Insights

The Power of Social Media Hiring

Akhilesh Verma - Strategic Talent Acquisition Team Lead - STAT - UST India

As more people become social and digital natives, the nature of job search changes as well. As a result, social recruiting has become increasingly critical and imperative for companies. With LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter now boasting over 4.5 billion combined users, recruiters must leverage social networks to attract potential job candidates.

Underestimating social recruiting

Imagine this scenario - A typical day in the talent acquisition department of a multinational IT company:

The company needs to fill a Head of Engineering position urgently. The progress has been slow, even with a few candidates shortlisted and lined up for interviews. There is an additional sense of urgency from the business unit head since the Leadership team, especially the CTO, is doing an aggressive follow-up on this niche role. They just have two weeks to close.

The senior manager of leadership, Ravi, hiring and the global head of leadership hiring, John, were both frustrated. They had tried practically everything possible to get the right candidate for this role, i.e., using LinkedIn, job portals, internal and external references, and cold calling. But due to the complexity and the niche skills required for this role, they saw minimal results.

A chance conversation with his colleague Andrew during a coffee break was the breakthrough Ravi needed. Andrew always seemed a step ahead of the other recruiters in the office. He genuinely understood the power and importance of social media hiring, while most people underestimated it.

He explained to Ravi that social media recruitment is using social media platforms to identify, engage and vet people the organization may want to hire. This HR practice, which is sometimes called social hiring or simply social recruiting, uses social media sites and other internet options, such as blogs, and videos, to reach potential job candidates.

Three Critical Factors

Andrew further explained the three critical factors that determine social media experience irrespective of platforms to Ravi. These are essential determining factors that impact every recruiter's desk:

• Identity: Identity is the prime driver of the social media experience. It reflects the present and future needs of an individual or organization. It helps determine the traffic to the profile and the strategy to nurture a network. An organization's identity on a social media platform is the company page. The company page must reflect the organization's competencies, as found on the company website.
• Network: Nurturing a qualitative and quantitative network aligned with the needs is critical as this influences the social media experience. It is only possible to connect with some people on a social media platform. It pays to connect with people with similar interests or with whom there is interdependency, i.e., following and joining individuals/groups on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• Engagement: The quality, consistency and regularity of the engagement impact social media presence, enhance the reputation and convert the connections into relationships. As the needs of individuals and organizations evolve, the network and engagement on social media platforms also need to grow. The strategy to nurture and engage the network should always align with their respective needs. The heart of the engagement strategy is the content strategy; it is essential to develop and promote content.

Key Social Media Platforms:

LinkedIn - https://in.linkedin.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/

Google Currents - G Suite App

Social Media Recruiting Strategies:

• Build your company's online reputation - Potential candidates are looking to establish an emotional connection with the right company, so we need to give them something to be passionate about. Share content that shows your company as a great place to work and organically attracts candidates.
• Use video to engage with passive candidates - Once you've established your presence on your chosen social media channels, you want to take your relationship to the next level, and you must engage with them. And one of the most effective forms of engagement is video.
• Involve employees in sharing posts on social media - Lean on your existing employee network to get the word out. Ask your employees to get involved in the recruitment drive and have them share your posts on their social media platforms.
• Join LinkedIn groups - An estimated 89% of recruiters currently use LinkedIn to source talent (57% use Facebook and 49% use Twitter). Don't just optimize your company's LinkedIn profile to show you're actively recruiting; join and participate in LinkedIn groups relevant to your industry.
• But it is not only about LinkedIn - You should try different strategies depending on the various social media platforms you are using. One size does not fit all, so what might work for Twitter won't necessarily translate to LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Share quality content - Social media doesn't work if you don't have something others want to share – that's kind of the point of being social. Your content must be entertaining, useful, or interesting like a blog that discusses what candidates expect from interviews.
• Keep potential candidates engaged – Build a community - Direct message people, approach people in your network who could potentially become part of your talent cloud. Talk to them about the company, about the benefits and potential opportunities of working there. Be proactive and go to your audience, don't wait for them to come to you.
• Power of Hashtag - Take time to understand the power of the humble hashtag. It is easy to put a # in front of a word or a sentence and expect it to work its magic – it's not that simple. Know the reach of your hashtags, how many people use them, the geography, and the demographic – if your hashtag isn't targeting your key audience, it is redundant, lose it. On the flip side, if it is too popular, you run the risk of your message getting lost in the tidal wave of messages also using it. Try and be inventive with your hashtags; personalize your hashtags per your and your company's voice and what you want to achieve with them.

Andrew's depth of knowledge for social recruiting amazed Ravi, who had no idea so much strategy went into the process. He began to understand why it is the next powerful tool for hiring. There will certainly be an improvement in both the quantity and quality of candidates, and it is worthwhile to put time and energy into implementing these strategies. It takes a focused, concentrated approach and patience because building a solid online presence takes time.

Andrew's detailed insights helped Ravi re-align his search. He was a fast learner, and the very next month's hiring announcement stated the critical and successful hiring of the Head of Engineering. Ravi was recognized for his hard work and nominated for the best innovative performer award.