INNERGISE!

In our previous article looking at Job Boards vs Social Media we covered the role of job boards as a way to advertise your jobs. In this part we will discuss their role as candidate databases and how social media can fill the gap when searching for candidates.

The key with understanding the benefits of CV databases and social media searching is to look at the types of candidates each will provide and the suitability they have to the type of roles you need to fill. We are seeing a candidate driven market taking place with recruiters needing to access the best talent for their clients. From this we have seen recruiters move their focus from active candidates to passive candidates and this is where the benefits of social media can outperform CV databases.

Taking a step back from the passive candidates, active candidates – those who are actively searching for new opportunities - are open to direct communication from recruiters. There is nothing wrong with active candidates; the limitations are that other recruiters are also searching in the same pool of candidates. This means that whilst you may find suitable people for some of the roles you have, you may need to search for additional candidates who are outside the pool of candidates that other recruiters have access to. Utilising other candidate sourcing methods to bring together a strong list of candidates for a role will demonstrate the value of your service by offering candidates the client wouldn’t have been able to access through job boards or other recruiters.

Additional candidate sourcing methods include reaching out to passive candidates – those who aren’t actively searching for new opportunities – this isn’t a new method but technology has allowed us to use this method in a more cost effective way.

With so many users on social media it has become a way for users to interact and engage with their favourite bands, celebrities, companies and brands. Since this evolution many companies have developed strategies to reach out to users and promote themselves. This includes recruiters adopting social media for candidate sourcing and engagement.

The key to reaching passive candidates is to engage with their interests, share content that is relevant to them and speak in a language they understand. Demonstrating knowledge and specialism in their area will gain their trust and allow you to open lines of communication. Spamming your timeline full of jobs won’t engage the passive jobseekers – after all by their definition they aren’t actively searching.

You need to think like a passive candidate to attract them and get their attention, what social media do they hang out on? What time are they engaging on social media – have you scheduled your posts around this?

Once you have identified your passive candidates, found out where they are hanging out and written and shared content that will engage them, you need turn them into an active candidate. This is where the skills you have as a recruiter will come into play and you will see a return on your investment – you need the skills and time to open the conversation and get them to commit to you as a recruiter – this takes time and effort as they were never really committed to moving like an active candidate is.

In summary using social media to as a candidate sourcing method will only work if you have the time to spend on it properly, engaging and sharing the right content with the candidates you are searching for. Using this along side your usual sourcing tools, i.e. CV databases and job advertising on job boards, you can build a list of strong candidates for your clients.

Social media = networking and content sharing = reaching passive candidates Job boards = direct job advertising and database searching = reaching active candidates Social media + job boards = reaching a blend of active and passive candidates