Recruiting is a challenge, but with the right tools it doesn’t have to be a headache. Our best social media recruiting tools roundup will save you hours of time and hundreds of dollars starting your next social recruiting efforts.
Recruiting tools are emerging on popular social media outlets. These sites allow employers to target, engage with, and connect with candidates on the same easy-to-use platforms they already use in their daily lives. While each tool has its own unique approach, they all serve the same purpose: to open the door for employers to find great candidates for jobs.
Facebook Marketplace
The Facebook Marketplace is a relatively new but highly useful tool that you should be taking advantage of. You can place full job listings on there, so you can catch any interested party that might apply. The beauty of using this tool is that nearly everyone is on Facebook these days, so you couldn’t have a wider audience.
Facebook Pages
Speaking of Facebook, Facebook Pages are another great way of finding the right people to work for you. If you’re already up on your social media, then you’ll know that a good Facebook page can bring in a lot of business and attention. It can also be the best way to hire a new recruit. After all, they’re already following your Facebook page, they’ll have the knowledge and the enthusiasm to work for you.
About.me
This site is used to by freelancers to give potential clients a real feel for what they do. You can browse the pages on this site and look for someone who would fit in with you existing business. About.me pages are unique in that they give you a real overview of what a person is like, before you get in touch with them.
Facebook Paid Advertising
You can put blood, sweat and tears into building a company Facebook page, but there’s no doubt that the Facebook overlords have put the brakes on organic reach of late.
So to make an impact on Facebook and turn it into the potent recruitment weapon it absolutely can be, then you may have to spend a little bit of money on Paid Advertising.
(It’s worth it because you can pick a target audience by location, age, interest and specialist skills!)
There are various strategies for using Facebook ads to recruit. Check them out in more detail, here.
As with all other recruitment efforts, it’s important to keep an eye on your metrics and regularly assess the success and cost effectiveness.
Did it bring the right candidates to you?
LinkedIn Recruiter
I’m not a fan of LinkedIn Recruiter; I personally find it quite user-unfriendly and extremely expensive, however, I know many recruiters see the value in it – so it’s worth a mention!
(I like to keep as unbiased an approach as possible!)
With more than 460 million users, most of them with up-to-date job descriptions, LinkedIn is a fairly effective tool for forward-thinking recruiters who want to build a watertight pipeline of talent.
You can search for specialist skills and reach out to candidates individually or en masse and then save your searches and LinkedIn will automatically inform you of new candidates.
It has a basic CRM back-end that means you can keep your leads in order and approach your top five candidates as a position becomes available, rather than taking the best candidate who responded to your advert.
It’s definitely a proactive approach to recruitment, rather than reactive.
Instagram/Pinterest Advertising
If you can produce a strong visual for the job role then you could try something a bit different with Instagram and/or Pinterest advertising.
Consider trialing some of the following to give you a helping hand:
You’ll soon see your engagement rates increasing.
SnapChat
And of course, I couldn’t miss out the increasingly popular SnapChat.
If you need to target a younger audience (between 16 and 25) this is the place to be.
You can use SnapChat to introduce your team and the company on a daily basis (keeping it lighthearted and fun), interact with candidates and potential candidates and to direct them towards your job opportunities.
Recruiting on Google+ (Google Plus)
Google+, Google’s social media platform is the fastest growing social network in the history of well, social networks. Since Google released it in beta July 26th, the new social media platform created a media frenzy as bloggers, social media influencers and the media covered the release of the platform like never before. It provides recruiters and hiring managers another wide channel to recruit, source, and search.
Google+ offers a unique opportunity for recruiters to blaze new trails and connect with candidates in different ways. Users add individuals they wish to engage by categorizing them into circles, which they create. Through circles, one can contact individuals or groups privately or publicly to recruit on Google+.
Driving Your Recruitment Efforts With Facebook Fan Pages
Like any website or profile page, a Facebook Fan Page is a marketing and communication channel allowing the company to directly connect with individuals who have opted into receiving a company’s message. But a Facebook Fan Page is more than just a communication medium serving as a company’s front porch and customer service platform to engage the more than 750 million Facebook users.
A Facebook Fan Page can serve as a recruiting and sourcing tool just like a company blog or Twitter allowing you opportunities to directly engage and educate your target candidate market. In this social world, companies ought to advertise your jobs on your Facebook Fan Page. It’s just how to recruit with your Facebook Fan Page.
How to Recruit on Twitter with Hashtags
While Twitter offers a platform that allows for many types of search to increase the viral spread of content, even by non-members, hashtags in particular are one of the best sources to find engaged users by particular topic or interest.
Twitter allows for users to be contacted with no prior relationship. Searching for candidates via hashtags can net you a solid list of job search and recruiting leads long before your candidate has responded to a resume-mining database like CareerBuilder or Monster. Hashtag feeds on Twitter allow companies to go beyond their audience (followers) when posting, and when reading hashtagged Tweets, companies can target thought leaders in the industry. To recruit on Twitter, recruit with hashtags.
Conclusion
Recruiting can be a challenge with access to social media platforms that are changing daily. There are an array of tools available. If you are interested in what is currently being used in the recruiting space, the following is a compilation of some of the most interesting companies who have used social media in their recruitment process.