Best Practices for Recruiting Talent in a Social Media World

It's no secret that today's businesses reach a global audience, even if their main clients are local. And it's not only business transactions that have gone global, but recruiting practices as well. Large numbers of employers now use social media to recruit and screen employees.

Companies such as LBF Travel and Disney are part of the growing trend to recruit top talent through the use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media recruitment is a powerful employment tool for businesses, but it doesn't come without risk. How can you use the power of social media recruiting and reduce the risks? Follow these best practices.

Social Media Recruiting: It's a Good Thing The old way of recruiting—placing various ads in print and online and waiting for the resumes to come in—gave employers little insight into the overall worth of an applicant. Social media, on the other hand, allows employers to see the candidate as a whole person. Resumes and applications are necessary, of course. But the social media element adds information you wouldn't find any other way. A CareerBuilder study found that 60 percent of employers used social networking sites to find and screen qualified job applicants in 2016.

Begin With a Plan
It's tempting to go all-out, run to every social media channel you can think of and create a recruitment page on each one. That's the way to reach as many people as possible, right? It's true you'll reach a lot of people, but how many of those are qualified candidates? Chances are the answer is “not many.” Your social media recruitment plan should target a skilled pool of candidates. If it doesn't, you'll end up wasting time pouring over endless numbers of responses to find one or two gems. What works for your company will not always work for the next. For example, Disney has multiple locations all over the world and a variety of different skill and position requirements. Your company is likely smaller and doesn't need to commit as many resources to recruitment. Adapt a plan to fit your own company's needs. Your plan should include the following strategies before choosing and posting on social media platforms:

Define each position and the required skills. If you have one position, fine. Detail the job title, description, requirements and elements just as you would for a print ad. If you have openings for more than one job title, clearly define the details about each separately. Make sure all internal departments, such as the hiring department and HR, are on the same page about the description and requirements. Gather honest employee testimonials. Let's face it, you are not the only side doing the interviewing. If you require top talent, you can bet candidates are being recruited by other companies as well. Including truthful testimonies about what it's like to work for the company from current employees is a great way to gain favor with applicants. Write up low-key but truthful pats on your company's back. Don't oversell it, but if your company has won awards for “best place to work” or community commitment, say so.

Spell out the company values. Increasingly, applicants are looking for companies with missions that go beyond the corporate. Is giving back part of your company culture? Does your company serve others in some ongoing capacity? If true, say so.

So Many Platforms, So Little Time
Now that you've defined who you're looking for and why applicants should consider your company, it's time to decide which platforms to use to target the most qualified candidates. The demographics for each platform is different. Here's a user breakdown of the top three channels:

Nearly everyone has a Facebook page, so any recruitment here will be somewhat wide open. However, Facebook is free to post and its sharing capability make it a must for any type of recruiting effort.

LinkedIn is specifically designed for professionals. LinkedIn's main function is networking. Its platform allows for a wide range of options, from business details to content management. Twitter users are typically younger and more urban than Facebook users.

Because all three of the most widely used platforms offer free basic services, it makes sense to use each for recruiting. Keep in mind the different demographics of each channel and develop content that targets that specific group. As you become more experienced with social media and its recruitment capabilities, you'll learn to refine your efforts. You'll become familiar with what works and what doesn't and which platform best targets the candidates your business requires.

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