5 Things to Stop Doing in Social Recruiting for 2016

The holidays are behind us and we’ve all made our New Year’s resolutions, but, if you’re using social networks as part of your recruiting strategy, I’d like to suggest that you add some things you should stop doing in social recruiting this year.

Social recruiting success is as much about not doing the wrong things as it is about doing the right things. We’ve talked a lot about what you should be doing to succeed in social recruiting here in the Talent Management Talk blog (like here and here), to kick of 2016 let’s have a look at what you should avoid.

Success in social recruiting is possible. In a five-year span, UPS reduced their cost-per-hire by 900 percent by focusing on social recruiting. And HootSuite dramatically increased their number of employee referrals by engaging staff in social recruiting efforts. Our own research shows that companies that are finding it easier to attract talent are using social media differently than their competitors.

So, here’s your list of things to stop doing in social recruiting so you can unlock better results:

Stop recruiting without an ideal candidate profile:  A candidate profile lays out what your organization requires from your candidate in terms of background, education, past work and industry experience. Understanding this will aid in creating content and choosing social media platforms where your candidates are active. To take it to the next level, evolve your candidate profile into an Employee Persona.

Stop Ignoring Passive Candidates: A passive candidate is a candidate that isn’t actively searching for a job, but would be open to moving companies should the right opportunity present itself. Research suggests that this group accounts for about 80 percent of high performers. Reach out to these A-level candidates directly to keep your company on their radar. Learn more about passive candidates and how to attract them.

Stop waiting until it’s time to hire to post content: If you want to attract passive candidates, you have to nurture these relationships over time. By building relationships before you have openings to fill, quality candidates will be aware of who you are and (if you’ve done your job) be open to considering a role. Social platforms shouldn’t just be a place to post openings; they should be a place to get to know people and get them to engage with your organization.

Stop viewing your company as a buyer of talent: This is a rule that can be applied to much of the hiring process. Although you will choose which candidate to hire, high performers view the hiring decision as theirs. Start pairing your list of needs and preferences for your candidates with content that communicates your employer value proposition and sell your company and opportunities to candidates. 

Stop using ineffective social channels: Have you ever been to a professional football game? There are a lot of people in the stadium and you could argue that makes it a good place to look for a project manager candidate. Of course you wouldn’t. You’d spend your time at the project management conference happening across town. It has a fraction of the people there, but they’re the right kind of people. This same logic applies to social channels. It’s not always logical to spend your time and effort on big channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The numbers are huge, but it’s loud and hard to cut through the noise. And your audience may not even be paying attention there. With your ideal candidate profile in mind, you can find out which platforms your ideal candidates are most likely to be using and target your efforts there.

What have you found that works, or doesn’t work, in social recruiting?