Quick Ways to Boost Your Social Recruiting ROI

September 4, 2014 at 6:00 AM by Kathleen de Lara

social recruitingHiring managers pestering you about wasting time on social media? It’s all part of the job as a modern recruiter, right? 

While the Internet of things may lend access to billions of candidate profiles, losing track of time spent online can mean a candidate lost to a competitor. 

Try these four tactics for keeping your social recruiting on track. 

Stop thinking "active" or "passive." 

Splitting talent into two, fixed categories – active and passive candidates – can distract recruiters from identifying and connecting with individuals who could be interested in learning more about your opportunity, regardless of their employment status. Did you know 74% of employees are either hunting for a new job or are open to hearing about roles at other companies? Labeling candidates can divert recruiters in their outreach, measuring their approachability or qualifications by their job status. For example, some recruiters may believe passive candidates are more skilled than active candidates simply because they’re employed, and that active job seekers are either unemployed or looking for a new role because their performance isn’t up to par. Refrain from discrediting candidates based on how much interest you think they’ll have in your positions. Would you want to eliminate 50% of your talent pools? 

Segment your search. 

Social recruiting may not be limited to the Big 4 (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+), but if you’re new to sourcing the world of online talent, those networks are a good place to start since you’re probably familiar with using them to connect with friends and family. Finding talent, however, can be difficult, and it’s easy to get fired up about sourcing candidates only to find yourself browsing through a buddy’s Facebook wall for half an hour.

Like what you're reading? There's more where that came from. 

One way to prevent getting derailed during the social hunt is to sort talent into virtual buckets (here’s where it’s okay to categorize candidates!), based on factors such as position, location, management level, or industry. Use the Lists feature in Twitter and Circles in Google+. Facebook doesn’t (yet?) have similar grouping features, but instead, recruiters can Follow friends and other users who’ve allowed everyone to follow them so they show up in your News Feed. Anyone you follow is also automatically listed in the Following section of your Friends page. LinkedIn Premium users can sort candidates using the Profile Organizer, allowing recruiters to save profiles and add them to folders.

Schedule your job postings.

We encourage recruiters to recruit around the clock, but that doesn’t mean you have to work around the clock. Use tools like Buffer or HubSpot to stagger and schedule messages to go out on your social channels through the daytime and nighttime, especially if you’re recruiting international talent. Keep in mind social recruiting isn’t broadcasting, so mix up the content your sharing – company culture, industry news, videos, and articles, and open opportunities. Be sure to loop other employees into the mix and ask them to share roles on their social networks, too. 

Take advantage of your Google Chrome extensions. 

Nothing cramps your social recruiting style like a few extra clicks, scrolls, and page loads. As Entelo Rob mentions, “If you really want to soup up your browsing speed, you can’t afford not to be utilizing the sourcing tools made available by browser extensions.” Make the most of the tools you already have with productivity apps and add-ons like ToutApp for tracking and scheduling outbound emails, Rapporto to verify email address and to gain more insight to a recipient’s social profiles, and the Entelo Button to get information on a candidate’s background, skills, and social profiles without leaving your current web page. 

Figure out which components of your hiring strategy you can automate to streamline the process, spend more time engaging and hiring candidates, and less time sourcing. Got a productivity trick you want to share with fellow sourcers and recruiters? Tell us in the comments! Don’t forget to check out our social recruiting webinar series for even more resources on engaging online talent.  social recruiting

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