The Role of Social Media in Recruiting

The recruitment industry is ever-changing and always improving. While technological evolution and software solutions have certainly made the process easier, there are still challenges to be faced. Nowadays more and more companies rely on outsourcing expert HR agencies to do the heavy lifting for them and understandably so. Intelligent AI solutions save you time sifting through prospective candidates and dedicated talent managers find the best fitting individuals for your staffing needs. Even so, as a company you need to continuously use all of your channels effectively to attract top talent, and social media still plays a huge role in this.

Social Media Is As Important As Ever

Social media still plays a crucial role in everyday life both for individuals and businesses alike. For HR professionals, social media gives a freely accessible tool for targeting and analyzing an audience that can then be accessed by their clients who are looking to hire.

All successful companies these days cannot live without a social media strategy which highlights ways in which a business can promote itself and its services not only to its customers but also future employees.

Quality Content Above Anything Else

On the surface it may seem that social media is all about flashiness and attracting short-lived attention just for the sake of it but unless you are able to deliver quality content even in the compact format that social media requires, you can't expect much success in reaching your target audience.

Utilising social media in the recruitment process requires adding value to whatever you put out there. Posting a dry job ad isn't enough and unless you provide a wider context and additional information that will entice your audience, don't expect much. Yes, you might still get a larger quantity of applicants but the less value you provide to prospective candidates, the less quality you will get in return as you might find that you don't exactly get the attention from the talent you were hoping for.

Give context and added value to whoever crosses paths with your social media channels. Know-how content is particularly valuable and popular, allowing you to form stronger bonds with your audience and increase brand awareness.

Engaging With Your Audience Is Everything

Unless you expect to engage with your audience, don't hope for much success on the social media front. More than any other platform, social media is all about communication and engagement with your audience. Successful interaction with your audience, as well as employees and prospective job applicants means that you are constantly promoting your brand, in return building trust and confidence.

During recruitment process in particular you need to pay extra attention to your social media channels as this is the best and one of the most effective ways how to provide any additional information that prospective candidates might seek out.

Social Media Isn't Everything

In spite of being tremendously effective in reaching an audience quickly, it's essential to keep in mind that social media isn't everything. While it can offer invaluable help in the recruitment process, especially if you need to directly engage with your audience, use it as your only platform in the recruitment process and you are guaranteed to fail. Just like any other tool, social media has its place and it is best to keep that in mind. No matter what role you are seeking to fill and what your target audience is, you still want social media to be an additional source for advertising the job instead of being the one and only.