Social media is a great, cheap way to attract and scan through candidates. Sites like Come Recommended and LinkedIn share candidate recommendations and other user activities, such as blogs and groups the user belongs to. Companies need to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, as well. Not utilizing social media — with its popularity with Gen Y candidates — would be a loss. Being part of social media brings you closer to those you want to hire.
Although they will likely not die out, job boards are fading in effectiveness. According to recruitment industry expert, Peter Weddle, there are more than 50,000 job boards and career portals in operation online. The large number of job boards creates confusion and frustration among job seekers, and diminishing returns for employers.
A survey done by the Direct Employers Association found that social networking sites are one of the best sources for finding new employees, topped only by employee referrals. Companies need to be utilizing this medium.
Here are some recommendations:
- Have a company presence on several key social media sites. You can use these sites to your advantage in many ways. Come Recommended, Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to have company profiles, and sites like Twitter help you announce openings in the company.
- Manage and measure your social media presence. Social media provides a new opportunity for employers. You can “listen” to what people are saying about your company, engage potential employees, and measure the impact of your social media activities. Don’t just have a presence on social media sites, use that presence.
- Show, as well as tell. Yes, Twitter is great for getting the word out, but use visual social media as well, like YouTube and Flickr. Candidates like to experience the company culture by seeing the people working in the company, as well as company events.
No matter how you look at it, social media is a great recruitment tool, and costs little to no money to use it. There are many tips and tricks out there about how to use social media for recruiting, but really companies just have to find what works best for them.
This post was written by Lindsay Elias, Come Recommended’s public & media relations assistant.
