RECRUITMENT ARTICLE.
By: Asna Shadmeen
Tags: Talent Acquisition, Hr Talent Management, Hiring, Recruiting, Recruitment

Recruitment refers to the overall process of identifying, attracting, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing, suitable candidates for jobs within an organization. Recruitment can also refer to processes involved in choosing individuals for unpaid roles.

EFFECTIVE AND DIFFERENT WAYS OF RECRUITMENT

A Quick Summary of Innovative Recruitment Methods

SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITMENT

Social recruiting refers to the process of recruiting candidates through social media platforms, like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and other websites, including online forums, job boards, and blogs.

Social recruiting is also referred to as social media recruiting, social hiring and social recruitment.

While organizations have thus far generally used social recruiting as a way to augment more traditional recruiting methods, that may change as social recruiting continues to gain popularity. For example, according to one study, nearly three-quarters of workers between the ages of 18–34 found their most recent job via social media. Moreover, nearly 90% of recruiters report that they have hired someone off of LinkedIn.

When done well, social recruiting enables organizations to reach passive candidates, gather more referrals, target desired candidates, showcase your organizational culture, and save money.

Ultimately, social recruiting works because it inserts your organization into the orbit of where workers spend a considerable amount of their time — on social media

STEPS OF SOCIAL RECRUITMENT:

Step #1: Choose the right platforms

Social media platforms fall into several different categories. Some are used by casual internet users as a means to communicate with their friends and loved ones. Others prefer using social media as a means for B2B networking, company blogging and other activities.

Choosing the right platform for your specific industry and job description is highly important. For example, you can look for a content manager through Facebook, but you are far more likely to find a talented individual via LinkedIn.

The same rule applies to the type of content you are about to publish. Blog posts work far better on LinkedIn than on Twitter or Instagram. Define your expectations and make sure to choose one (or several) platforms that cater to your specific industry trends.

Step #2: Target specific candidates

Searching for a job candidate isn’t as simple as it seems. You can have the best possible job advertisement but if you fail to target the right market — no one will apply for it. Make sure that you are clear about the type of people you want to attract to your company.

Do you want to attract fresh graduates, established professionals or something in between? Do you have special job requirements such as a certain work ethics, background, family status and other characteristics? These are important questions that can help you better determine which candidates your brand really needs.

You can avoid a lot of downtime by simply creating a candidate persona and centering your entire recruitment campaign on it. It will make unfit candidates pass on the application while encouraging others to send their resumes and motivation letters.

Step #3: Create a content calendar

Attracting high-quality candidates is all about being consistent and persistent. Make sure that you are ready to create recruitment content for several weeks in advance.

You can automate said content through social media by scheduling it. It will automatically post based on your custom requirements and ensure that you can focus on data evaluation and further content creation. A content calendar will make it easier for people to see your job opening advertisement and react to it.

The more often you post, the better your chances are at being spotted. Make sure not to overdo it, however — social media platforms work much in the same way SEO does. Too much content (even good content) can put you on the blacklist of spam businesses.

Step #4: Encourage interaction

Calls to action (CTA) play a huge role in social media recruitment. While it is true that candidates look for work and naturally respond to interesting posts, you need to ensure that it actually happens. Include motivational, moving messages in your job advertisement.

Things like “sign up today — change your tomorrow” and similar should be included in your social media posts. They are easy to digest and make it interesting for social media users to consider and eventually apply for work.

If you are looking for digital nomads or freelancers, you might consider localizing your content for extra measure. Check out the largest translation companies on the web and see if you can find help from a professional translator to do it. After all, chances are that you don’t have Spanish, Chinese or Russian native speakers (to name a few) already on the payroll.

Step #5: Set rules and requirements

As far as job descriptions go, you should be aware of any and all details concerning it. This means that you should define the entire application process to the letter before posting anything.

A social media recruitment strategy is not unlike traditional HR recruitment when it comes to rules and requirements. Set strict formatting, documentation and resume rules for your candidates.

Don’t rely on improvisation and don’t expect every application that comes your way. Those that don’t follow your rules are likely to continue doing the same if you accept them. Make sure that you are seen as professional and that you expect nothing less from potential colleagues.

Step #6: Communicate via social media

The nature of social media channels dictates direct communication. Your social media pages can easily serve as backdoor customer support for any potential candidates.

People are likely to ask for additional information about the placement, the company itself or the recruitment process. Instruct your social media managers to answer any and all questions in regards to the job opening.

Don’t ignore these messages since they will reflect badly on your social media ranking and overall visibility. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter prefer to display pages that frequently answer private messages as opposed to the ones that don’t. Be a part of the former and show some good will by answering even the marginally-related questions.

Step #7: Don’t keep them waiting

Social media platforms encourage fast response times and quick turnaround of information. Follow this logic if you plan on using social media recruitment.

Once the applications start coming in, make sure that you get back to the candidates as soon as possible. If nothing else, create an automated response message which will ensure great candidate experience.

Your company can get a lot of bad reputation by ignoring direct messages, especially if it’s something as important as job placement. Whoever sent you their resumes is in dire need of employment. Show them the respect they deserve by responding with additional questions or an interview appointment as soon as you can in order to avoid bad candidate experience.

Conclusion: Rinse and repeat

Once you establish your brand as a social media recruitment reliant, people will be eager to see more openings. Teach your social media followers to be on the lookout for potential employment by paying close attention to your posts. You will gradually create an organic follower base which you can use to promote not only your openings but products and other related news as well.

Asking For and Responding To Job Referrals on LinkedIn

Important: This feature is gradually being rolled out and may not be available to you at this time.

When applying for a job on LinkedIn, you can ask for referrals from 1st-degree LinkedIn connections who are current employees of the company.

When an employee receives a request for a referral, they can easily respond by pulling up the referral form and submit it straight from the conversation. Employees will receive referral requests through messages on LinkedIn.

Requesting a referral

To request a referral from a 1st degree connection:

Search for a job on LinkedIn. Click the LinkedIn Features dropdown at the top of your search results and click the checkbox next to In Your Network. Click Apply to apply the filter to your search results. Click on a job title to view the job details on the right panel. If you have 1st-degree connections at the company and the job is accepting referrals, click Ask for referral in the Connections section. You can also click on the job title on the right panel to view the job details in a new tab, and click Ask for a referral in the Include a referral section.

Note: This new feature will be gradually rolled out to our members and may not be available on all job postings at this time.

Once you click Ask for referral, a pop-up window will appear with a list of your 1st-degree connections at the company. Click the Message button next to the connection you would like to ask for a referral from.

If you only have one 1st-degree at the company, you’ll be automatically taken to the pop-up window to send a message to your connection.

In the next pop-up window that appears, you’ll see a pre-populated message that you can send to your connection. Edit the message to suit your requirement and click Send. You’ll receive a confirmation that your message was sent successfully. If you haven’t already applied for the job, click Go to application to apply for the job.

The recruiter will only see your referral if you complete the application process.

You’ll receive a message when your 1st-degree connection responds to your request for a referral.

“Engagement has to be human, because people trust people more than brands.”

“Hire character. Train skill.”

“Tell talent about the people behind your products.”

“In recruiting, there are no good or bad experiences — just learning experiences!!”