Talent acquisition on social media has been the latest trend for recruiters to find potential millennial employees, but too often HR execs solely rely on LinkedIn. But hiring managers can further leverage the power of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even Pinterest to find recent graduates and experienced workers.
We have seen several industry studies and reports suggesting that B2B companies need to add fresh blood because they are lagging behind in an array of areas, including social media, mobile marketing and digital advertising. But if a B2B takes advantage of social network recruiting, they could very well be ahead of their competitors.
Why hire via social?
This year, according to Jobvite’s 2014 Social Recruiting Survey, 93 percent of 1,855 respondents reported planning to use social media to seek out workers. They believe that utilizing this arena in addition to conventional HR techniques improves the quality of job candidates by 44 percent.
Why are hiring professionals using social media? Beyond verifying their job experience, education credentials and skills, it allows businesses to take a sneak peek into their personal lives, values and personality to determine if they’re a good fit for the culture of the company, a crucial exercise to improve retention rates and save on training costs.
Twitter as a recruiting tool
According to a 2013 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey, Twitter was one of the most popular recruiting tools around. One of the reasons why the microblogging website is used to attract candidates is because employers can hone in on conversations, participate in hashtags and follow up with prospective applicants for video chats. And most obviously, recruiters can learn more about an applicant’s interest and personality via their tweets.
Here are five Twitter tricks for B2B recruiters:
- Create a hashtag and follow conversations
- Share employment opportunities
- Research an applicant’s Twitter profile, including uploaded photos/video
- Establish relationships with candidates
- Follow hashtags associated with unemployed individuals, such as #forhire
Meet face-to-Facebook
Facebook, meanwhile, has been a network that has been neglected by HR and hiring managers for reasons unknown. Despite having a billion users and becoming an important tool in the B2B toolbox, companies are failing to locate the right talent on the social media juggernaut. Whether it’s the job board page or targeted advertising, Facebook should be added to a recruiter’s arsenal.
Here are five Facebook tricks for B2B recruiters (according to a HireRabbit infographic):
- Build a Facebook talent community
- Be active on Facebook and engage with followers
- Ensure your audience is sharing your brand
- Engage prospective hires via insightful content and hold quizzes and contests
- Implement updates and monitor the results of your career page
As with Twitter, if an applicant’s Facebook profile is available for perusal, learn more about his/her interests, hobbies, voice, dislikes. Find out if those values align with your corporate values. And if you have any similar “friends”, you can now use that tool to access references you can trust.
Don’t forget Google+
Although Google+ has been derided as a ghost town, it is gradually gaining traction, particularly for those in B2B, as we’ve illustrated here. This social network permits users to create “circles” that can be used to add job candidates as well as other industry professionals. Also, complementary content can be shared.
Search engines like Google take into consideration a Web author’s social media presence. If a firm is using Google+ to hire employees then this will certainly give the business a major SEO boost.
Google+ also posts a user’s YouTube comments, if that user leaves that tap open, so a hiring manager can learn more about an applicant by how they react to certain comments. See a trolling remark? You might want to reconsider that hire as your next social media community manager.
Get interested in Pinterest
The oft-neglected social network for recruiters can offer a trove of information about job applicants. Since it relies heavily on visual content, Pinterest can give a peek into someone’s design interests, for example, which could be ideal for any B2B firm relying on Web or graphic design. Sometimes Pinterest users “pin” their own portfolio on their profile, further giving recruiters a handy way to evaluate this visual CV.
It’s time for B2B companies to start taking advantage of modernized suites of tools and remain ahead of the game. It’s easy to depend on LinkedIn for employee scouting, but why not look beyond one walled garden when you can peek into a much wider landscape?
Photo via Flickr, Creative Commons
