Introduction
Social media (SM) networks have become critical recruitment tools in human resource management. The recruiters use platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find the right talent for their organizations. Job seekers are using the same networks, but mainly LinkedIn and Facebook.
Statistics show that 57% of job seekers begin job searching from SM (Martini et al., 2021). 67% of employers use SM to find potential job candidates, while 70% of organizational managers report finding talent through SM. Following the increment in SM job seekers, 94% of recruiters use SM networks to find candidates (Martini et al., 2021).
Advantages of Social Media Recruitment
SM recruitment has various benefits, reaching a wide range of audiences. When a recruiter posts on a platform with millions of users, they reach a pool of talent to choose their preferred candidates (Aggerholm & Andersen, 2018). Employers can practice inclusive recruitment.
SM networks provide diverse talents and skills. Using SM for the hiring process also helps in boosting the employer brand, where, through postings, the public learns organizational culture and practices (Martini et al., 2021). Unless a recruiter wants to run paid job postings, SM platforms offer free recruitment spaces, helping reduce related costs (Aggerholm & Andersen, 2018).
Best Social Media Recruitment Tools
SM recruitment management offers several tools through which recruiters can track and select the fittest candidates for their companies. Job boards are software that automates job postings on SM. The software prescreens applicants and assesses potential candidates. Through the job boards, recruiters can easily select preferred candidates from various prescreened individuals (Martini et al., 2021). Premade assessments evaluate candidates’ skills by providing forms to complete. The evaluation questions are formulated to reveal target skills such as empathy, positive attitude, and teamwork (Martini et al., 2021).
Chatbots automate responses to applicant questions in online interviews. Many companies use chatbots to predict and answer possible sales questions from buyers. The bots are designed to provide automatic responses to buyers’ questions. Similarly, the bots can be formulated to set up and conduct interviews with potential company employees (Aggerholm & Andersen, 2018). Applicant tracking systems collect and align applicants’ information for easy selection.
Lastly, candidate relationship management (CRM) software works with tracking systems to establish interactions with applicants (Aggerholm & Andersen, 2018). CRM processes past applications of the candidates for possible matches in skills and experience needed to fill the available position. This tool works best by making recruitment easy by selecting the right people at the right time.
Social Media Recruiting: Networks and Sites
There are ways recruiters can use social media to find job candidates. Employers can use LinkedIn keywords such as job titles and locations to find top talent in a specific region (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019). Another efficient way is to establish a keyword-rich profile to attract candidates in related fields.
Employers can also use the company’s LinkedIn page to present the organization as a brand of choice (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019). Using the ‘people also viewed’ feature on the right side of the profile helps employers easily find candidates. Recruiters who use LinkedIn benefit by selecting top talent from a pool of experts and getting a chance to sell their brands.
Finding Candidates on Facebook and Benefits of Recruitment
Finding job candidates on Facebook is easy, especially when using keywords. The employer searches for specific keywords and finds different results from which to find candidates. The recruiter can also join groups of particular job positions and find people looking for jobs there (Aggerholm & Andersen, 2018).
Using organizational profiles, employers can post job openings with instructions on how to apply for the job or forms of assessment. By using company profiles or creating groups, companies benefit by increasing the chances of job visibility, thus attracting a broad audience. Organizations increase brand awareness by positioning themselves as the best firm to work for, reducing hiring costs.
Recruiters can also use Twitter to find potential candidates for a job position. The best and most effective way to use Twitter is to create and promote tweets with hiring requirements. Paying for tweets can easily make it a trend and reach many people. Such tweets are formulated to use trending keywords or hashtags, making their audience wide (Martini et al., 2021).
Recruiters can use trending keywords and hashtags on the profile page to get many potential candidates (Martini et al., 2021). However, these methods expose the recruitment post to the general public, except for the host spaces. Recently, Twitter introduced hosting spaces where employers can develop topics to interact with potential candidates.
The XYZ company seeks a sales manager, a receptionist, and a brand promoter. The HRM department could use this recruitment plan to attract diverse candidates regarding gender, age, thoughts, education, skills, ethnicity, and culture (Martini et al., 2021). The first way to attract such a group is by displaying the brand’s diverse culture to the public.
There are many ways in which a firm could display its culture on social media. One way is to list its core values and practices that distinguish it from other companies (Martini et al., 2021). The company can also post pictures of employees showing different elements of diversity, such as ethnicity, level of education, and skills.
Attracting a Diverse Group
Each social media platform is believed to offer diverse people based on several elements, such as skills and education. However, all these platforms have audiences of diverse genders, ethnicities, and ages. Facebook has at least 2.9 billion users, but not all spend most of their time there (Martini et al., 2021).
The primary target on Facebook is racial diversity, while LinkedIn’s is professionalism. Twitter users are believed to be skilful and educated, while those on Instagram have positive attitudes (Martini et al., 2021). Company websites are suitable for displaying diverse cultures. Using this platform with this knowledge will help the recruiter know what media to use when looking for what.
One way to ensure that a job posting attracts diversity is to include the opinions of diverse people. An inclusive company has diverse employees who know what would make a job analysis inclusive. The HRM department could consult firm employees to find elements to add to a job description. Depending on various employees, the recruiter learns what would attract top-skilled, diverse groups (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019). Considering employees’ opinions is also a way to increase their value and satisfaction; that way, they feel needed and want to be part of the company’s success (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019).
Social media has proven to be a critical tool through which companies attain diversity in recruitment. Depending on a firm’s ability to host or employ diverse people, recruiters should optimize content to reach a diverse population. When designing a social media post, it is essential to add specific skills that illustrate diversity, such as speaking more than one language (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019).
Once the skills required are written, the post should be optimized to reach people of different ethnicities, education levels, ages, and genders. The content should then attach popular hashtags and keywords used by people of diverse populations (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019). For example, using hashtags or keyword inclusion puts the post in the same category as those posted using exact words. Optimizing the content to be easily found, primarily through search engines, is significant for it to reach many people.
Conclusion
Small and large businesses are now using social media to recruit potential employees. SM is beneficial because it speeds the recruitment process, is free, provides diversity, and has a talent pool. Chatbots and premade assessments are some tools recruiters use in SM recruitment. The tools make hiring easy by allowing employers to select the best talent (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019).
Organizations that use SM for recruitment use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The XYZ firm could use various strategies to attract diversity, including optimizing content, using diverse audience platforms, and displaying organizational culture (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019). Recruiting diversity is a trend in the HRM departments and should be researched more to ensure all organizations attain inclusion.
References
Aggerholm, H. K., & Andersen, S. E. (2018). Social media recruitment 3.0: Toward a new paradigm of strategic recruitment communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 122-137. Web.
Armstrong, S., & Mitchell, B. (2019). The essential HR handbook (10th ed.) Weiser.
Martini, M., Cavenago, D., & Marafioti, E. (2021). Exploring types, drivers and outcomes of social e-HRM. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 43(3), 788-806. Web.