Is Social Media Recruitment in Your Toolbox?

We stress the importance of social media in the job search to job seekers all of the time. However, it is just as important a discussion for employers and their use as a tool for recruitment. Yep, that’s right — investing some time on social media can ease the recruitment struggle!

According to the recently released AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review, social media recruitment continues to increase. Seventy-two percent of participating organizations utilized social media in 2016. Facebook was the most favored platform among participants.

So how do you get started?

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

• Which platform(s) are the candidates you are seeking hanging out on? All you have to do to find out is get online and type in demographics of users on social media sites. You’ll get more resources than you know what to do with, but focus on the metrics that are most important to you. Perhaps it is age, gender or location. Each platform reports on those types of metrics.
• How much time can I (or a team member) dedicate to managing our social recruitment strategy? I once heard that you should invest 4 hours a week into each platform that you utilize to be effective. Now, I don’t know that 4 hours is any sort of magic number — the point is, that to be effective you need to invest the time.
• Who will lead the effort? If you don’t already have a designated social media team, you might be surprised where you find the answer to this. Even if you do have a social media team, social media efforts for marketing and social media efforts for recruitment can be quite different. Take a look around your organization for a champion of your employment brand. Someone that is quick to share opportunities with outsiders. Then assess their social media savviness. Your social media recruitment lead doesn’t have to be from the HR department. Maybe you even get several people involved.

Once you’ve answered these basic getting started questions the next question is likely: ‘Okay, what do I post?’ Given we are all strapped for time one of the best solutions I’ve seen is to create a plan, a plan with flexibility to post on the fly when the need arises. Outline when you plan to post, the type of post, topic, and who is responsible for posting. A plan can also be beneficial if you have a communications team that needs to review these efforts. Then you just need to execute! There are even tools out there that allow you to schedule posts in advance.

Posting job opportunities to your respective platforms is one thing (and okay to do). But, this shouldn’t be your only form of content. Frankly, it gets boring! Think about your audience, what are the things that they might be interested in knowing. Can you feature a video interview with a current employee talking about what they enjoy about their job or the organization? How about pictures or testimonials from employees completing community outreach activities? What does your lunch/breakroom look like? How about a write-up on the day-in-the-life-of one of your jobs? The list could go on and on. You can also play on the industry and customers you serve. Share news and pictures. The goal is to create a following and engagement!

I’m not a legal expert, but if you are using social media to recruit you are looking at profiles of your engaged followers. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the legal parameters here from a compliance standpoint.

Social recruitment is going to continue to grow. New platforms will emerge and a younger generation who hasn’t known a world without social media is entering the workforce. If you aren’t using social media as a tool in your arsenal, take a look. If you are, take time to evaluate how well it is being done. No matter where you are in the process, look for partners that are already in the space, such as AgCareers.com, and how they may help you with your social recruitment efforts. For more information on getting involved on AgCareers.com social media platforms, visit with your AgCareers.com Talent Solutions Manager or email agcareers@agcareers.com.