How to use Social Media for IT Recruitment

Recruiting candidates for IT is becoming difficult day by day. However, it is difficult, not impossible. In today’s time, we have Social Media, through which we have the opportunity to connect with lots of professionals online. But, Social Media can only be beneficial for those who know how to use these platforms for a purpose. So, in this article, I will be guiding you as to how to get the best results by applying Social Recruitment Strategies to hire your next IT talent.

Social Media platforms to use:

Facebook: Facebook has a feature called Graph Search which utilizes publicly available information from all profiles. So, if you type the ‘job position’ and the ‘location’ on the ‘search bar’ and click on the ‘People’ tab, you will come across multiple profiles of candidates qualified for the job. You can manually visit these profiles and also message the candidates who fall under the job requirements. Post the job in the job section of your company’s Facebook page. You can join groups and post the job, and you can also boost the job to reach more targeted candidates.

LinkedIn: One of the largest professional networking sites, as an estimate, 62% of candidates expect to find their ideal jobs on LinkedIn. It is a platform where companies can create a vast network with qualified candidates and make valuable relations with active as well as passive candidates. Using In-mail you can reach out to potential candidates for the job and also create a talent pipeline. 

Twitter: Twitter is best for announcements in regards to hiring. One limitation that Twitter possesses is its limitation of 140 characters per ‘tweet’. For recruitment, you need to make ‘Twitter Cards’ which will allow you to post pictures and videos along with your tweets. Use popular hashtags and keywords like #ITrecruiting, #ITrecruitment, #hiring, #ITjobs, #jobsearch, and #ITcareer which will help you attract talent within the 140 characters limit.

Instagram: Here you can promote your brand by posting images containing the details of the job opening, pictures, videos and text captions that can appeal to the youthful generation of job seekers.

Tumblr: It is basically a microblogging arena where you can easily customize your posts. You can customize posts and easily share your image posts, already shared links along with keyword hashtags for attracting talent. You can even text potential candidates and send them an invitation for an interview.

Steps to follow to hire through the above-mentioned platforms:

Let’s take a tour and understand the things we need to follow in order to fully utilize the techniques of social recruitment.

Building a good company page on social media (Very Important) 

Your company page on Social Media sites reflects your company’s image. Your company page can bring a candidate closer to your company as well take away from your company so be sure your company page gives a good vibe about your company.

Your company page should have a good description of your company as well as your company’s vision and mission.

It would be advisable to encourage existing employees to share reviews on the company’s social media page.

Showcase the technology or projects, the company has worked on, is working and is planning to work on in the future.

Encourage others to like the company web page in the community section. Make a web page and company profile on every social networking site so that content from these pages can be easily shared on other social networking sites. Invite people to like your page i.e., people you have worked with or important clients and customers.

Post the job in the “job section” on your company page.

This step is only applicable for Facebook and LinkedIn because only these 2 platforms provide a “Jobs” section to post a job on your company page. Facebook and LinkedIn have their own way of making a job visible to the appropriate candidate. You can as well pay the platform (Facebook or LinkedIn) to boost the job and reach your target candidates.

Encouraging existing employees to share the Job-related posts

Encourage your existing employees to share the job opening in their LinkedIn or Facebook profile. This will help you expand the reach of the job post.

Make a post about the job in your company page.

Write a good description of the job opening, meaning it should have a brief summary of the position/title, what you are looking for in the candidate and who is your ideal candidate. Post this on your company page with a proper call to action. In Facebook and LinkedIn, you do not have the limitation of the text so you can post the entire job description. For Twitter, you can use the link to the job application for a brief heading, and for Instagram, you can make an image with the job description. Post with appropriate hashtags in all of the platforms.

Joining targeted groups and posting about the job opening.

In Facebook and LinkedIn, you will find groups for about anything. So say if you are hiring a Java Developer, then there are plenty of groups for Java Developers. I think you can also narrow down these groups by location you are targeting. Join these groups and after approval, post about the job opening. Not all groups may approve your posts, but there are some who will. With this, the chances of reaching the target audience are very good.

Screening candidates’ profiles and contact them for the opening.

This step is highly effective for LinkedIn because in LinkedIn you are able to see a candidate’s past experience, details about their past roles and connect with the ones who are appropriate for the position. Now, when you contact them, the chances of them being interested in the job opening is high. Other than LinkedIn, you can also search for candidates on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter with a keyword like “Java Developer” (if you are hiring a Java Developer) and contact them via messaging feature for the opening.

Social Recruiting is one of the best ways to reach millennials who are looking forward to joining companies with greater employer brand value. Using social media for recruiting can simultaneously increase the employer brand value, as well as make your company accessible to the larger domains. It is absolutely budget-friendly and can be a great booster for IT recruitment. 

These are the strategies that will guide you in the hiring process using Social Recruitment skills. I hope the article sounds useful to you. Drop-in a comment if you liked it. Thank you for reading! Happy Recruiting!

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