)
  • Am I looking for a skilled professional or is my company willing to invest in the development of new skills?
  • What education does my perfect candidate have?
  • Does my perfect candidate know foreign languages and which ones?
  • What are my perfect candidates’ areas of interest?
  • What is of great value to these people: functionality, convenience, safety, money, status?
  • What is the first thing a candidate pays attention to when deciding to apply for a new job?
  • How do competitors attract their candidates?
  • What social media platforms does my perfect candidate use?

When we have decided on who our target audience is, it's time to take care of where we will lead these people. It's one thing to describe and target the audience we need, and quite another to be able to attract and retain it.

The most important part here is creating a landing page that sparks interest and gives a taste of what it's like to work in your company. A landing page is not necessarily a career site or a microsite, it can also be: a career group on Linkedin or Facebook, or your company’s instagram, facebook, twitter accounts or even your youtube channel.

Deciding on a platform would be easy if you made a detailed portrait of your audience. Are they likely to come across your content in Linkedin or TikTok? This will determine what type of content you would need to produce in order to spark interest.

Career Website That Converts

The career site plays an important role - it conveys values ​​and corporate culture and attracts candidates. It is where you lead people to apply for a job at your company. You need a career site if:

  • your company needs employees in different departments (you are expanding or are often looking for quality personnel);
  • you are doing internships and need a platform to advertise vacancies and events;
  • you are engaged in social recruiting;
  • you are interested not only in active candidates, but also in passive ones;
  • you have something to tell the candidates - your company's employees have certain privileges that the company is proud of;
  • A career site is a candidate's window into the world of your company and your corporate culture.

Spice up your career site by adding these info blocks:

1)Opening screen: the first thing a person who is visiting your website will see. Your chance to make a first impression and spark interest. Foto, video, attractive inspirational slogan- all of these will keep a candidate interested in finding out more.

2) About us: a few words about the company. History, location, size are worth mentioning. When was the company founded? How did the rapid growth begin, and what were the key milestones in its development? Information can be presented in different ways: a video story from the founder, a couple of paragraphs of text, infographics or a timeline of the main events in the history of the company.

3) Company values and mission: There is no universal list of values, they are what makes your company unique and shape corporate culture. By listing them you inspire and provide insight into what you value most in your employees, it gives a candidate an understanding of whether he or she will fit. If the mission statement resonates with the candidate he or she is sure to put in meaningful effort.

4) Career opportunities: you are building a beautiful career page for only one reason- sparking desire to work with you. You want a talent to get familiar with the company on a career site and apply for a job. Thus it is imperative to list regularly updated career opportunities.

5) Company benefits: Do you offer special educational programs, health insurance, gym membership and flexible work hours, or cool stuff like paid parental leave, extraordinary office space and motivational travel? Make sure to mention it on your career page. When looking for a job, people are really searching for a place that will help them fulfill their potential, make meaningful friendships and feel comfortable. Get creative with the perks, you might not have a canteen, but maybe you allow pets in the office or have a fantastic barista- make sure to write about it.

6) Photo+video: It is no news that we are visual creatures, and adding visual imagery to your website will make a difference. Stock pictures are a no-no, invest some time and get creative about capturing your company’s unique culture-add pictures or videos of your premises, employees, office cats and corporate events. You can even make a contest asking your employees to contribute pictures of memorable moments at work, to showcase the corporate spirit. These could also be useful for your social media pages. If your employees are active on social media and you have a corporate hashtag, you can add a widget of a career instagram page to the site, this way up-to-date photos will always be showcased on your career website.

7) Testimonials: tell about your company through the eyes of employees. It would be wise to talk to newcomers and senior colleagues about their first impressions of the company and what they like most about it even before creating a website. Ask them to write a few words about the company and share their career story to let potential candidates know what to expect.

8) Contacts and social media links: let potential candidates know how to reach you. Address, phone number, corporate website address, email for further inquiries. To ensure timely response you could even add a chatbot to your webpage. Chatbot will promptly answer common questions and save your time. Peoplise provides Chatbot solutions and advanced opportunities to assess candidates via chatbot. You can learn more about it here.

Now that you have all the necessary information to impress your candidates, ensure your website is usable. A search button makes navigating through your content convenient. And to help convert potential prospects into applicants ensure that your application process is easy and quick.

Once your landing is ready, it's time to start promoting your employer brand on social networks you picked to communicate with your target audience. Adding links to your social media and website to relevant presentations and e-mails will help quickly gain followers and promote your values.

Here at Peoplise we are always happy to chat about how Peoplise next generation talent acquisition platform social recruiting solutions could work for you. Feel free to book a quick meeting.