Use Social Media to Recruit Employees
A growing number of companies use social media sites to post job opportunities, search for candidates, screen applicants, connect with customers and engage employees, and our industry is no exception. Yet, while many industry employers have a presence on social media sites, how they use it for varies greatly. Some post jobs, new hires and promotions. Others create social groups to target specific audiences based on their job function (media designer, copywriter), interests (job seekers, alumni of a college) or geography (west division, northeast territory). The more progressive actively use social media sites to identify frustrated customers who require attention, drive traffic to their websites and screen potential job candidates.
With the pool of potential employees growing larger, how can managers seek qualified candidates in a timely manner? Pamela Williams, executive director of the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association, outlines the following reasons for using social media to boost your recruitment efforts:
Reach Passive Career Seekers: In some industries, there are some jobs that require specific and unique skills sets. The chances that an ideal candidate is employed and not actively searching out job opportunities is very good. In this case, a job posting isn’t going to reach that person. Fortunately, many employers have successfully leveraged social networking sites to find these elusive candidates. One industry employer actively searches social media sites to identify discussion forums for attendees at an upcoming or recently held professional conference. Often, the conference host will post the attendee list to spur ongoing professional networking among the participants. Finding a list like that is like hitting a gold mine as it yields contact information for a specifically skilled pool of candidates who may not be actively conducing a job search.
Screen Candidates: In addition to posting jobs and identifying potential candidates, many employers also use social media sites to gain insight into their job candidates. In fact, a CareerBuilder® June 2009 surveyof 2,600 hiring managers found that 45 percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates—more than double last year’s results. Industry employers have gained some interesting insight about candidates simply by visiting their online profiles—everything from illegal drug usage to how the candidate really feels about his former employer. But that sword can cut the other way, as 18 percent of the employers in the CareerBuilder survey reported they had hired a candidate based on insight gleaned from a candidate’s social networking profile.
“Social networking profiles often provide an employer with additional information that didn’t make it onto the candidate’s résumé due to space constraints. Examples include participation in community service organizations and extra-curricular activities. That information may be the extra something that separates one candidate from another in the selection process,” said Karen Bennett, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
The bottom line is that if you aren’t using social media sites to recruit, you may be losing quality candidates to companies who are. And for those of you who are posting jobs on social media sites, consider expanding your usage to reach passive career seekers or screen candidates.
