We’re covering the candidate experience this month on the COATS blog: how to improve the service you offer to your candidates and attract stronger candidates in the process. This time, we’re looking at social media as a force for helping candidates.
Social media is full of folks looking for jobs. An estimated 86 percent of job-seekers have a profile on at least one social media site, and 31 percent are active on the “big 3”: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Of course, social media is a great way to get your job listings out there, especially considering that most of your potential audience is already on social media. We even offer a value-added option that lists job openings on job aggregate boards as well as Facebook and Twitter.
However, your job openings aren’t the only content you can offer on social media. Here are some other ideas:
- Posting advice on job-hunting shows candidates you care about their success and want them to find work, even if it isn’t with you.
- Congratulating candidates who have gone temp-to-hire not only shows appreciation, it proves to others that candidates do get hired through your company and it could happen to them, too.
- If you need to put out the call for a major job order, social media is one way to increase the reach of your request. (Text-blasting works, too.)
- Posting humorous quotes or pictures from life around the office humanizes your company and makes it more approachable by candidates.
Also, one thing that makes social media unique is that it’s not just for telling, it’s for listening. Ask your candidates on social media for feedback on what you’re doing well and what could use improvements. Ask them if they have any questions about the company and answer them publicly. Show them that you truly care what they think and that you genuinely want to improve their candidate experience.
How do you use social media to reach out to candidates? Let us know in the comments!