Considering a Social Media Recruiting Strategy
With the user bases of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter growing by the millions, a casual observer might think a recruiter’s job is easier than ever. More people share more secrets on these networks, so HR can find anybody, right? Whether it’s on a social network site, a blog, discussion board, alumni list or via true and tried headhunting techniques, information is more readily available than ever before.
Sure, it’s simpler than the golden days of hunting for weeks to find a candidate with the right degree from a top university, whose experience with a top-level company made them invaluable and absolutely worth contacting. But it’s not that simple.
Today, we search on LinkedIn and find hundreds that match the exact profile I just described. Or we run a quick search on Twitter for anybody discussing a specific keyword and now have hundreds more to contact, just among the so-called passive job seekers. We could try, but we just don’t have the bandwidth to contact everybody.
From hunters to farmers.
When comparing the recruiting challenges of yesterday and today, it’s clear the problem has flipped. Yesterday we were stuck with candidate scarcity and limited information, and today we have an overabundance of candidates and even more information available on each one. Now that we have gone from pools of candidates to virtual oceans, a recruiter’s role has gone from a hunter (wandering and nomadic, scouring the land for qualified candidates) to a farmer (nurturing abundant fields of candidates to harvest the cream of the crop).
In a world of information overload, where talent is available by the metaphorical truckload, it is important to develop a sound social media recruiting strategy that effectively reaches and attracts the right candidates.
Key themes your social media recruiting strategy should cover:
- Transparency
Ensure that all prospective applicants are aware what it is like to work with your organization. Frequent updates should make prospects aware of their progress in all channels of the hiring process. Never over-promise nor under-deliver. Keep all communication as accurate and truthful as possible, without sugar-coating. - Conversation
Like you, candidates are humans. Communicate with them them in a conversational manner, not as though you were conducting an interrogation. After all, companies do not have conversations. People do. - The Wisdom of Crowds
The potential connectivity that the internet can provide you is invaluable. You can find good, quality people through many social media channels. Don’t rely on any one channel, but use a combination of networks, including referrals and non-employee contributions. - Data Integrity
Data is key, but controlling conversations with an iron fist inhibits natural flow of information and may turn prospective candidates off. Ensure that all of your hiring channels are engaging your core data management system and regularly mine your data to find your rock star candidates both inside and outside of your organization. Protect the privacy of candidates while maintaining contact with them. This will build trust and encourage referrals. - Speed/Efficiency
The best candidates are the quickest to move off the radar. Your tactics should be nimble enough to engage each candidate and maintain their attention throughout the entire hiring process. This means your website or hiring microsite needs to be easy to use and must simplify the hiring process. Your hiring process should be efficient as well, as corporate delays will likely only attract second-rate candidates. - Scalability/Reusability
If you keep resumes on file, reuse them during the next hiring. Taking a second look at the results of a previous strategy can likely save you money and time. Use existing networks to find new candidates. You’ve spent time building trust and a name for this reason. Leverage the advice of your internal employees in searching for new candidates. They can help you decide whether to scale up or down your recruitment efforts in various channels. Enlist the help of a recruitment marketing partner to enhance your employer brand. - User Experience
The experience of every prospective candidate needs to excel, regardless of whether or not they’re hired. Ensure that your internet activities are rich and inviting, the interview process is enjoyable and that you don’t drop the ball with the on-boarding/induction process.
Many people with years of recruitment experience may feel that they already incorporate these themes into their recruitment practices. The difficult part is making all of your tactics work as one. These themes may already be applied to your other hiring practices, and should also be applied to the world of social media.
Contributor: Bobby Duebelbeis
http://bit.ly/YZStP This totally works in line with your thoughts here Bobby and shows what an impact can be made through Social Media regardless of who you are trying to reach.
That’s a great article reference. I had a good time reading it. My only misgiving is that it’s stuck behind a registration form
How do you tailor your message in Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to a specific audience? Although, these networks can return recruiting leads in mass numbers, in my experience it seems nearly impossible to find the needle in the stack of under-qualified applicants.
I’m really eager to see how your efforts turn out.
CL: Great question. And yes, it’s true; these networks can return leads en masse. Finding the qualified candidates can prove extremely difficult. So, you need to have some way to maintain the integrity of your leads while gathering these candidates from the huge pools of potential applicants using social networks.
Without getting into too much detail about the specifics within each network, let me just explain that the messages you’re able to send across these networks are going to vary dependent upon the limitations of the network platforms.
For example, in Twitter, you’re limited not only to 140 characters, but your reach is only as long as your followers and their willingness to RT (re-tweet) or syndicate your content. But, LinkedIn will allow you to pay for the privilege of emailing a group of people based on a litany of demographic information. Your message in both of these networks is going to vary when because the forum for discussion is vastly different.
As a recruiter, you will distill your leads at some point, qualifying them to the best of your ability. A good way to do this is by creating a conversion portal. This could be a blog, micro-site or a landing page on your corporate website. This home-base allows you to manage your content while converting lead traffic into qualified candidates (or at least fortifying the data your collecting).
I hope this answered your question well enough. Stay tuned for a new blog post detailing this idea further. We’ll also be contributing a case study to illustrate some of our success in using social networks for healthcare recruiting over the next couple of months.