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A Guide to Social Media Recruiting Best Practices

by | Mar 13, 2019 | Recruiter Training, Top Echelon Blog

In this technological age, recruiting has made its way to social media platforms in addition to other networking websites. According to one source, 73% of companies have used social media to successfully recruit and hire a candidate. Are familiar with social media recruiting best practices?

Social media recruiting best practices

Use the following seven social media recruitment best practices to optimize your recruiting efforts.

social media recruiting best practices

1. Understand your audience

To successfully recruit on social media, you must understand your audience (i.e., your potential candidates).

Research and learn which platforms your ideal candidates use most. After pinpointing which platforms are most popular, you can gear your posts toward the candidate pool you want to target.

Consider asking applicants or newly hired workers how they found a job posting. Did they see it on a social media platform? If so, which platform did they find the post on?

2. Utilize appropriate platforms

As technology evolves, social media platforms do, too. Because new social networking websites and platforms are developing, you must know what platforms work best for social media recruiting. And, learn which platforms are most compatible with your client’s job postings.

Understand unfamiliar platforms before you begin posting. Take the time to research social media platforms (e.g., Facebook) to see if they will fit your recruiting needs.

When you are deciding which platforms to use, consider the client’s needs, types of job postings, and the candidates you are targeting.

3. Add a personal touch

A challenge with social media and recruitment is trying not to sound robotic with online posts or messages. Candidates may receive multiple messages each day or week from recruiters. And, there is nothing worse than getting an email that seems copy and pasted. So, how can you make your social media posts and messages stand out?

Add a personal touch when communicating with candidates on social media. Differentiate your direct messages by using friendly greetings that include the candidate’s name and questions about their experience.

Avoid starting your message with a sales pitch about the open position. Show candidates you took the time to look over their information and profile. Personalize each message according to the candidate you are reaching out to.

4. Focus on the position

Your social media recruiting strategy should focus on the position. Your goal should be to recruit as many qualified and top candidates as possible for the client.

Write a job posting that captures the job and what it is like to work for your client’s company. Creating a generic description and post can potentially attract hundreds of resumes from unqualified applicants.

Be specific in your job posting. Include qualifications and skills that the candidate must have to weed out other applicants. For example, you may require an applicant to have at least two years of experience to apply for the position.

5. Make posts stand out

You don’t expect to attract top-notch candidates with dull colors and wording, do you? Of course not.

According to one source, 51% of respondents are more attracted to a company with job postings that have visual elements.

Create social posts that stand out and draw candidates’ attention. Incorporate your client’s logo and colors in your posts. Consider also utilizing visuals to catch candidates’ eyes.

For example, you may create a social post that includes the job description, company name, and a picture of employees who work for the business. Not only does it make the job posting stand out, but it also helps promote employer brand.

6. Stay compliant

While using social media for recruitment, be careful not to introduce bias. Stay compliant with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) during all steps of the hiring process. And, avoid using gender-biased words in your job descriptions and social posts.

In social recruitment, gender-biased language can quickly turn away top applicants.

Steer clear of terms like competitive, rockstar, supportive, and nurturing. All of these words could dissuade male or female applicants from applying.

Examine the wording of your posts for gender-biased words or racial and age discrimination in hiring.

7. Create mobile-friendly posts

If you want to recruit candidates via social media, your posts must be mobile-friendly.

To take your mobile recruiting efforts to the next level, create posts that are readable on all types of devices. And, add visuals that are optimized for social media. Experiment with posts to see how they look on smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

How does a job posting look on your cell phone versus a desktop computer? Do the words or images look the same across all devices? If you discover any issues, you can avoid using certain platforms, text, or graphics.

When posting positions, use websites and mobile applications that are user-friendly. Test which platforms work best for the job postings. Make a note of the platforms that optimize your mobile recruiting process.

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