In Part 1, we talked about hiring talent with Snapchat & Virtual Reality, if you haven’t go check out here. In this article, we will enlighten you about one of the most popular social networking platform, Instagram. Instagram is filled with passive and creative talent.

On 21st June 2016 Instagram announced that they have grown from 300M users to 500M+ users wherein 300M+ are daily active on the platform. Instagram is one of the rising stars in social media. The rapid growth of the application makes this platform a popular network among brands. Big brands are leveraging this platform to recruit talent as well as to create employer brand. Are you ahead in the race to win the passive talent?

Why is it really worth?

There are more than 300M+ users daily active users as per Instagram stats. Companies are hiring talent from social media as per recent SHRM report . Instagram is filled with passive talent, if you wish to extend your hiring capabilities beyond traditional recruiting process then you should use Instagram. Today it’s not about posting a job requirement on social media but marketing it also that’s why today every recruiter must be a social media expert. The best part about this recruitment strategy is that “It’s free”. You don’t have to pay anything(unless you want to), you can extend your employer brand reach.

Who all are Recruiting via Instagram?

The big brands such as General Electric (@generalelectric), Marriott Hotels (@marriottcareers),Starbucks (@starbucks) use Instagram to recruit talent. These brands create strong followers to build up their employer brand. These brands find the passive talents who share the mutual interest in their field such as  

GE posts snaps of employees going about their daily tasks in factories all over the world and having fun.

Marriott posts pictures of smiling employees with a note about the company and how long they have been with Marriott.

Starbucks use Instagram as their default image-sharing and image-enhancing platform for all of their social media campaigns.

Instagram Recruitment: Is it your cup of tea?

You might have a doubt these big brands started to recruit via Instagram and the are successful but what about my brand? Will it source great talent for my employer brand?

1. If you are using any other social network in your recruitment process then you might as well consider Instagram. It will not only source you passive candidates but also it will help you build your employer brand with dedicated followers.
2. If you are looking to bring in fresh blood then it is an important platform for you
3. If you have socially active employees then it might be helpful to increase your reach.

If your answer for above questions is yes then you should consider Instagram in your recruitment plan.

How to Recruit via Instagram?

It’s a wonderful platform to find creative talent. Here are steps on how to find talent on Instagram-

1. First, you need to think creative visually, as Instagram don’t allow any links in the image caption.
2. Have a contest/Challenge them, where you promote a custom made hashtag and giving them an action to do. For example tag-to-win, comment-to-win or photo challenges.
3. Make the contest related to the job position. For example, if you are looking for animators use #Animators hashtag and tell them to upload their best work on Instagram and tag your company in that image.
4. Make specific rules.
5. If you find any Instagramers interesting you can directly send them DM(Direct Message) and invite them for an interview.

Conclusion-

The best part about Instagram is that it’s a creative platform. That said if your business is looking to hire candidates who are highly engaged with Instagram them it’s a great platform for you. Instagram is filled with passive the talent and surely you don’t want to miss on the talent pool of 300+M passive candidates. Instagram is an amazing platform to share the visual representation of your company’s employment.

If you want to know more about hiring from social platform check out How to Recruit talent with Snapchat & Virtual Reality?