Here at Subscribe-HR we believe in sharing the love. That’s why we recently joined forces with the knowledgeable and super helpful team at Software Advice to create a blog for you based in their annual research into Social Recruitment.
For those of you who don’t know about Software Advice and what they have to offer – they are a US based company that provide a service which helps buyers to both choose the right software, and stay informed about the latest trends relating to all things software/technology, based across a very impressive range of industries. As a trusted resource, their team and their website offers detailed reviews, comparisons and research to assist Organisations in finding products that best fit their current and future software and technology needs.
Erin Osterhaus, Managing Editor for The New Talent Times, Software Advice’s fantastic HR blog, generously provided answers to some key questions about Social Recruitment trends. Software Advice has also given us access to the results of their 2013 Recruiting Channels Survey.
Erin’s main points regarding Social Recruitment and the key findings of her research are as follows:
- Social media is the great democratiser – that is, it offers the benefit of being an inexpensive recruiting tool with unparalleled reach. If you’re recruiting on a budget, it’s ideal.
- Social media works across all industries, no one is excluded and everyone can participate.
- Social networks offer a great way to let people know about your company culture and help with branding in a way that enables potential employees to connect with you on a Human level.
- Social media is a great way to reach passive candidates.
- Social media gives you the ability to recruit strategically and target different demographics across different platforms. You can tailor your approach depending on role level, role type etc.
- Social media offers Recruiters a more responsive and more transparent approach – candidates can actually reach you personally and engage on a one-to-one basis without the pressure of an interview.
- Social media offers social proof at both ends of the spectrum, employers can see what candidates are like in real life and candidates can also see what the employer has to offer based on what their employees and customers are saying about them.
- Social media is second only to employee referrals in ascertaining quality of hire.
- For Social media to be truly effective you have to actually engage with candidates, not just post static positions vacant like you would on a job board.
- Social media can be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands – internal social media policies will ensure that brands avoid online catastrophies!
Based on the results of their 2013 survey, Software Advice feels confident in saying that Social Recruiting is here to stay, and will, in fact, grow considerably over the next two years.
According to Software Advice, it’s hard to predict which Social platforms will be the most effective, but LinkedIn will continue to be used heavily, while Facebook and Twitter will become favorites for many Recruiters targeting younger, or less senior candidates. Instagram is also trending amongst recent college graduates in the United States. As you can see, Social media is a very versatile medium for building the right relationships in the right places.
In an online world, the open, two-way communication offered by Social media, particularly in the context of Social Recruitment, will become an increasingly pivotal part of finding and retaining talent. HR Professionals need to consider this crucial ingredient and build engagement across Social channels to increase their chances of staying ahead of the game in attracting the best and brightest to work for them.
If you’d like to read a more in depth discussion about Social Recruitment, including more in depth commentary about the results of Software Advice’s 2013 Recruiting Channels Survey, you can download our free Social Recruitment Whitepaper below.
We also want to thank Erin and the team at Software Advice for sharing the love with us. If you found this blog informative, or you know someone who would be interested in the content, you can also share the love by using the social sharing icons above :)
