Why Implementing a Social Recruiting Strategy That Works is Key to Your Success

Best practices for marrying your recruiting strategy with proven social media efforts

Social recruiting is more than just a buzz word in today’s talent marketplace.

While using tools like LinkedIn or Facebook may be old news to some, a sophisticated social recruiting strategy is unfortunately uncommon.

If you’re not sure if your social recruiting strategy is up to par, or perhaps you want to implement a social strategy but aren’t sure where to start, remember to keep your growth goals top of mind.

Is your goal to source more talent, faster? Or do you want an outlet to make more personal connections with candidates who are already in your network?

If you aren’t seeing an increase in applicants from posting your jobs to Twitter, ask yourself if Twitter is the best platform for the talent in your market.

As you tailor your social recruiting strategy to your industry vertical, profession or candidate demographic, we developed these four best practices to keep in mind:

1. Don’t just discover new candidates on social platforms, connect with them.

It’s no secret that your candidates live, work and play on their social apps. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are just a few of the many apps your candidates open every day regardless of if they are looking for new opportunities or not. While sourcing candidates via these social media channels is an obvious way to FIND talent, don’t forget to use these channels to CONNECT with them as well.

2. Candidates aren’t so passive after all. Make sure they can find you.

In CareerBuilder’s 2016 Candidate Behavior Study, 4,505 U.S. job-seekers were surveyed in order to better understand their perspective. It turns out that 76 percent of the full time employees surveyed were actively looking for something new or at the very least open to new opportunities. That passive market isn’t so passive after all! We also learned that the average job-seeker uses 16 resources to find their next job. You can be confident that social media channels are part of a candidate’s job-seeking workflow and this gives you more opportunities to get creative when you connect with your candidates.

3. Out with the old, in with the messaging apps

Messaging apps like iMessage, Skype, WhatsApp, Slack and others have seen a significant and steady increase in users over the past two years. Messaging apps have replaced texting to a degree and allows recipients to respond to urgent messages when it makes sense for them. If you have the opportunity to connect with your candidates on apps they use every day, you are more likely to receive a quick and authentic response from them.

4. Your candidate is still just a phone call away.

As fun and exciting as it is to connect with a candidate on Facebook or through a Twitter DM, don’t forget to pick up your phone. Social media isn’t ‘the’ new solution, rather it is part of the modern recruiter’s toolbox. Message your candidate to let them know about a job, then follow up with a phone call to connect on life, promotions or leadership changes with their current employer. Timing is everything and if you quit calling your candidates, somebody else will. You can use Loxo Connect to do this. Just hit the Loxo Connect button on a candidate’s online profile to access their personal email and phone number.

If you’re looking for ways to leverage social media in your recruiting workflow, Loxo has you covered.

You can automate your social efforts in the Loxo platform using our Chrome and AddThis widgets.

Use these tools to keep track of candidates you are connecting with on LinkedIn and Indeed, post your job descriptions to several social channels with one click and perhaps even turn those job descriptions into Facebook or LinkedIn ads targeting your candidate network. Want to keep it simple? Use a Loxo short link to share a job opportunity with candidates via messaging apps or text messages.