By Monique Craig
Over the last decade, the Internet has radically changed the ways in which companies search and hire new employees. Finding talented professionals with specific skills is easier than ever – predominantly thanks to the culture of social media. When looking for new hires, small businesses don’t need to spend money on an expensive recruitment process. A conscious campaign on social media is enough to build an employer brand that will be attractive to talents searching for exciting opportunities. Here are a few tips on how your small business can use social networks to find great hires.
1. Create a Strong Company Brand
Branding your operation on the web is crucial for many reasons – it’s an excellent promotional strategy, it spreads the awareness of your brand, builds a particular company image and, finally, gives you an opportunity to create a strong employer brand.
Use your social media channels to build your status as an expert in your industry. Share news from your sector together with insightful comments, write blog posts that offer solutions to common problems, and build your relationship with your target audience. Establishing your business as a strong employer brand, you’ll attract numerous talented candidates once you start hiring.
2. Show Your Company Culture
Social media is also great for giving others a glimpse into your company culture. Include news about company events and happenings, feature some photos and videos that show workers at the office. Employee testimonials are another element that will add more character to your brand as an employer. Speaking about things they like about your organization, employees will emulate your company culture and show an insider’s view of your business.
3. Use Facebook for Social Recruitment
Your Facebook page is a perfect place for cultivating the relationship with your target audience, but can also be of great use once you start looking for new employees. Make sure that your followers can easily share your job postings with their friends.
You should also encourage your current employees to seek referrals from their networks – they can share the job posting, write how great it is to work for your company, and ask their friends to recommend someone or share the posting further into their own networks.
4. Start Tweeting and Recruiting
In some sectors, your presence on Twitter might be more important than anywhere else. Twitter is an excellent space for building your status as an expert and starting a conversation with your followers, among which you’ll find many job seekers. You can post short videos made with Vine to show your office and employees, share your job postings, and give updates about the recruiting process in real time. You can also wish good luck to candidates that are about to be interviewed.
5. Recruit on LinkedIn
A presence on LinkedIn is crucial for establishing a strong employer brand on the web. LinkedIn is a professional social network and a great place to search for, engage with, and recruit potential employees. You can search for specific skills, qualifications, professional experience or recommendations. Once you spot a dream candidate, you can approach them directly.
Use LinkedIn to create a specific job posting that will be shown to relevant target audiences. LinkedIn will display it to candidates that match your requirements, saving you a lot of time on searching. In fact, LinkedIn features a smart platform dedicated to the needs of small businesses. The hiring section features lots of smart tips to help you make the most from the immense candidate pool offered on the social network.
Social media provides many opportunities for finding perfect candidates and improving the image of your small business. Establishing a strong brand on social media will do wonders not only to your recruiting, but also sales and marketing.