Job board and social media recruitment provide advantages to hiring managers when seeking talent. Each has different benefits and limitations when it comes to use, reach and capabilities. In developing an effective recruitment strategy, it is important to assess your goals to ensure you are using the right platform for maximum engagement and attraction.
Employer Branding
Creating interest in your brand should be an ongoing priority for your company to actively engage both active and passive candidates. Effective employer branding ensures applicants know about your company, mission, people and purpose well before they consider working for you.
Job boards are somewhat limited when it comes to employer branding. Brands are able to create individual company pages to inform candidates about the organization, however, there are limitations when it comes to adding custom information and other visual brand elements. Additionally, the information on job boards tends to remain static, which limits brands from posting updates and other timely information to showcase their culture.
Social media, on the other hand, is more flexible when it comes to visual employer branding and effectively communicating your brand voice. Since social media platforms are built for sharing and engaging, it is the perfect place to showcase your passion, purpose and people. Use rich media like photos and videos to further highlight your company and its employees. Social media also allows for direct engagement, which means you’re able to connect with and reply to people directly on your platform. It’s important to note that once you set up a social media page for your company, it should be maintained and updated on a regular basis. Lack of response or consistent communication with fans and followers could actually harm your brand reputation.
Reach
Job boards have been heavily relied on by hiring managers and recruiters because of their exponential reach when it comes to talent attraction. Zety found that 50% of job applications come from job boards. This makes sense since active job seekers use job boards to look for hiring opportunities. Additionally, many recruiters note that they may get a large number of applicants from job boards, but not necessarily the right candidates.
Social media is ideal when trying to reach passive candidates. Employees can get involved in the hiring process by sharing posts, specifically ones related to open positions, to reach their network. You’re able to get new eyes on job postings by more reliable talent as they have a relationship with one of your employees. Social media also allows the opportunity for post boosting and advertising. You can target potential candidates with filters such as location and work experience to reach talent that would best fit the qualifications of the position.
Candidate Types
Social media and job boards both shine in their own ways when it comes to reaching different types of candidates. Job boards have an advantage for talent that is actively looking for jobs. Job boards are designed for job seekers to view open positions, learn about organizations and easily apply. Hiring managers can further categorize the posting by location, work style, experience level, salary and more, allowing the right candidates to reach your posting. Recruiters can also access the resumes of those who have uploaded them to their account and search according to the open job description.
As passive candidates aren’t searching for a career change, they are more likely to stumble upon a vacancy in your company during routine social browsing. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 73% of candidates are passive job seekers. This puts the responsibility on recruiters to interact organically with potential talent and post information that provides a holistic view of your organization. A strong social media presence can create followers that may eventually become team members. LinkedIn falls in the middle as it has job alerts and a search function for active candidates, but its feed allows professionals to view updates from connections and see postings for jobs.
Sharing
One of the benefits of social media recruitment is the ability for recruiters and employees to share job postings on their personal accounts. According to Social Media Today, content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. Candidates trust current employees and, therefore, their involvement has more of an impact than a post from an employer’s brand account. Potential applicants also have the ability to message the poster, especially if they have a personal relationship with them, to learn more and get an accurate picture of the company.
All in all, job boards and social media recruitment can be utilized to your organization’s advantage. Just remember to play to each platform’s strengths to reach top talent. To learn more about social media recruitment strategies, check out our blog, 5 Tips for Social Media Best Practices.