If done well, social recruiting can be a powerful way to find the right candidates. With nearly 95% of people aged 18-35 belonging to at least one social network, HR professionals have turned to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to find job seekers. Nearly 80% of companies are using social networks as part of their hiring process. But are they using them effectively? Consider these three levels of the Social Recruiting Spectrum.
1. Putting It Out There
The simplest form of social recruiting is using Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter to announce a job opening, or to broadcast that you’re looking for work. While these tools will help get the word out, you can’t be sure that right people have heard your message. And let’s face it — sifting through wall posts or blanketing a generic message to your entire network has not proven to be very successful in most cases.
2. Making the Right Connections
Taking it a step further, social recruiting is about leveraging the right connections at the right time. Job seekers will reach out their network (friends and friend-of-friends) to see which of their connections work for a particular hiring company. They’ll ask about culture, job availability, and fit. And hiring managers will do the same within their network. They’ll ask for employees to refer candidates to help alleviate risk. This method insures the message is getting to a targeted connection that might be able to help. But it can be quite time consuming.
3. Curating an Active Talent Community
The most effective level of social recruiting leverages a platform like Ascendify, for talent communities to thrive. Within talent communities, meaningful connections are established by leveraging connections within all social networks. Employers, job seekers, recruiters, college counselors, mentors, and advisors, all play a role in matching job seekers with job openings. The interactions within the community are relevant because all members have a common interest in the topics. So, they share applicable news, post job openings, offer advice, make introductions, and build credible relationships. Once these relationships are established, job seekers have the know-how to make better choices when applying, and hiring managers are able to source candidates that are a better fit. The result is a better experience for both the candidate and the employer.
Job seekers have always looked to their friends and family to help find work, and social media has made it easier to take networking a step further. As recruiting becomes more social, the old saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, will ring true even louder.
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Ascendify improves the way the social enterprise connects with top talent. Ascendify transforms a corporate career site into an active, engaging talent community that leverages social networks to connect employers with candidates. Unlike any other HR solution, Ascendify builds enterprise talent communities so employers and recruiters establish personal relationships directly with candidates – effectively building a private social network at their corporate website. For more information, check out a demo.
