There are now over 2.206 billion people actively using social media, with the figure rising 176 million in the last year. But despite people’s obvious love for this digital form of communication, many recruiters are still failing to utilise it effectively.
According to a recent survey by Lucas Blake, 346 out of the 750 business owners questioned said they were not currently using social media for recruitment. That’s a whopping 46.1 percent so why aren’t recruiters using social media?
One reason could be that recruiters don’t find social media to be an effective platform for recruiting employees; however statistics from 2014 suggest this isn’t true, with Jobsite reporting that employers who used social media to hire found a 49 percent improvement in candidate quality over candidates sourced through traditional recruitment channels. What’s more likely to be the case is that recruiters still lack the understanding of how to use social media to their best advantage.
Here we’ve shared some of the different ways you can utilise social media for recruitment, along with the benefits.
Advertising roles
Social media is one of the best ways to advertise your job roles, particularly if you are looking to engage young professionals. Whether you are using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn, you can create a post (or tweet in the case of Twitter) sharing the details of the job and link to an online application process. The great thing about advertising job roles on social media is that they can be shared with a wide audience. You also have the opportunity to use relevant hash tags to extend your reach even further. What’s more – it’s completely free to post.
Strengthen employer branding
Another way recruiters can use social media is to strengthen their employer branding. Just like you market your products or services, you should also be thinking about how you market yourself as an employer to potential candidates. Social media provides a fantastic way to share your values, work ethic, personality and visions with job seekers. It will help them determine whether they’d be a good fit for your company and may even lead them to choosing you over one of your competitors. Sharing behind the scenes video clips, interviews with existing employees and running Q&A sessions are all great ways to engage with potential candidates via social media and take your employer branding to the next level.
Engage with passive candidates
You’ll often find that talented candidates aren’t always in pursuit of a new job role, however social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn give you the opportunity to connect with them. With the right engagement techniques, you may be able to turn these passive candidates into active ones, who are actually interested in working for your organisation. Using Facebook adverts will give you the opportunity to target a certain demographic and you can also find talent through LinkedIn by carrying out keyword searches.
Recruit faster
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ give recruiters the opportunity to connect with candidates faster than ever before. If you are looking to make a quick, yet quality hire, then social media is one of the best ways to do it.
If you are wondering which platform is best, the majority of people are likely to tell you LinkedIn, as it is marketed as more of a professional networking site, compared to Facebook and Twitter, which are more ‘social.’ Having said this, the survey carried out by Lucas Blake actually found that more business owners are using Facebook for recruitment (39.2%) than LinkedIn (29.1%), suggesting that Facebook may be far more beneficial than you think.
Don’t miss out on the recruitment opportunities provided by social media sites. Utilise them to your advantage and make the quick and quality hires your company needs.
Ian Butterworth is the Director and Senior Consultant at Lucas Blake. Lucas Blake specialises in the recruitment of Sales Professionals within the Information Technology and Telecommunications sectors throughout the UK and Europe.
