Why Should Companies Use Social Media for Recruitment?

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As the world has become a hub of technology. Several platforms have emerged in the form of social media that allow us to communicate across the global network. It has numerous applications for sectors such as advertisement and marketing, entertainment, news, and much more.

With so many options for hiring available, it has become actually critical for companies to choose the right talent from the pool. From traditional sources to new channels, it has become evident that social media is the best to hire.

According to ExpressVPN, recruitment via social media has become quite popular among major organizations across the globe.

Hiring human resources through social media shows promising results as more than 90% of recruiters hire through these platforms. The rise in popularity of social media platforms has made social media an effective marketing platform for talent search acquisition professionals.

Social Media Recruitment: Definition and Its Benefits

A group of people shaking hands at a desk in an office.

Average internet users today has at least 3 and up to 5 social media accounts that they uses at some other point in their lifespan. This aspect makes social media the best place to look for targeting a wide audience. Taking note, recruiters use these social media platforms for marketing their jobs, highlighting their organization, and encouraging job seekers to seek a career in their organization.

Social media recruitment or social hiring involves employers branding the available jobs and their organization to encourage job applicants for recruitment. It helps identify and engage with job seekers and target them more effectively. It has numerous benefits that make the process of hiring quite simple and efficient. Discussed further are some of the advantages of social hiring.

1. Helps Reach Active and Passive Candidates

A user of social media knows the benefits of being connected to a global network. Job applicants who actively apply for jobs via e-mails and walk-in interviews are aware that every organization has an online presence.

Having a well-established social presence of the business ensures that active job seekers find the right information and encouragement to join the organization. The presence on social platforms acts as a complete marketing tool for the organization itself.

Also, passive job seekers are those who do not actively seek a job actively, however, are likely to join if they stumble upon a job with better perks and interests than their existing job. It makes social media platforms the most effective channel for organic recruitment. In fact, real-time conversations and convenient mediums allow a more comfortable hiring process which makes it quite efficient to target passive job seekers.

2. Makes the Hiring Process More Beneficial

Hiring someone via social media engagement is the most beneficial method for recruiters looking to hire immediately, as it drastically reduces the hiring process. There are multiple reasons for the same. Social hiring involves engaging with job applicants directly with a short formal introduction followed by essential requirements for the job. The convenience of the medium allows for faster and more precise real-time responses from applicants.

Also, social media allows targeting the audience that precisely falls in the established requirement category. It helps shorten the screening process. Further, channels such as newspapers, hoardings, T.V. advertisements, or other channels are usually money-shelling alternatives compared to social media platforms.

If you have an established brand image on these platforms, you can easily target a wide range of audiences with insignificant expenditures. Creating a brand page is free of cost if you wish to create one now. Also, social media is a great platform to create a brand image not just for job applicants but for the wider audience as a whole.

Nowadays, brands with a stronghold on social media presence are seen as more competitive and worth investing in by consumers and investors alike. Social media presence helps create visibility for your brand and spread awareness making it popular among the consumers as well. It helps create a bond of trust and build a respectable reputation for your organization.

A group of business people shaking hands at a meeting.

3. Choose from the Better Grades of Candidates

Social media has created the most simplest and effective channel for a platform where talent meets requirements. Most job seekers, whether active or passive, on social media are smart and savvy professionals in their field who could become an asset to any organization.

The applicants hired through social media bring the advantage of a better grasp and knowledge of the job. The availability of online skill courses has made it easier for job seekers to add a cutting edge to their talent level.

As per a report, about 60% of candidates hired via social media are more productive for recruiters than those hired through other traditional channels. Such a high-quality talent pool makes social media a treasure hub for talent acquisition professionals. Also, you can use social media to target a specific audience with a selected skill set.

4. Create a Buzz about Job Vacancies

An advantage of hiring candidates through social media is the wide reach of the audience. For a start, you can easily create broadcast channels or groups or even a page for sending out news of vacancies at your organization. If it catches the norms of the algorithm or gets viral, it becomes sufficient to spread the word far and across. Also, another way to do so is by leaving comments, and posts that give details and market the vacancy. It serves as a dual purpose of employers branding and marketing as well as to spread awareness.

Create broadcast channels for distinct categories of job vacancies. It is important to ensure that the appeal for vacant position hiring does not become annoying or repetitive. Doing so might lead to the loss of credibility of your organization.

Another method to ensure that your vacancy gets the right buzz it deserves is by using the application X (formerly known as Twitter) to create hashtags and tweets. A single viral hashtag can create a buzz loud enough to attract a potential talent pool to your organization. Further, making your employees participate in spreading the word about vacant positions might help add to the marketing efforts.

5. Helps Screen the Potential Candidates

Social media is an effective platform for recruiters to hire since it shortens the process by a significant amount. Everyone present on the platform uses it in different ways either to express or question opinions. However, it helps to get an in-depth understanding of the individual in itself.

Recruiters and talent acquisition professionals usually identify the human for the job by knowing about their personal life portrayed on social media. Insights into their personality and aspirations are useful aspects that employers consider before recruitment. Other than social media, such deep comprehension is not available on any other channel. As a result, it automatically puts you in the driving seat of the screening process.

Based on the interests of the company and the need of the hour for the job, you can simply scroll away from any candidate who does not seem to share common interests. In fact, today most people have their social media accounts linked to their resumes or CVs. For recruiters looking for candidates for careers in advertisements or YouTube videos, voice artists, or influencers, social media accounts become their fundamental form of resume.

Conclusion

The use of social media has significantly risen over the last few years. The rise in opportunities to communicate better and wider, get entertainment, and even earn through the channel. It has made way for surplus benefits. Apart from being a great place to earn, it provides a platform where job seekers and recruiters can come one-on-one for discussion regarding the available position.

For recruiting agencies, social media is the perfect way to market their brand and create awareness among a wider audience. As a recruiting agency, the use of these channels makes it necessary to understand the importance of engagement and how to complete it. It reduces the costs incurred per hire significantly. Apart from this, it also allows brands to create an image or reputation that attracts job seekers to be a part of their work culture.

Certain thing to keep in mind:

If you’re an organization trying to hire candidates via social media recruitment, there are certain things to keep in mind.

Always include clear and precise information related to the job.
It should enlist the complete summary of the job profile and expected eligibility criteria from the applicant.
Also, remember to keep it short and crisp.

It is not as much about the work as it is about the workplace. So, advertise your brand and its ethics, and work culture and not just the vacant position. It helps encourage job seekers to try for the position. The benefit of social hiring lies in its natural manner of communication between the job seeker and the recruiter. It helps create the right balance for healthier work relationships.

Even with the use of paid tools on social media such as targeted advertisements, the cumulative cost sums up to quite reasonable and competitive compared to the traditional channels. Also, the rate of return in the case of social recruiting comes up to much higher, comparatively. Hence, if you’re a recruiting agency looking for a place to hire candidates with good skill levels, consider trying out the various options for social media hiring.