A strong online presence is essential to your talent acquisition. 70 percent of job hunters begin their searches on Google and use the internet to research potential employers throughout the hiring process. What they discover about your company through review sites, social media, and your website can greatly impact your ability to attract – and hire – top talent. To stay relevant and competitive in the eyes of candidates, it is essential to be proactive in building and maintaining your company’s online presence.
Start with a Plan
When using social media to build a positive and attractive image to prospective employees, it is essential that you start with a focused strategic plan. How will social media enable you to achieve your talent acquisition objectives? To achieve desired results, start with clearly defined goals.
- Build robust content. Your message points should be driven by your goals and objectives. Make them specific to your audience. Even if you are not hiring right now, it is imperative that you are posting frequent and relevant content. Brand your company as one that cares about building and nurturing relationships with your entire audience – clients, current employees, and candidates. This will help to position you as a company that would be great to work for.
- Transform your employees into company advocates. Leverage their social networking to actively connect with and engage prospective talent. Encourage your staff to recommend anyone they know that might be qualified or interested in the position. Your employees’ personal recommendation of the company and position could help convince top talent to apply for the job. Share all of these details with your recruiting partner so they can follow up and vet the prospective candidates.
Follow Social Media Best Practices
When people can easily interact with your business, they’re more likely to be interested in what you have to offer. Whether you are engaged in an active search with your staffing firm, or are simply looking to build your company’s presence on social media, there are several best practices you should follow:
- Be an active LinkedIn participant. Maximize your company page. Include a header image and detailed business description. Ask customers to give you positive recommendations. This allows you to build a word-of-mouth advantage that can be viewed by anyone in the world. How you treat your customers can be an indication of how you might treat potential employees.
- Utilize the “holy grail” of social networking. Facebook by far retains the largest membership reach and most consistent member engagement among social platforms. Take advantage of this. Build a large audience with your customers and employees, and then engage with them. Post a mix of content that lets your company culture shine and gives candidates a glimpse into working at your organization.
- Tweet. Twitter has 500 million users and 45 percent of companies use it to find talent. Post a tweet about how you are recruiting and direct interested candidates to your staffing firm (by posting a link to their website) so candidates can easily and quickly apply.
Post Frequently
Share valuable information through social media – and do on a regular basis. Companies that post at least 20 times a month reach more than 50 percent of their desired audience.
- Follow the 80/20 rule. Don’t make it just about your business. Post or share four items from other sources for every one that promotes your company.
- Give candidates information they can use. Posts that include links, photos or videos have about twice the engagement rate of those without. Remember to post contact information or links to your recruiting firm so candidates know where they find additional information and apply.
Embrace Mobile
Mobile technology has profoundly changed the way businesses interact with job seekers. About half of all traffic on the Web now comes from mobile devices. When selecting a staffing firm to partner with, ask about their mobile website technology to ensure that candidates can easily navigate and access their website and job board.
For additional assistance in optimizing your recruitment strategy, contact the staffing industry experts at Employment Professionals Canada today. Our staffing services in Ontario have helped hundreds of companies recruit the perfect candidate for their positions. To learn more about our recruitment solutions, contact us today!
