Dating isn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world. Sure, meeting new people and visiting new places has a certain appeal. But, at some point, most people want to stop the revolving door of potential matches and find “the one.” Whether that represents a long-term match or something less substantial, the fact remains that constantly trying to find a person compatible with your quirks, beliefs, and interests is difficult.  

Welcome to employee recruitment in the twenty-first century. Regardless of job type and experience level, it is becoming harder than ever to find qualified candidates and get them to sign on the dotted line. 

Just like on any dating app, successful recruitment efforts typically mean that your employer brand needs to stand out in a positive way to interested candidates. Here are 3 ways to make your organization stand out. 

Find ‘Dates’ in the Right Places 

Like potential dates, candidates are drawn to different social media platforms. Just as no job is quite the same, the digital spaces on which employees in particular industries congregate differ based on typical education levels, skill sets, and backgrounds.  

In 2021, a survey found that 41% of workers in-market for new positions used online social networks to job hunt. Choosing the right social networks for your need, then, is critical for identifying qualified candidates in the most efficient way. 

Some common platforms used for recruiting (and the types of candidates attracted to each) include: 

• Facebook. Best for finding technically skilled employees in what are traditionally considered blue-collar industries. Examples include truck drivers, retail managers, manufacturing workers, and automotive service technicians. 
• Instagram. Visual artists, graphic designers, and social media influencers are drawn to Instagram’s ability to showcase their creative work to a large audience of followers. 

• LinkedIn. The best recruitment social media site for white-collar professionals working in finance, management, marketing, and sales. Networking for these candidates is key, and they are often already primed for recruiters to reach out via direct message. 
• Reddit. This platform is extremely popular with developers and software engineers. Identifying sub-threads centered on certain industries or jobs can be a great intro into qualified candidates. 

Regardless of platform, it’s always a good idea to create a business social media account and NOT recruit candidates from a personal one. Not only do business accounts give interested applicants more information about your company, but they also appear more legitimate on sites that tend to attract spammers. 

Both general and niche job boards like Glassdoor, Indeed, Discord, and GitHub are also great options for getting your job postings in front of more eyeballs. 

Lead with Your Good (Employer Brand) Side 

The same generations that have turned to popular dating sites to find romantic relationships also rely on social media to find new job opportunities. Nearly half of all Millennials and Gen Z job searchers applied to positions they found on social media. This staggering number is precisely why businesses must actively curate an employer brand image that speaks to their vision of an ideal candidate. 

Infusing your social media business profiles with a little personality is a wonderful way to subtly show your company’s working culture and how their day-to-day on the job might look. Sharing pictures of team outings, fun activities, or conferences don’t typically interest prospective customers, but does carry weight for job seekers. Visual representations — which can include static photos and, even better, videos — allow applicants to picture themselves working for your brand. The more you understand your ideal candidate, the better you can highlight the parts of your company that best speak to them. 

Another way to lead with your ‘good side’ is to respond quickly to applicant queries on social media. Just like individuals on the dating scene don’t enjoy being ‘ghosted,’ candidates who reach out via social media and never hear back are likely to move on to the next opportunity. 

Be Honest from the Get-Go 

Finally, dating sites are notorious for users who, whether intentionally or not, fail to portray themselves in an accurate way. Using fake profile pictures or offering false information in a dating app can be a major turn-off for anybody unlucky enough to discover the ruse. 

The job market is no different, and businesses should never lie about what the position entails, the qualifications candidates need to have, and the pay range/benefits.  

Also, backing up lofty job descriptions that celebrate company culture can appear more genuine if other employees at your business post about their work lives on social media. Of course, directly, or indirectly implying that employees are required to use their personal accounts for work is flirting with a form of highly problematic coercion. However, encouraging employees to post pics and videos if/when they feel comfortable doing so can go a long way towards attracting highly qualified candidates to your brand. 

Learn How to Position Your Employer Brand Today 

ProIQ is dedicated to finding targeted, cost-effective, and successful marketing solutions for companies looking to recruit. We understand the importance of targeting the right audiences and creating messaging that appeals to the candidate persona. 

To find out more about ProIQ (and how we could support your recruitment efforts), contact us here today. 

Every recruitment marketer knows social recruiting is one of the best secret weapons to elevate your employer branding and market your company to interested candidates—and sometimes to candidates who don’t even know they’re looking for a new position!

What is social recruiting?

Social recruiting uses various social media platforms to get the word out about your company and generate interest in you, your brand, and your job opportunities. With the right know-how, you can use social media recruitment to create a pool of interested candidates, so when you have an open position in your company, you already have a pool of candidates eagerly waiting to join your team.

The Major Benefits of Social Recruiting

Using social media to recruit candidates comes with serious advantages. It creates buzz and interest in your organization and, in turn, leads top talent right to you.

How can you use social media to boost your employer branding?

• Discuss your company’s culture.
• Showcase your excellent employees.
• Give an inside look into your company benefits and employees’ work-life balance.
• Ask questions and engage with your audience.

Easily Reach Hidden Talent

Using your social channel comment sections as networking opportunities, you can easily reach passive candidates. Passive candidates are people who are not necessarily looking for a new job but have the proper skill set for your team. By engaging with these passive candidates, you can efficiently market open positions to them when jobs become available.

Here are six tips to incorporate into your recruitment marketing strategy.

6 Tips for Recruiting on Social Media

1.    Optimize social media profiles

A basic social media profile is not going to spark enthusiasm or interest. Take the time to create brand-specific profile pictures, image headers, and hashtags for your social media profile. The key to optimizing your social media profiles is consistency and cohesion. For example, when a job seeker lands on your LinkedIn profile, your company’s mission should be clear. That same jobseeker should get the same vibe from your Twitter or Instagram profiles, too.

2.    Employer branding

Employer brand is an important factor candidates consider when applying for an open role. Like shopping for new running shoes and reading reviews, interested candidates will spend time stalking a company’s social media profiles to help them decide if they want to work there. 96% of job seekers say they use social media when conducting a job search.

By showcasing your employer brand on your social media platforms, you are keeping the interest of interested candidates who would love to work with you.

3.    Share compelling content and engage your audience

While each social media platform is inherently different, the basic principles are the same: you must share compelling, high-quality content to attract an engaged audience. Get the most out of your social media profiles and set yourself apart by sharing relevant and interesting content.

4.    Define the target audience

Just like the product or service your company offers is not made for everyone, neither are the open positions on your team. By using paid advertisements, social media makes it easy to market to only the individuals you know are interested in working for you. With paid advertisements, you can determine the appropriate audience to market to, and only those individuals will receive job advertisements based on their demographics. Paid advertisements make casting a wide net a breeze to catch the attention of qualified candidates.

5.    Track and analyze the links

The nice thing about paid advertisements means you can track and analyze your posts’ performance. Be sure to keep track of click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement. The metrics and data will help you tweak future job advertisement campaigns to reach a more comprehensive and qualified audience.

6.    Stay current with trends

Trends change, stay ahead with a social media recruiting plan that’s current and innovative. Use the trends to your advantage. For example, use trending sounds or filters on TikTok or Instagram to create engaging reels or videos. By keeping up with the trends, you’ll stay current with the algorithms and in front of your audience’s eyes.

Create Your Social Recruiting Strategy

Social recruiting is a critical component of your recruitment marketing strategy. If you’re attempting to create a social media strategy by yourself, keeping up with the trends on each platform can feel like an impossible task. But, by partnering with a recruitment marketing firm, your firm can help you create and maintain the best social media marketing strategy for your company.

Ready to build your social media recruitment strategy? At ProIQ, our team has the talent marketing expertise you need to help you create a marketing recruitment strategy that works. Contact us today to get started.

Open positions within your organization can create stress and frustration for workforce planning—especially in the current job market where scarcity is the common theme. Finding the right candidate for your company can be tough if you’re not already working with a recruitment marketing agency.

Recruitment marketing can help hiring teams create a pool of interested candidates. Think of recruitment marketing like any other marketing strategy. You’ll start advertising to a wide audience and eventually narrow candidates down to the people who “get you”— those who align with your company’s mission and values. You’ll want to have these kinds of employees on your team.

So, how can a recruitment marketing agency help you?

Three Benefits of Working with a Recruitment Marketing Agency

A recruitment marketing firm helps your company develop an effective marketing strategy to attract interested candidates. The end result? When a position becomes available in your company, you’ll already have a stack of interested prospects eager to work at your company.

Here are three ways a recruitment marketing agency can help your team advertise to the right candidates.

1.   Improve Employer Branding

The goal of recruitment marketing isn’t just to fill job vacancies. Instead, recruitment marketing focuses on the bigger picture—like how your company can use its brand to attract interested candidates.

The thing about employer branding is it speaks to potential new hires long before anyone from your hiring team reaches out with an interview offer. Potential candidates look to your employer brand for a sneak peek into the company culture, values, and mission. Employer branding is about how you’re viewed as an employer, and you want to highlight your best features.

A recruitment advertising firm can help improve employer branding to showcase your company’s unique attributes and reputation to attract quality talent.

2.   Increase Social Engagement

Social media recruiting is just as crucial as employer branding. An active online presence with a clear social strategy can help attract top-tier talent. With the rise of social media, it’s a safe bet interested candidates are searching for and following your company online.

Your follower list contains a wealth of potential new hires, and it’s a good idea to market your vacancies to those people who already know and love your brand. A recruiting marketing agency can help positively boost your company’s social media presence. Your social media strategy might include posting photos of happy employees or creating content centered on your company’s goals.

3.   Ramp Up Lead Generation

In an ideal world, your company will fill all vacancies, and production will be at an all-time high. But what happens when a team member leaves without notice? If your company is prone to simply waiting until a position is open to advertising vacancies, this approach can lead to wasted hours and decreased production.

Lead generation is one way to solve the hiring issue to keep your company performing at its best, and it’s something a recruitment marketing firm can help you with. By continually improving employer branding, increasing your company’s social presence, and collecting email addresses from interested candidates (for example, newsletters and sign-ups), you’ll create a list of talent who is ready to join you in your company when a position is open, just market to your list to find the best, most qualified talent for your team.

Improve Your Recruitment Marketing

You shouldn’t wait for an open position before employing a recruitment marketing agency. Recruitment marketing is the long game: building a good employer brand over time to attract only the best, top-quality team members.

If you’re ready to begin mapping out your recruitment marketing strategy, contact us today to learn more about ProIQ’s talent advisory strategies.