Businesses in the U.S. spend about $130 billion annually on recruiting. Further, hiring a replacement can cost an organization double the salary of the employee who resigned. These statistics make it very clear that recruitment is not a business function to be taken lightly.
But in order to ensure that you’re not wasting money and time on recruiting efforts, it’s crucial to get the best candidates in the door early in the recruiting cycle. One way to do this is by optimizing your job listings using best practices in search engine optimization. Another way is to reach candidates via social media, known today as social recruiting.
Adding Social Media to Job Postings
Just because a candidate isn’t actively searching, doesn’t mean there’s no chance of them seeing your listing. Social media can help you reach passive candidates who didn’t know they were looking for your position until a trusted contact made it visible to them.
- There’s an App for That: Begin using apps that make finding jobs via social media a breeze. LinkedIn’s Jobs tab and Facebook’s Social Jobs center are both great places to start.
- Convenience is King: Work with your web team to integrate a social share button into each and every job listing. These buttons allow your website visitors to quickly and easily re-post your job listings on their LinkedIn,Twitter, Facebook and other social media pages for their contacts to view.
- Incentivize: Nothing beats a personal referral. Encourage existing employees to reach out to their networks by providing incentives not only for connections that lead to hires, but also for reaching out to their social networks. Quickly recognize those who share with a retweet or a like to let them know their efforts are visible. Try tallying up shares each quarter and reward them with a gift certificate.
- Straight from the Source: Consider a careers blog if your company has the volume and the resources to support one. Ask a variety of current employees to blog about topics such as fun organizational initiatives, volunteer efforts, personal stories, etc.
After Optimization, Conversion
It won’t matter how well you optimize your listing if no one hits the apply button after reading it. Your copy needs to get the reader excited enough to polish up the old resume and send it along.
Keep the job listing simple and easy to read, sticking to the top qualifications. If at all possible, post at least a general salary range. Use your company boiler plate, posted after the actual job description, to pique reader interest. Your past experience can help guide you in the major selling points, whether it’s your office’s prestigious location, progressive benefits package or status as an industry leader.
