A survey by Jobvite found that 94% of companies were already using, or plan to use, social recruiting in 2013. So, if you’re not using social media for recruitment, you definitely should put it on the “to-do” list because your competitors are there already.
But before you start tweeting, pinning and instagraming (or even if you already are), make sure you’re not committing one of these seven social recruiting sins:
Using too many platforms
The first mistake most businesses make when foraying into the world of social media is biting off more than they can chew. You get pressured to open an account for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, Foursquare.. the list goes on. But not only will you never be able to leverage all those networks well, it’s also completely unnecessary.
Start off by identifying where your target market hangs out online and if it’s somewhere your business can make a connection. Start off with one or two, build your following and then consider expanding.
Job spamming
“Looking for”, “Great opportunity”, “Apply now”
Everyone hates spammers. And in the world of social recruiting there are a LOT of job spammers. Constantly posting about job opportunities on social media will just deter followers and discard your posts as ‘white noise’. You should aim to add value on social media by sharing news, or interesting content. It’s also a good opportunity to work on your employer brand; post a picture of the office fun run or publicly congratulate a team member’s achievement.
Not listening
Lots of companies treat social media like a megaphone, not a telephone. Social recruiting tools give us personal access to millions of people, but that goes both ways. When you join a network, prepare to be uber responsive to those who reach out to you. Listen to what’s happening in your social networks and participate in conversations. Social media is a great opportunity to get one-on-one with the community so listen to what they have to say.
Being Fake
Online communities really value ‘authenticity’ when it comes to social media. People like to connect with people. Your social recruiting efforts should sound personable and have character. And remember each social platform has its own user norms and personalities. Make sure you’re using the right kind of messaging for each different account you have.
Not being mobile-friendly
The aim of most social recruiting efforts will be to drive more traffic to your career page or job posting. When you consider 70% of job seekers job search using mobile devices, it’s a pretty major sin not to have your website optimized for mobile. Is it easy to apply or share your jobs via mobile? Don’t neglect the mobile user experience when designing your recruitment processes.
Leaving it to an intern
Social media recruiting should not be tasked to an intern, or entry level employee who isn’t privy to the whole recruitment strategy. Actually, social recruiting shouldn’t be the job of any one person. In recruitment, referrals are one of the best and safest ways to hire top talent. You should be encouraging ALL your employees to be active on social media and spread your employer brand through their networks.
Placing too much emphasis on social media
It can get easy to be caught up in social media and social recruiting. But you have to remember who you’re recruiting for and if social really is the way to reach them. Social recruiting doesn’t work for all fields (yet) and you shouldn’t narrow your efforts to rely solely on social media.
Social recruiting is just one of many tools used in talent acquisition. It should be integrated as part of a larger recruitment strategy and thought out as a valuable extension of your efforts.
