Social Media in recruiting
One new tool is giving organizations the ability to search for quality candidates for free! Social Networking is taking over and if your organization is not already on board it’s time to jump on. Social Networking gives an organization a glimpse into a potential candidates work and school history, likes, dislikes, and personality. No other resource gives an organization the ability to essentially know a candidate before ever making contact with them.
Not only can organizations benefit from using Social Networking but candidates can benefit as well. Candidates are gaining access to the hiring managers, CEO, and CFO of all types of organizations including fortune 500 companies. It can allow candidates to get their foot in the door and gain knowledge about that organization and their staff. If a candidate utilizes the resource they may discover some information about the hiring manager and the organization that can be beneficial during an interview.
Before an organization starts using Social Networking there is pertinent information to know to make Social Networking successful for your organization.
Make the commitment- Social Networking is not just a trend; it is becoming a main resource for recruiting. Once an organization starts there is no turning back. Your organization needs to stay committed to it. Make sure there is consistency in the tone and activity. It is also important to comment on other organization’s blogs and posts; this is free advertisement for your organization. When your comment is posted, it is now publicly seen on your organization’s site, which can attract viewers to your site.
Use resources within your organization- Become “social friends” with your organization’s current and past employees. Being social friends expands a company’s potential candidate pool by providing unlimited access to this network of “social friends”. “Social friends” may share similar interests and work ethics as them and lead to potential recruiting opportunities. Also use employees to promote the organization’s site and potential open positions.
Measure the success- Organizations depend on certain metrics to determine the success of a resource. Social Networking gives your organization the ability to measure the success and customize how your organization chooses to measure the information. An organization needs to set quantitative goals and then track the contacts, candidates, and referrals that result from their social media efforts.
Using Twitter for Recruiting
Twitter is a great tool for businesses looking to have direct contact with consumers. With over 15 million active users, businesses have cited the social media network as a way to let users know about new products or services. Twitter even has a dedicated page for businesses explaining how the service can be used. But can Twitter be used in the recruiting industry? The answer is yes. Twitter is a fantastic resource for companies looking to reach an endless amount of users with little effort.
Many companies have dedicated an entire Twitter account to listing available jobs. For example, MTV (@MTVnetworksjobs) tweets its open positions and is always willing to answer questions about job related questions. The account has over 21,000 followers, this means that every time the network posts a job, over 21,000 people see it. Furthermore, if one of those over 21,000 people retweet the job listing, every one of his or her followers sees it too. This is a fantastic approach to promoting your open positions to an endless amount of candidates.
For the average business, getting over 21,000 followers like MTV Networks is not an easy task. It takes quality posts and strategic timing to acquire a following. It is important to take into consideration when people will be using Twitter before posting a job listing. For example, tweeting a job posting at 3am on a Monday night is not likely to have a large reach because many users are asleep and may have work early the next morning. Instead you may want to think about tweeting it at 7:30am when many users are waking up to check their Twitter timeline before getting ready to start the work day. You may want to also think about retweeting the job posting later in the day at around 6:30pm when users are getting out of work and home to browse the Internet. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t acquire a large following at first, keep tweeting on a regular basis and the following will surely come.
You can always check out Hire Velocity’s on Twitter @HireVelocity and @HVJobListings.
Byron West
President
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