What Are Some Best Practices for Social Recruiting?

Dear Old School:

Word to the wise: You don’t have to be everywhere; you just have to be in the right places in social media.

To prevent the effects of the traditional “post and pray” method — hundreds of underqualified or off-target résumés in social recruiting — aim to be strategic with where you source and interact with candidates. If you have a current employee in a similar role to the one you are recruiting for, find out where they spend most of their time online. Most likely your employees in entry-level positions are on Twitter, and so is your next entry-level candidate. In this case, you would want to target Twitter to spread the word and spend less money on LinkedIn Jobs or job boards.   

Here is a simple checklist:

Partner with marketing. Marketing holds the key to your messaging, voice, audience and brand perception. A partnership with marketing is one of the easiest ways to save time and effort because they already know the why, how and who to build your approach. You save time and raise the bar on quality with a consistent message.

Create a message. A compelling job posting needs to speak to the candidate you desire — old job descriptions that are on career page web sites are too boring. Create a short tagline and use it in the social platform you chose with a link to a more fully defined write-up. Candidates need to see themselves in the write-up in order to raise their hand. You will get more targeted candidates, with quality over quantity

Be mobile-compatible. On average, anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of candidates are going to be using a smartphone or tablet to view your job posting. You stand a better chance of reaching the demographic you seek, look contemporary, and keep top talent interested. But if your pages aren’t mobile-compatible, you risk top talent leaving the site because of the hassle.

Select your social platform. This is critical to reaching the right audience. You want to choose a platform that matches the demographic. Have your team research where candidates live. Are they upper-management or hourly? Start small and experiment so you can track response and results. You don’t have to be everywhere.

Introduce a screening question. If you are wary of sharing a job with too many people and want to only assess candidates that fit, add a screening question to your application process. It can be something that determines their culture fit, interest level or even basic requirements such as education. You avoid having to sort through applications that aren’t valuable.

Be frank with candidates. Gone are the days of secrecy; candidates want transparency to know where they stand in processes. Reach out to promising candidates with a personalized message. While automation saves time, it loses you great candidates. At the very least, tailor messages to reveal something about the organization. Maybe it’s a 60-second video of one of your recruiters talking about the next steps for the candidate, or a “day in the life” video of employees. Even if that candidate turns out to not be a fit for the role, you have built an advocate for your brand, and it is likely that person will apply again (hello, future pipeline!) or share with a friend.

SOURCE:  Sherry Benjamins, S. Benjamins & Company, Seal Beach, California, January 11, 2015.