Advantages of Social Media for Recruitment: Best Practices

The role of social media in recruitment is rapidly evolving, with 830 million LinkedIn users, it’s the digital home for candidates and recruiters to network and engage. It shouldn’t be treated just as a resource but as a fundamental part of your hiring strategy.

Read on to understand the advantages of social recruiting - and how to build an effective recruiting strategy on social media for your agency.

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What is social recruiting?

The practice of utilizing social media platforms to discover and engage with candidates is known as social recruiting. A solid strategy involves various recruitment marketing activities that help create a more attractive experience for candidates.

Advantages of social media for recruitment

The digital era is hasty, forcing us to always be operating in fifth gear and the recruitment industry is no exception to this. As recruiters, we’re well aware that traditional recruiting methods are becoming tiresome, and for this reason, many are turning their attention to ‘what’s going on' in the digital sphere.

Facebook - 2.9 billion

Twitter - 290.5 million

LinkedIn - 830 million

Tik Tok - 1 billion

Instagram - 1 billion

Whether you’re trying to improve your company's EVP (employee value proposition) or build your ideal talent pool, it’s no secret the perfect candidate will be active on these platforms. Social media also is listed in one of the tips for sourcing the best talents with a recruitment pipeline so far. As humans we can be afraid of the unknown, sometimes the new can be daunting, but we also have to take risks and that means not sitting in your recruitment comfort zones.

To help you on your digital journey, below are 5 reasons why recruitment businesses should consider leveraging social media for recruitment.

1. A cost-saving solution

It’s not breaking news that recruiting can be a costly undertaking. Taxi fares and dinner expenses can add up over time, not to mention the cost of posting on job boards.

Social media is a cost-effective way to approach new candidates and at the same time alleviate any financial pressure, which is important during this talent shortage. It offers the ability to shift interviews online using Zoom, teams, and any other free video recruitment platform. As well as utilizing free job ads, Facebook ads can get you twice the visibility as traditional recruitment methods.

2. Expand your talent pool

Social media is constantly evolving, and that means new platforms for you to reach a wider talent pool. As "The Great Resignation" becomes a reality, it’s no shock that recruiters are now looking at Gen Z to aid them through these turbulent times. That means leveraging off of modern platforms like Tik Tok and even keeping up with new features and updates with Instagram and LinkedIn. It’s time to take chances so you can find the right fit for your clients.

3. Boost your employer brand

86% of passive candidates evaluate a brand before applying for a job. Recruiters are now becoming more conscious of their online social presence, and now strengthening their bottom line with D, E&I. It helps build trust in your employees as well as potential candidates.

4. Higher quality candidates

It’s difficult to read character and personality from CVs or screening tests, and even then do you get a true representation of your potential candidates? Social media offers a space where people can express their opinions and more importantly; themselves. A candidate’s profile can help understand and identify their personality through these key traits: boldness, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness.

Challenges of social media for recruitment

Social media has drastically changed the landscape of recruiting. However, due to the constantly evolving nature of these platforms, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest features and trends. This is especially relevant to smaller agencies, as well as recruiters who are not so agile in terms of learning about technologies.

For those who are about to start a temp agency or have just been in the market for a short time, learning to utilize software and social media is crucial to sustainably grow your business. Here, we have compiled a guide to recruitment software for small businesses - so that you may figure out a solution that best works for your organization.

How to build an effective social media strategy for recruitment agencies

An effective social recruiting strategy is more than just a direct message or a job post. It takes time, expertise, and continuous effort to maintain active engagement with candidates. Learn the essential steps to help build an effective social recruiting strategy.

1. Build your candidate persona

Based on your client's input, you should then craft the target candidate's profile - including a list of professional qualifications, personality traits, and other specified requirements. This should allow you to run job ads with a much better targeting precision - as well as help you create content that truly matters to your audience.

2. Choose the right platforms

We’ve discussed some popular platforms amongst recruiters above - now, it’s time to decide which one will work best for your client’s sector and target personas. It is recommended that you focus on 1-2 channels only, so as to avoid spending resources on platforms that yield little results.

To better manage your sourcing activities, consider using an integrated tech stack in order to streamline the process and better keep track of important analytics.

3. Measure the results

Some important metrics for social media recruitment include:

Traffic: How many followers do you have? How relevant is the followers’ background?
Conversions: How many of your followers are converted in the recruitment funnel?
Engagement: How many followers actually engage with your posts? Etc.

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