Blog Post: Using Social Media to Recruit.... YOU!

Notice I said "active in" not "using" social media. There is a difference. Social media is not the same as advertising. You can't blast your message to the masses like you would with a traditional print ad or job posting. You won't gain any fans or followers that way. Instead, you are actively engaging your target audience with information relating to them. It's personal. It's relevant to them. It's conversation.   Much of what I read indicated a trend in the past six months of companies starting to "get it." They realized they could no longer ignore SM, yet found they needed direction as they aren't sure where to start. Which sites should they be on? What do they do once they are there? How do they manage it? Is it free? Who has the time?  

As I work with my clients' employee communications and recruitment messaging, I am definitely seeing the trend shift. I'm getting those same questions and working with them to start at the beginning: what is your goal and how would you define success with social media? With traditional media, measuring success was easy: you could count the number of resumes or job applications for each position you advertised. With social media, determining ROI may not be as easily defined. Sure, you can count the number of fans/followers or the number of wall posts, but what about measuring future candidates? Do you have a candidate management system in place to track the pipeline of future candidates?  

The end result is to drive job seekers to your careers page on your company website to fill out the job application, but being active in social media is going to be the catalyst. Social media is where job seekers are going to find you, to figure out if they are going to be a fit for your company and if they see themselves as being able to contribute to your company's success.       

Back to YOU - the job seeker.  Being active in social media gives you tools to find out about companies before submitting an application. As a tie-in to Angela Rosario's blog post Find the Job That’s Right for You – Honestly it's important to make sure your skills fit the job and you fit the work culture before you apply. Accepting a job offer and then realizing two weeks into your new position that it's not going to work out might have been avoided if you'd taken a little more time to get to know the company. It is your responsibility to seek out information on the company - do they have a Facebook page? Are they using Twitter to communicate their jobs and relevant industry information? Do they showcase  a "day-in-the-life" video, employee videos or a message from their CEO on a YouTube channel?  Is there a company blog you can read or a group on LinkedIn you can join? Are there reviews on Glassdoor.com?  

The trend of social media for the future of recruitment is a two way street. Companies need to learn how to engage their target audience and keep them coming back for more, but you - the job seeker / future candidate - will also need to embrace these tools for your job search. Imagine knowing what your future office space will look like before you've even submitted an application. Imagine having already "met" some of your potential future co-workers or even your manager before you've stepped in the building for an interview. You - the job seeker - now have the ability to request this flow of information from the company upfront and if that company is sincere in it's goal to recruit right fit, top talent, they will eagerly respond.

See you out there!