Social Recruiting for Beginners: 5 points to consider
Social recruiting is all about sourcing and recruiting candidates using social media platforms and recently has been very popular as a recruitment strategy in many organizations. It is a new initiative which has been adopted by many companiesfor proactively engaging with their target audience: talented individuals.
So what does it take to set up a social recruiting strategy using social media?
Here are 5 pointers which will help you in your social media recruiting strategy:
1) Smooth Transition to Social Recruiting
The decision to shiftfrom traditional recruiting to social recruiting is taken but one step to be done prior to this is reviewing the entire recruitment process based on the following:
• Identify which channels can be used to build communities
• Response mechanism for the applications received
• Which channels can be used for sourcing?
• What kind of technology can be used to build communities?
• Where will the job requirements be posted
2) Social Media Channels:
LinkedIn,Facebook,Twitter,Google+,Quora can all be used as effective channels to attract and find talent. Recruitersthus get new platforms to promote job openings and to reach a greater and often diverse audience than those found on job portals.
There can be two approaches while using these social media platforms. The first one being using social media profiles, blogs and online communities to find and search for passive candidate data and information. The second is social distribution which involves using social media platforms as a means to distribute jobs with the help of various HR tools or crowdsourcing where job seekers and other influencers share job openings within their online networks.
3) Build Online Communities:
An online community is a virtual platform where there is an exchange of information around a shared interest. It could be as simple as posting content relevant to the audience.
Building an online community can be an effective tool for job seekers as well as recruitment professionals. It can be a platform for all those who need advice about professional development and thus also develop conversations about ongoing trends in their field.
This is the only platform where company recruiters can connect with their target audience not only for job referrals but also to discuss future trends and exchange views. This helps the recruiters to enhance the employer’s brand as well as to create a talent pool for future needs. Dell, Capgemini, Accenture are few companies that have built such platforms and are already reaping benefits.
4) Employer Brand:
According to last year’s LinkedIn report on U.S. 2012 recruiting trends, recruiting leaders are fearful their competitors are investing more heavily in employer branding than they are. This ensures that your hires will consist of qualified candidates who are well-versed with your organization’s mission, vision, and work rewards thus making a recruiter’s job much easier.
Employee brands can be built using social media and these brands also impact the candidates’ choice as their preferred employer. There is a real “talent war” in the market and which is the reason why HR & Marketing often team up with a common objective of building a brand value not only enticing the candidates to apply but also helping business.
5) Engagement:
This doesn’t only mean posting stories or articles on different channels where the organization is present. It means current employees should be involved by showing pride in the company, sharing social events and writing their experiences. This will in turn help the company create a positive image and portray its culture. It is also about listening to your followers and responding to their questions in a proactive manner.
Find some pointers which might help you to improve engagement levels:
• Generate content and relevant news articles
• Offer additional help when someone is asking a question related to your brand
• Ask lots of questions and be ready when people respond to them
• Appreciate efforts and run offers, campaigns
• Say “Thank You”
This can help boost your social media engagement level and get you working on relationship building to bring brand loyalty.
Organizations not adopting social media for their recruitment needs will be out of business in the next 5 years as per a Harvard Business Study. The importance of social recruitment is very strategic and will help talent acquisition if adopted in the right way.
Social media recruiting does not change the culture of a company but reveals it.
To read more on social recruiting, trends in recruitment and related topics visit http://www.zalp.com/theemployeereferralblog/
