Kickfannie Ask the Recruiter

by Stephanie Eberhart for Kickfannie Operations

Why Social Media Recruiting is a Must for Every Company

Gone are the days of the baby boomer generation looking through help wanted ads in the newspaper, fewer candidates are looking through the volumes of job openings on job boards, instead social media recruiting has become one of the most efficient and cost effective ways to reach and attract top talent. Social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have all made it easy and fast for employers to reach the masses.

LinkedIn is one of the oldest (founded in 2003) and most well known professional networks. It currently has 277 million users in 200 countries. 40% of LinkedIn members use it daily and 39% of them visit via their mobile. Developing a company page and job postings are easy to do and LinkedIn is a great way to reach the passive job seeker and develop referral networks.

Facebook is the largest online social network (founded in 2004) it has over 1 billion users around the globe. It connects people socially as well as providing pages for companies to share about their latest and greatest achievements and attract followers. With the click of a button anything can be shared on Facebook with either your personal network or the general public, hence the ability to reach millions of people in just a second. Twitter is an online social networking website and microblogging service that allows users to post and read messages known as “tweets” and re-share with their network. Founded in 2006 Twitter has over 640 million users globally.

Social media recruiting is at an all-time high and in order to be effective you have a have a good plan and work your plan every day. It is crucial to build up a large circle of co-workers, former co-workers, industry associates, vendors, customers and friends so when you do have a job opening, you can share your position with people who are already familiar with your company. They will in turn share with their network and in a very short time you have reached a huge amount of people that otherwise may never have heard about your job opening or your company for that matter. It is also crucial that you have someone or several people in your company that are responsible for updating your social media sites and answering responses on a regular basis. We are in the age of instant information and if you are not responding immediately then the job seekers attention goes to the company that is responding. Most “A” level job seekers use social media on a regular basis and they will be the ones who are sought after most aggressively.

Adding social media links to your company web page is also very important. It helps users of various social media sites connect quickly and begin to share your openings. The more people that share your openings, the quicker you will reach the best potential candidates. Also, keep in mind that whether you are a small, mid-size or large company social media allows you to all be on the same “playing field” so to speak.

If you have not already started a social media recruiting campaign or have not been diligent about following up, start today! It could save you thousands of dollars in posting fees and lost revenue.

Social media for hiring purposes is at an all-time high: 92 percent of companies use platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for recruitment, and 45 percent of Fortune 500 firms include links to social media on their career page sections.

Amongst the top social networks, LinkedIn leads the way, favored by 93 percent of companies, ahead of Facebook (66 percent) and Twitter (54 percent). Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of recruiters say that they have made successful hires through social media, and, conversely, one third of employers rejected candidates because of something that they found in their social profiles.

About the Contributor

Today, Stephanie is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Talent Remedy. Talent Remedy is a full service recruiting firm supporting businesses around the United States placing exceptional talent. They believe in taking the interview process beyond the job description and truly understanding the needs of the role in both the immediate time frame as well as the future. She understands filling positions is not just about skills, it's also about finding the right cultural fit for your organization. Learn more about Talent Remedy at www.talentremedy.com

Submit Questions for Stephanie to answer at AskTheRecruiter@kickfannie.com