Social Media Recruitment - 12 Reasons why it is worthwhile

Social Media does not just affect peoples personal lives but also plays a key role in business nowadays. A company has many ways to find new talent and social media is one strategy that a company should not miss out on. The recruitment industry is changing and this due to technology. I would not be surprised if in the future recruiting via social media would be the only and key strategy a company would choose in order to attract new talents  and great hires. 

Let’s have a look at the benefits that social media can offer: 

1) It raises brand awareness: With millions of internet users on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin,  Pinterest and Google+ the visibility of your company will definitely be increased and so will the jobs, which will be noticed by a big number of qualified candidates. It will also show to the online community that the company is following trends of social networking. 

2) It is cost-efficient: In comparison to other traditional job advertisements the recruiting-related transactional costs are lower. A company can put the money that would have been spent on using traditional recruitment sources towards social media recruitment strategies and the implementation of various tactics. 

3) It increases the quality of hire: People who know how to use social media are considered early adopters and are highly in demand in today’s job market as they are perceived as being more technically savvy and innovative. 

4) It gives the opportunity to reach passive candidates: There is potential that candidates who are actually not actively looking for a job (so called “passive candidates”) might consider to change their jobs when coming across an interesting job ad online. You could get in touch with candidates whom you might have never found and who may never have found you using other traditional recruitment methods. 

5) It improves referrals: If having and encouraging referrals works in business, why not also using it in the recruitment process? It is a very effective method to use various social media sites to spread the word about current job opportunities. 

6) It is quick: The speed at which information travels online is amazing. A job description can easily be published on the corporate website and employees can circulate the link on various websites. Job candidates and recruiters can interact with each other in a quicker, easier and less formal way. Job vacancies can be filled faster and that helps to lower the time-to-hire considerably. It is paramount for both parties (jobseekers and recruiters) to   act quickly since both might have multiple options to choose from.   

7) It gives employees more company ownership: If every employee is involved in the recruitment process (regardless of the position and the department) and allowed to spread the word quicker and wider by tapping into their own social networks, it will give them more company ownership. There are companies who introduced referral systems for their employees to reward them if they are able to find the right candidate. 

8) It gives a good culture fit for the organisation: If the potential candidate would already have a connection with one or some of the company’s employees it would help to ensure that the new hire would be a good culture fit for the organisation.

9) It gives you a competitive edge. Having a corporate social media presence gives you a competitive advantage over those companies that are not there yet. 

10) It gives you a better candidate screening. More and more companies use social media websites to check their candidates’ backgrounds. A survey conducted in 2009 by CareerBuilder showed that 45 % of Hiring Managers did so. This information allows you to shortlist your candidates in a more effective way. 

11) It increases employees productivity. According to some research social media websites can build closer links among employees and potential clients. Furthermore, it can also boost productivity and innovation. 

12) It allows to send more impactful messages and get higher response rates. Since usually you must be invited before you can send a message to someone, using social networks to communicate can show better response rates because it is considered as more credible and authentic than traditional approaches.  

In a survey conducted in 2010 by Jobvite 14.4 % state not to use social media for recruitment purposes. The reasons for this could be that some organisations don’t know how to get started with social media, or feel that they don’t have the required resources, don’t know how to do it effectively or think that it is not worthwhile. As we have seen from this list there are many benefits that can be gained from considering social media as a recruitment tool.