Recruiters who remain offline miss a lot of opportunities. Facebook users collectively spend more than 500 billion minutes each month searching, updating, and posting, and millions of searches are conducted on Twitter daily. That's why it is no surprise that 58 percent of companies say they have successfully hired an employee via a social networking site, according to Yola.com's 2010 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey of 600 companies.
Have a Plan
The potential field of candidates is vast, but without direction, you won't reach them. Here are five tips for creating an online recruitment strategy:
1. Are They Out There? Millions of people use social media, but is your target market using social networks for job placement? If you are a college recruiter, then social networks may be your number one source for finding candidates. If your target market is baby boomers, research which platforms they use most and build your plan from there.
2. What Are My Goals? Gain exposure? Get more candidates? Locate passive talent? Identify your goals and look for sites that fit your needs.
3. Determine Your Social Media Cocktail: There are many sites available, so it is important to consolidate and find the platform that will bring you the greatest results. In 2010, nearly 80 percent of companies recruiting through social media used LinkedIn while Facebook and Twitter were used for recruiting by about 55 percent and 45 percent of companies respectively, according to Yola.com. Use Google to search for the top social networking sites used by job seekers in your field.
4. Build Your Brand: You've invested time creating what sets you apart from your competition. Keep your company name, photos and logo consistent across all sites and make sure each is updated and current.
5. Are You Committed? Recruiting takes time and effort. You can reap quite a harvest by investing time in these platforms, but it can backfire if your last tweet or post was from 2009.
Crafting Your Online Image
Think of your Web site as the welcome mat to your company. Getting people to visit your site it great, but keeping them there is a battle of its own. Ask yourself the following questions: Is the job description clear? Is my contact information visible? Does my site look professional? Can a potential candidate look at my site and understand what I do within 30 seconds?
A potential candidate can do a quick Google search and instantly have thousands of recruiters at his or her fingertips. Your main goal is to be considered a consultant rather than just a recruiter, so consider starting a blog offering advice on job hunting, resume wizardry or whatever else you can think of to set yourself apart. Then update it regularly so potential candidates revisit your site.
Linking In
LinkedIn can be a perfect tool for recruiting. People are posting their profiles because they want to be found. If you have cash to spend, you should try LinkedIn's job posting area. It costs $195 to post a job for 30 days. You can also take advantage of LinkedIn Talent Advantage (talent.linkedin.com/Recruiter), which gives you a complete list of candidate names and profile listings, though that costs additional money. If you don't have the budget to pay for job listings or become a member of Talent Advantage, here are some ways to use this platform for free:
Build connections to people you already know. Once you do this, you will see that you become second and third connections to thousands of potential candidates. Ask your friends to make introductions to potential candidates in their network. This is a great way to harness passive candidates.
Recruit directly by searching your network (including second and third connections) for potential job candidates. Many times they will have their profile posted and you will be able to contact them via a phone call or e-mail. Most people have an average of 200 friends on their LinkedIn page. This means that you can access 240,000 people with only one degree of separation.
Great people attract great people. Whenever you meet a great potential candidate, make sure you connect with them on LinkedIn to grow your network.
LinkedIn allows you to export your network's e-mail addresses. Do this and send out private or mass e-mails announcing job opportunities, or pertinent job-hunting information.
Make your profile public so you can be found easily. Do this by going to the advanced search page and put terms in that someone looking for a job would likely use.
Advertise your open positions for free using your activity box, or status box, to post a job.
Make Facebook Your Friend
Facebook is a great, no-cost way to increase your talent pool. No matter how many candidates you have, it doesn't come close to the number you can tap into with this platform. Try these tips:
Take advantage of the Facebook Directory (www.facebook.com/directory) to search users, pages, groups and applications. Also contact Facebook friends about potential candidates. Not only is this a great way to stay connected, but it will most likely get you a stronger candidate for the job.
Post a job for free at Facebook Marketplace (apps.facebook.com/marketplace/). You'll be able to post the location, job category, subcategory, title and why you need to fill the job. You can even post your photo, which will help to build your brand recognition.
Use your status wisely. If you've got a job that you want to be noticed, post it in your status and ask your friends to repost to their status with your contact information. However, be careful not to make your status into a job board, and keep things light and personable.
Twitter for Recruiters
The point of social networking is to be social. Make sure your tweets are not just job posts, and like Facebook, keep them personable, not automated and cold. Here are some ways for your voice to stand out:
Use WeFollow and Twellow in Twitter to identify industries in your target market and become a follower of their tweets. Once you begin following others, many will follow you back. Then, you are able to post interesting articles and available jobs.
If you have a job that you want to send out to the Twittersphere, post it on your Web site, take the URL from the Web page you have posted it on, and shorten it using www.bitly.com. Using this site, you can track how many people have clicked it to learn more about the job posting and where they are located.
Be strategic with your tweets. You've only got 140 characters to get your thought, idea, job post or tip across. Use Twitter to drive people to your Web site. Perhaps run a fun contest or have a free download. Make sure that you are creating interesting ways for your followers to learn more about you and your company.
Always ask your followers to retweet your job postings.
Use hashtags. A hashtag is a great way for your tweets to show up in people's searches and in Twitter's trending topics. Here is an example of hashtag usage: Looking for a great #recruiter to join our team in #NH. Now, when Twitter users search for recruiters or NH in the search and trending topics options, your tweet will appear.
Jill Sullivan Grueter is the vice president of communications at HireAbility.com in Londonderry. She can be reached at 603-432-6653, or by e-mail at jill@hireability.com.
Current Issue - April 2024