Why Social Media in Your 2017 Recruiting Strategies?

Social Media recruiting is the recruitment strategy that can impact your search for talent. We’re breaking down why (and how) to harness Social Media as a recruiting tool.

Back in 2005, the Pew Research Center found that just 7 percent of adults were on social media. Last year, that number reached 65 percent.

If your recruiting strategies don’t include social media, you’re missing an immense. Social media can help increase your access to potential recruits and foster strong relationships with potential hires.

While job boards have enjoyed their decade-long run of popularity, they’re becoming outdated, as job seekers become more savvy and sophisticated online consumers.

Millenials now compose the largest job pool in today’s market and make up the largest segment of social media users. Many 20-30-year-olds now turn to social media to look for jobs, get recommendations and research employers.

They want to connect with employers through sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. They no longer want to waste time combing through the same list of jobs on job boards or working with agencies.

Many colleges and universities even offer courses on social media which include improving students’ social media presence. They teach students proper networking skills, and how to maintain professionalism online.

If your company doesn’t use social media as a recruiting strategy, it’s time to start. If your business doesn’t have a strong social media presence yet, joining takes time. Growing your presence takes even longer.

You might want to consider hiring a company like OptiJob to help you jump-start your presence.

They can help to speed up the lengthy process of gaining followers. That means you’ll be reaching more potential recruits, faster.

Social Media Allows You to Reach More Potential Recruits

Online job boards have become one of the most popular ways to search for a job. But most people set aside time to search these, and they may not do so daily. In contrast, the average American spends 37 minutes on social media daily. By integrating social media recruiting strategies, you can take advantage of these daily visits.

Increasing Your Social Media Reach

Creating an account on social media isn’t enough. Even creating one and posting job openings isn’t enough for an effective recruiting strategy. You need to boost likes and follow to your account as well. Engaging with social media users through interactive posts and viral content will boost views. Pose questions or polls for followers to weigh in on. Offer tips and tricks relevant to your field that will be useful to potential recruits.

More page views mean more potential recruits when a job opens up.

Implementing Social Media Recruiting Strategies Will Save You Money

Many online job boards charge a fee for businesses looking to post jobs. But posting to social media platforms is free.  You can create a profile for your business on LinkedIn and other platforms, then post to each at no cost to you. The money you save could buy ads on these sites, which can help boost your ranking. Or it can be spent on the services of a company like OptiJob. They can help boost your ranking and views even faster and more effectively. Filling job openings more quickly can also save your business money.

If you’re short staffed, your company may not be performing to its highest capabilities. But the streamlined process of social media recruiting means positions are filled faster. This leads to fewer lost sales.

Social Media Recruiting Offers a More Personal Approach

It can be tough to choose candidates based on resumes alone. This is especially true if you’re looking to fill entry level positions. Candidates may not have held many positions in the past, making it tough to get a good idea of how they’d perform. But recruiting on social media creates a more personal experience. Potential employees create profiles that can tell you a lot about them. Much of the information they offer isn’t on a resume.

On LinkedIn, for example, users can list skills that they have. Then, they ask references to verify that they have those skills. A LinkedIn profile can also tell you how good a potential recruit is at networking. A strong social media presence can be a great feature in a potential recruit if your company is web based. With more business moving to the internet, candidates with strong web skills are vital. It can be tough to prove those skills with a paper resume and cover letter alone. Social media is a good way for businesses to attract potential recruits as well.

Millenials, in particular, want a company that matches their interests. It’s tough to connect to a description on a job board. They are far more likely to feel connected with a company that has a social media presence.

The Traditional Recruiting Process is Slow

The traditional recruiting process that many companies use is time-consuming. You have to create a job post and put it on the appropriate job boards or send it out to recruiting agencies. Then you wait for potential recruits to see it. If you’re also using an agency, you may have to wait for them to contact those recruits and send the results your way.

The process is so long that just 43 percent of job openings are filled within the first 30 days. In many industries, that’s way too long. Not filling a position fast can mean gaps in production. It can cause serious delays in the workflow. When you factor in the amount of time it takes to train new recruits, a long hiring period can become even longer.

Streamline Your Recruiting Strategies With Social Media 

Social media recruiting strategies shorten the traditional recruiting process. If you’ve already built a social media following, posting a job will land you instant results. The more you build your social media presence, the higher you’ll rank in searches as well. This will mean even more results when you’re posting openings. If your website and social media pages don’t rank well, growing your following can be slow.

Luckily, there are ways to speed up the process.

A few companies have begun to seek to revolutionize the job recruitment process. They do this by helping companies jump-start their social media recruitment strategies. They can help your business rank higher on search engines like Google. This allows you to reach more potential recruits with your job postings. More eyes on your posts mean more opportunities to find the perfect recruit for your team.