Social media networks are increasingly the "secret weapon" of top Canadian recruiters seeking greater numbers of highly qualified candidates.
By Joseph Warren
Though dedicated online job boards continue to exist, both employers and prospective candidates are increasingly turning to social media for recruitment and hiring. In Canada, nearly 100 percent of skilled professionals have a social media presence, according to surveys by Workopolis. This makes social media a rich recruiting environment, especially for companies seeking passive candidates. In fact, according to the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) 82 percent of firms cite "uncovering passive candidates" as the no. 1 reason they created a social recruitment presence!
Of course, this does not mean firms can go online and connect with great talent instantly. Social media's reputation as a "time suck" is not unwarranted, especially for recruiters attempting to sift through thousands of profiles to find that perfect fit.
As a result, to use social media as a tool to uncover more (and better) candidates, companies need to be efficient as they search, boost their results by leveraging current employees, and make the most of best practises while avoiding the biggest mistakes.
With nearly all of Canada's professional population currently online, it can be difficult for recruiters to efficiently search for candidates. This is doubly true when the target hire is a passive candidate who may not be active in jobseekers' groups. To help narrow things down and save time, recruiters must thus take a very focused approach to their social media recruiting.
One strategy to up the efficiency of social media recruitment is to narrow the search to subgroups or smaller platforms. For example, on LinkedIn, looking for candidates in conversation groups or associations devoted to the specific position sought (i.e., HR Managers of Quebec or Social Workers of Alberta) can yield better quality leads. Companies can also be a bigger fish in a smaller network by targeting users on Vero (Instagram alternative), Mastodon.Social (Facebook alternative), or Tumblr (Twitter alternative).
Or, for firms reluctant to leave the biggest platforms, integrating into groups and designing custom hashtags for the job hunt (say, #accountantswanted or #realtorjobsBC) can help speed up the posting discovery process.
Of course, one of the best ways to extend the reach of a recruitment push is already in-house for all recruiters. Existing staff can slice the time it takes to find a new hire in half … and perhaps not for the reasons one might imagine.
Boosting Results by Leveraging Current Employees
Forget "boosted posts" or featured listings. One of the most effective ways to get better results from social media recruitment is to leverage existing employees. This is done not by having employees act as recruiters, but by showcasing current employees and giving them compelling reasons to speak positively about the company in their social media posts.
Job hunters … and especially millennial job hunters, according to Betterteam … place a high premium on companies perceived as "a great place to work." Current employees who gush about their jobs on social media therefore are an invaluable advertisement for the type of workplace on offer. Further, by showcasing existing employees and their stories in online posts, companies can demonstrate opportunities for growth, flexible work arrangements, and other key employment benefits in a much more believable way than simply posting, "We're a great company."
Seem silly or obvious? According to Betterteam, 59 percent of employees cited information from a company's social media feeds as a factor in their job search. They also reported that they "frequently or always" used social media as a way of screening employers.
Just as nearly 70 percent of employers use social media to screen potential hires, so too are job candidates vetting official feeds by comparing the "party line" to the unofficial posts by existing team members. If there is not a match or if red flags emerge, many candidates will look elsewhere for work.
As a result, maintaining a good work culture and encouraging existing staff to share their positive stories about work is a major boost for recruitment teams.
Key Best Practises and the Biggest Pratfall to Avoid
Using existing staff to paint a strong, believable picture of the company is not the only best practise for companies using social media to recruit. Other best practises include speaking to candidates in the style appropriate for the platform, reaching out with personalized messages, and presenting a well-developed brand image for easy "gut check" scoping by candidates.
After all, there is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work in today's hyper-customizable media world. Thus, firms have to tailor their messaging to the platform, using video postings, hashtags and even emojis. If the branding page calls for video, playlists, multiple images and text, all of the components need to be provided.
Candidates often check the social page before proceeding to a firm's website, and if they feel the social effort is "lazy" or mismatched to the platform, they will quickly move on to another more suitable opportunity.
Job hunters … and especially millennial job hunters, according to Betterteam … place a high premium on companies perceived as "a great place to work."
The same goes for "spammy" postings and direct messages. Cut-and-paste messages get thrown in the virtual garbage or red flagged as inappropriate, creating unwanted headaches for recruiters. Though it is more time consuming, companies who choose to reach out to candidates with a direct message should apply the best practise of customizing and personalizing the message before hitting the send button.
Finally, one major pratfall to avoid is discriminatory targeting of job advertisements. On many platforms, postings can be distributed to targeted, limited audiences. While this is a positive, popular feature for ad distributions for products, it can open up companies to allegations of discriminatory hiring practises. Restricting job post viewability by gender, age, race or ethnic origin is therefore to be avoided, according to SHRM.
Though it is very different from offline recruiting, recruiting through social media can yield more (and better) candidates when done correctly. By being efficient, leveraging current employees and minding best practises, any firm can make social media work as a their personal secret weapon in the hunt for top talent.