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2018 Talent Acquisition Trends 5 2

Today, everything is possible with social media. Seriously. Even recruitment. If someone told me five years ago that people will be hired based on their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles, I would have been shocked.

But yes, social media has made everything and everyone more accessible. If a company is looking for a specific character type, with a specific set of skills and knowledge, social media is there to help out. But how popular is social media recruitment? Let’s talk numbers: 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn and 55% use Facebook to look for new employees.

So how can you make social media work for your company in terms of recruitment? How can you leverage social media to select new employees and recognize their skills?

Let’s take a look.

  1. Posts Depict Behavior and Demonstrate Writing Skills

Nowadays, you can hardly find a person who doesn’t have a social media profile. People register their accounts to share personal and professional information that sticks around forever.

To find an employee who will reflect your company’s values, go see what your candidates post on social media. This is one way to analyze their behavior, as their posts often mirror their personalities.

Also, you need to make sure that they won’t potentially harm the reputation of your company by posting something inappropriate. Remember the CBS story? The network received viewer complaints from a worldwide audience when a freelance employee posted an inappropriate, sarcastic tweet about Ariana Grande following the terrorist attack that occurred during her 2017 concert in Manchester, England. Remember: the image of your business is important, and one careless post can potentially kill your reputation.

Browsing posts also lets you scan the writing skills of potential employees. Writing says a lot about a person: their level of expertise and literacy, as well as their ability to engage audiences with their writing. Analyzing the posts your candidates make on social media will give you a glimpse into their writing skills.

  1. Posts Show Personality

What kind of personality are you looking for to fill a certain job position? Are you looking for a socialite, an outgoing person to represent what your company’s doing? Or maybe you’re interested in an easy-going, hard-working team player?

Read potential candidates’ profiles and scroll through their posts to see get a sense of their personality. On Facebook, people often share some photos and posts about the events they’re visiting. On Instagram, you can view more personal posts if a candidate’s profile isn’t set to “private.” Team workers, for example, make posts about collaborations and workshops they attend together with their co-workers.

The people you hire should reflect your company’s values. Many employees share their feelings about the company they work for (sometimes anonymously) on company review sites. These posts can give potential employees insight into the corporate culture you foster at the workplace. Do the posts about your company inspire people to want to work for you?

If your employees fit in well, represent the values of your company, and are dedicated team players, chances are their posts will be positive and may attract like-minded candidates to apply.

  1. Certain Sites Allow for Targeted Recruiting

If you’re looking for an employee with a specific set of skills, use targeted recruiting. You should also use targeted recruiting as opposed to non-targeted recruiting if you want to build your brand within a specific community or increase the diversity of applicants who apply to your company.

How can you do this? Certain social media platforms allow recruiters to filter for areas in which candidates have expertise. For example, LinkedIn has a special “Skills” section, where you can see what skills a candidate has. Here’s an example:

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To make sure that the candidate is indeed a skilled professional, you can also read the reviews their previous employers have left regarding certain skills, just like here:

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You can also reverse this process. Rather than checking the employees’ skills, search for the skill to identify potential employees who have what it takes to handle the job.

You can use Facebook in the same way to see programs and training a potential employee participated in to expand their expertise in a certain field. The desire to improve as a professional is a characteristic feature you definitely want to look for.

Social Media Recruiting Gives You an Advantage

Don’t ignore your following on social media. Review your followers on your Facebook profile – you could find a potential candidate among them. Most of your followers have probably been following your brand for a little while, and hiring a true fan of your company will bring that new energy you’re looking for.

Social media recruitment is a wonderful trend in HR. Social media allows you to find and attract some great talents, so use this opportunity to find the perfect match for your company.

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Lucy Benton is a marketing specialist, a business consultant who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger, and currently works at Assignmenthelper. She is constantly looking for ways to improve her skills and expertise.

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