According to the Pew Center for Research, nearly 75 percent of online adults are using social media to share and get their information about pretty much everything. Employers and staffing professionals are increasingly turning to social media for their recruiting needs, but not everyone has adopted the technology. This is a big mistake considering many job seekers claim to have found a great position through the use of social media.
The popularity of video interviewing technology has also increased significantly over the past few years because of its convenience and affordability. Combining this solution with social media recruiting can result in attracting better candidates and, thus, making smarter hires.
Creating a presence in online communities
Social media platforms provide an opportunity for your company to share information about your organization and its message. You can also get information about your open positions in front of interested job seekers. It’s important to consider establishing a presence on multiple social channels so you can ensure your positions are reaching the broadest possible audience. However, you should first determine what your hiring needs are and identify the types of jobs you will need to fill. From there, decide which social media sites to utilize in order to get in front of your target applicants. If you are in retail, you might want to look on a more casual site like Facebook for potential employees. If you’re looking to hire a director of sales or marketing specialist, LinkedIn may be the way to go.
A study done by the Aberdeen Group found that over 70 percent of 18-to 34-year-olds found their last job through a social network, which means there are people on these platforms who can potentially join your team. Promoting your open positions on social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter won’t just nab you Millennials; you’ll also attract the attention of more talented workers in general. Furthermore, companies who utilized social media over traditional recruiting methods found a 49 percent improvement in candidate quality.
Creating a consistent branding message
Your employer brand is an important factor for creating a positive candidate experience and attracting the right people to your company. Social media and video interviewing technology are giving companies more opportunities to improve, maintain, or stick to a consistent branding message. Studies have actually found that social media use makes employer brands more attractive to potential candidates.
It is critical that your company have consistency across all of its social media and video interviewing platforms. Whether it’s your Twitter account or video interviewing hub, they should all tell the same story and be instantly recognizable so that candidates aren’t confused by multiple messages.
Create an employer brand that’s not only informative, but fun and enticing as well. Share pictures from around your office and of company outings. And don’t be afraid to show off your best people by highlighting employees. Spark Hire allows you to customize your video interviewing portal with company colors and logos, plus videos to promote your brand.
Connecting personally to improve company culture fit
Hiring for cultural fit means lower turnover rates and money being saved. While some companies are turning to cultural hiring, there are still many who are still ignoring the importance of assessing a candidate’s cultural fit.
A candidate who fits into your company culture is more likely to stay engaged, stick around, and contribute positively to your organization. Besides, the cost of ignoring company culture can be damaging to your business. About 46 percent of small business new hires fail within only 18 months, and in nearly 90 percent of these cases the reason is poor company culture fit. A bad hire can set back an organization (of any size) $50,000 or more.
Companies should take advantage of social media platforms by accessing potential hires’ public profiles to judge professionalism and thought leadership skills. This is a great way to separate top-notch candidates from problem hires. However, you’ll need a more personal connection if you want to truly hire someone great for the company culture. This is where video interviews come into play.
Video interviewing is a convenient, efficient, and affordable way to connect personally with candidates. Combine that with your social media strategies and you’ll be well on your way to attracting top-notch talent to your company. You will no longer judge a candidate solely based on their resume that you may only look at for just a few seconds. With social media recruiting and video interviews, you will have a fuller and more comprehensive portrait of that candidate.
By engaging with candidates on social media by talking about industry topics and replying to questions, you can build up a personal connection before an application or interview. This is why one-third of hiring managers and recruiters say social recruiting sped up their hiring process.
Utilizing either the one-way or recorded live video interview on Spark Hire, will enable you to connect with candidates on a more personal level without wasting time talking to the wrong people. You’ll also be able to populate your talent pipelines with great people. If a particular candidate isn’t right for an open position, they might be the perfect fit for something down the line, reducing your overall hiring process.
There is a large amount of people who use social media everyday to share and get their information, therefore, it is no wonder that more companies are realizing the benefits of utilizing this technology for sourcing, connecting with, and evaluation promising candidates. Implementing a combination of social media and video interviewing strategies to your recruiting process will result in better candidates, who will contribute greatly to your organization, so you can easily make smarter hiring decisions.