Finding The Balance

Social recruiting is about sharing your human side with candidates through social media tools, and communicating and interacting on a, well, social level. It’s crucial to strike a balance between the fantastic reach afforded by the technology and a commitment to quality recruitment practices. Use the technology as a means to help you efficiently source a wider pool of qualified top talent – and then connect with them on a more personal level.

Three Best Practices:

1)      Don’t hide behind company pages/accounts. Interact using your first name – this produces a sense of familiarity, and gives potential candidates “somebody” with whom to get in touch. They will know that their messages are directed towards an actual person, not just the void of a nameless account. This is also a great way to enhance the candidate experience.

2)      In addition to providing relevant details about your company and what you have to offer, be sure to share interesting articles and information that can spark discussions. This can include posts from your company blog, features written by others, and thought-provoking questions.

Potential candidates don’t just want to know about the salary and retirement packages, but also about the value you place on the company culture, work/life balance, interactions with other employees, and potential for career growth. Demonstrate a strong employment brand, and better engage with candidates over all of the issues that they care about.

3)      Integrate social recruiting into your employee referral program. Your employees are already active social animals – let them reach out, refer candidates and make that initial connection.

Employee referrals are generally of higher value – your employees wouldn’t have put their own reputations at risk if they didn’t genuinely believe that their referrals would be a great fit for the job. Therefore, consider separating and prioritizing these candidates from the ones from other sources of hire.

It’s a Human Thing

With social recruiting, it’s important to not lose the human element. There is a definite value in connecting with potential candidates on an individual, more personable level. As corporate recruiters, you provide that integral go-between with the organization. You act as gatekeepers in a way, there to receive and decide who will continue on. As much as we have come to rely on technology to do much of our 21^st century work for us, there is no substitute for human contact and interaction.

Consider this great quotation: “People generally don’t like us because we’re strong. They like us because we’re human.”

Social media is a powerful tool – but don’t lose sight of your own recruitment capabilities, and your ultimate goal: to connect people to your jobs.