Social media can be used for almost anything these days. When it comes to recruitment, any HR representative knows how important it is for a company to work with top employees. Therefore, the pressure on the HR department is always big as executives want always the best candidates on the market. Writing a compelling job description and running hundreds of interviews doesn’t necessarily bring you those candidates your CEO is looking for.
Social media can become a great recruiting tool that many recruiters often overlook. A recent survey conducted by The Creative Group showed that 94% of the advertising and marketing executives use social media for recruiting. This is how they not only look for the perfect match, but they also promote their company. The benefits of social media represent more than the access to a wide pool of candidates. This article is going to show you which are the reasons to use social media in recruiting and attracting new employees.
The Reasons to Source and Attract Candidates Through Social Media
- A job posted on social media is more visible
Can you think of a person who doesn’t use Facebook nowadays? Hard to imagine, isn’t it? So here you found the answer to your question why social media is a great tool to source and attract candidates. Facebook has more than 2 billion active users today while Twitter is also very popular when it comes to job search chats. In addition, LinkedIn is a perfect job-hunting platform with a lot of Generation X representatives who are using this platform to search for a job. Thus, if you just stop and think for a little, it is hard to imagine any other platform which could bring more visibility to your job than social media
2. You can activate the passive candidates
If you post a new opening on job boards only, this means that you will address only to those who are looking for a job at the moment. However, this doesn’t mean that if a person is not actively looking for a job, he or she couldn’t be interested in your position. What is more, it might happen that the profile you are looking for is actually a passive candidate. Social media is an excellent tool to help you activate even those candidates who are not seeking a new role for the moment. It might happen that when they read the job description to find it very interesting and decide to give it a try. Especially when you recruit for niche positions, this strategy can help you a lot.
3. Helps you screen your candidates
Social media is great when you want to advertise your vacancies. But, it is even greater to screen your short list of candidates. When you evaluate an application, apart from analyzing the professional experience, it is always better to assess the personal qualities. Even though you have found a top professional for a vacant job, you will need to decide whether he or she can embrace and adhere to the company’s values and vision. Therefore, social media is an excellent tool you can use and decide whether the candidate is exactly what you are looking for. This is how you can discover more about a candidate’s hobbies, personal interests, language, or content they engage with the most.
4. More referrals
Recruiters prefer referrals as they trust more the recommendations coming from former or actual employees or persons they know very well. When you receive a referral from someone who knows the company profile and vision, the quality of hires increases a lot. What is more, the retention rate is also better in case of referrals. So, when you post a job description on social media, you will increase the chances to receive referrals. You can also encourage your employees to share the company’s post through social media. This simplifies the recruitment process and will lead to a faster and more efficient recruitment process.
5. You reach out to modern minds
When you source and attract a candidate through social media, the chances are that that person is tech-savvy. Today’s marketplace is very competitive, and candidates need to do their best to stay updated with the latest business trends and innovations. Therefore, when you recruit a candidate who is active on social media, then it means that you have found a person who has a huge potential to quickly adapt to your business requirements and work environment. Social media is an excellent pool of people who are creative and can bring a contribution to your company’s culture. It is very important that people stay updated and put efforts into adapting to the market’s trends. Thus, if you want to test how open and easy to adapt is a candidate, then social media is the tool you can use to find out.
6. Lower costs
There’s no need to insist too much in saying that the costs to source and attract candidates on social media are lower than if you had used traditional platforms. Some platforms are totally free, while others offer various packages to help you discover the perfect candidates. However, nothing stops you to share on your company’s page details about your vacancies. What is more, if you don’t have enough time to spend on social media for recruitment, you can always ask your marketing department to give you a hand. You can work together on a strategy to promote open jobs on social media. You can also start by posting on all the social media platforms where you have access to. Then, after a while, you can evaluate which platforms had the best results and consolidate your efforts only on those.
7. Shorter hiring time
Social media allows you to target certain groups of people for your company. Therefore, when you post a new opening, it will become easier for you to screen the candidates and prepare a short list. Social media allows you to communicate with your candidates which means that you will discover faster if a person is what you are looking for or not. How can this be translated? A faster recruitment process, while also keeping high standards and having access to the best candidates. If you want to hire the best professionals on the market, the recruitment process doesn’t necessarily have to last ages. Social media is the tool to use when you want faster and greater results.
Social media is here to stay, and it will change the recruitment processes even more in the following years. It is important for HR representatives to stay updated with the latest trends and explore the opportunities social media has to offer. Now, you have plenty of reasons to use social media to source and attract candidates. It will help you a lot to find better candidates and go through a shorter recruitment process.
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- The Reasons to Source and Attract Candidates Through Social Media - October 9, 2018
