5 Ways Recruiters and HR can use Social Media!

Many people in HR and Recruitment, my boss included, questions whether social media can help them. Here are 5 ways you can successfully use social media to help with your Recruitment/HR endeavors.

Training and Development – Social Media can be a great tool in training new employees. Creating an internal Youtube channel for new hires is a great way to train new employees and save training time by having the new employees watch these training videos as part of the orientation process. This is also a great reference for employees trying to learn the ropes or for those who need a refresher course. Click here for an example of a company using YouTube for training purposes.
Recruiting Talent – Nearly every individual has jumped on the social media bandwagon and this can be a huge advantage when it comes to your hiring needs. Social networks are a great place to find candidates even before actually engaging them. LinkedIn is a huge tool to be used in your recruitment effort. Here you can preview the potential candidates work history (if filled out properly) in your industry, and many times, an outline of their resume. Another key tool is twitter. Running a search on twitter will lead you to a number of interesting people in your industry who can be considered SME in the field you are attempting to recruit for. TwitJobSearch and other third party tools can be used to scour twitter for what you are looking for. Facebook is creeping up the ladder as a recruitment tool competitor. This is usually done by creating a Facebook Fan Page with keywords related to your company and industry. You then find people with similar interests to “Like” your page. From there, you send out updates pertinent to your company and your followers. Here is a great article explaining FB for recruiting in more detail. LinkedIn is by far the most reliable tool for finding talent, but Twitter and Facebook are great for brand exposure.
Brand Promotion and Marketing - By continuously engaging in social media networking, your company name and areas of expertise grows one follower and/or viewer at a time. Soon you will find that your followers and loyal customers/clients start promoting your business for you. This goes hand-in-hand with #4.
Communication highlights your Expertise – If you consistently communicate and share relevant information via your social media networks, people will soon see you as an expert in your field. This can lead to a number of positive possibilities including: more sales, more clients, more candidates, and more brand exposure. It also helps to derive instantaneous feedback which can help better shape your marketing efforts.
Relationship Building – Lastly, the key to all social media efforts and what will lead to your company/HR/Recruiting success is relationship building. Joining groups and networking with your fellow HR/Recruitment people, as well as those in the industry you are trying to recruit for, could help you bring in future clients, customers and potential candidates.

Are there other ways you use Social Media to help in the Recruiting and HR world? Let us know!

-Evelyn Amaro

NationStaff Inc.

This article was originaly posted on NationStaff's Blog

Comment by Dominic (Whitehall Resources) on February 7, 2013 at 5:58am: I also see the benefits of social Media in producing a consistent brand image in regards to your business. Its all well and good using social media to raise brand awareness and to get your name out there, but by portraying a consistent message across all social media platforms, it can actually help to represent the brand identity and what the company stands for. Its builds your identity.

A brand is not about what you say about yourself, but what you clients and candidates think when they hear your name. By using many social media platforms that are very consistent in content and purpose, it can embed your intended image and ethos of your brand in the eyes of potential clients and candidates. What's the use in raising awareness of your business using social media when the many different platforms talk about your company in different ways? It makes you seem indecisive and not credible.

I think whats more important than reaching out to as many people as possible, is making sure they gain the right perception of your brand once engaging with your content.

Comment by Evelyn Amaro on February 7, 2013 at 9:16am: Hi Dominic, Thanks for your comments. It made me realize that perhaps I was not clear as to what type of content to network with. I meant more indirect branding. Using your expertise to write articles that will benefit the candidate and/or the client. If you engage with your audience this way vs "talking about yourself," you are not only helping your audience, but you are also building credibility. You are no longer just another brand, but a true expert in your field.

Thanks again for pointing that out!

Comment by Spark Hire on February 7, 2013 at 1:28pm: These are great tips on using social media in your HR efforts. As social media becomes a bigger part of our everyday lives, it also makes sense it would become a bigger part of our hiring efforts. When it comes to using social media to recruit, you should look for the candidates who already know how to effectively deploy social tools in their job hunt. The candidates who are sharing their relevant work portfolio, video resume, or industry-related articles will be the people you’ll want to connect with in the interview process.

Comment by Denise Oyston on February 14, 2013 at 3:50am: Hi Evelyn A great Article. I dont think a lot of people realise how you can leverage youtube with its privacy feature. I create a lot of training videos for our staff and the really appreciate it! I also totally agree about branding as an expert. Content and knowledge shared accelerates any trust process.

Best Wishes

Denise