Social media recruitment in 3 easy steps
1. Find the right audience
Before you start posting your job posting left and right, it's important to find an audience that is interested in reading what you have to offer. Therefore, the first step is to identify your ideal applicants and their location. The best way to do this is to take a look at the different social media channels.
In the beginning, it's not important to be active all the time. Spend time researching forums, groups and even hashtags that relate to your field of work and the position you want to fill - you'll find more relevant conversations on social media than you expected!
Once you've found these networks, you can start getting involved with them. This way you avoid seeming like the person who spams everyone with irrelevant job postings when you get there. Keep you/your social media updated with relevant and valuable content, such as help guides, tips, news - anything that helps people. This way you'll find people interested in you and what you do even before you post a job position.
Friends. When you've engaged with a network, people have a greater sense of "friendship" and there's a good chance they'll happily help you share your job posting with their own social network or refer other people to it.
2. Communicate the job position
This is where your activity becomes more personal and creativity can flow freely. Write a good job description that describes the open position.
It should:
- Inform the applicant about the job requirements
- Selling your brand, vision and mission
- Include the important details like localization etc.
Once this is done, it's all about standing out! Social media is an extremely crowded platform where everyone is fighting for attention. In forums where people and companies are constantly pitching products, links or jobs, there is even more traffic and it's important that you stand out from the crowd.
Make your status updates, tweets and posts appealing. It's important to grab people's attention - and because you've been networking before you started promoting yourself, this is as much a friendly reminder as it is advertising.
3. Evaluate candidates
It's impossible for you to screen every single applicant that comes through your social networks. You'll be caught off guard, and it's this part of the process where recruitment systems like Elvium can make it much easier for you. However, you can still do a bit of research on the applicants you like. Remember, this is all public information.
Thorough assessment is necessary. You don't want to exclude the perfect candidate because someone tagged them in a picture with an empty bottle of rum in their hand. Chances are, if the rest of their social media profiles seem decent, this is a special case and doesn't reflect their persona. However, if the applicant has a long history of offensive updates and posts or has advertised illegal activities, you may have the information you need to cross them off your list of potential employees. Remember, it's important to evaluate candidates thoroughly and not just based on their social media profiles.
Of course, you need to cast your net wide in the search for the right employee, and recruiting through social media isn't the be-all and end-all - but it can help you if you follow the right steps. What do you think? Are there other steps you can take to successfully recruit through social media?
