The use of Social Media in recruitment has grown by more than 50% in the past five years, yet a large number of recruiters still don’t utilise these avenues in their recruitment process. With businesses everywhere using it as a method to engage with others, it’s an effective, affordable tool for recruiters.
Benefits of social media in the recruitment sector are numerous and include:
- Increase scope of job visibility
The use of social media for recruitment gives you the advantage of reaching those not actively looking. By slipping your advertisement in between articles and posts, it’s the ideal method to reach the passive potential candidate by widening your parameters of visibility. It also has the added benefit of engaging candidates who will be internet savvy, leading to a higher quality of applicants, who will all have the adaptable skills that come with constant use of technology.
- Showcase your brand
Increasing your visibility is important and by using social media to engage with your ideal candidate you also strengthen your brand. By sharing photos of your team and updating your followers with news and employment opportunities, you showcase your work culture and at the same time invite opportunities for engagement. You give interested candidates the chance to post comments, to reach you by direct messaging, and to share your vacancies with their friends and followers. These engagements keep your page fresh and active, while at the same time increasing your SEO.
- Target your vacancies
One of the methods of targeting your vacancies at the right people is to share it with LinkedIn groups. These are professional groups for specific job sectors and by utilising this feature; it targets your vacancy at interested individuals. With Twitter, exploiting a practical use of hashtags means that your vacancy will appear on users’ timelines, and both networks have search features that make social recruitment a useful tool.
- Low cost
While there are some service offerings in social recruitment that can charge a fee, there are also features that are entirely free. Social recruitment is the cheaper method.
- Screen your candidates
Interviewers will often use the internet to screen potential employees. It’s a common method and it can offer a wealth of insight on a possible candidate. With social media you can learn whether they have issues with friends, the law, or if they have professional recommendations. It’s a method to discover aspects of a person before they even step through the door.
As social media becomes a more engrained part of our daily lives, it’s a wasted resource if recruiters don’t recognise the potential of easy engagement they can achieve by utilising the features freely offered with social recruitment.
