The pros and cons of using social media for recruitment (2023)

What does it mean to use social media for recruitment?

In case you are unfamiliar, social media recruitment is the practice (or science, or even art) of social media recruitment. (That is, organic. Paid ads is a separate topic.) And to address just two of the most frequently asked questions:It is intended to be used in conjunction with your job boards rather than replacing them.AndIt works best when it's a full-fledged strategy that encompasses things like employer branding and DEI initiatives, not just job postings.

But is it worth using social media for recruiting? Especially now that talent acquisition and recruitment is already being overwhelmed with concernsthe great resignationAndbuilding distant cultures?

To answer that, let's dive into the pros and cons of using social media for recruitment.

Pro 1: More attention for your jobs.

Social Media Recruitmentis not onlyOthersway of telling the world about your jobs.This is the only way to reach candidates where they are most often. Studies show that86% of job seekers use social media when looking for a job. And when people interact with your posts - share them, like them -herYour contacts can see them, further expanding your reach. You can even ask people to recommend someone for the job if they know they're a good fit.

And for proof of the power of social recruiting, check out these testimonials from three clients of CareerArc (a social media recruiting software company):

• Vom Texas Roadhouse:“In the last 12 months alone, we've received almost 400,000 applicants from CareerArc. We've actually been able to reconnect with 188,000 people who have expressed interest in those locations and split them up into each location and those managers can grab those contacts and talk to those applicants one-on-one. We also got 240,000 views from Facebook alone.”
• By ULTA Beauty: “By partnering with CareerArc, we received 121,000 applications – a 70% increase year-on-year – and hired 15,000, which is 50% more new hires than last year. It was remarkable and we credit CareerArc for that success. Adding CareerArc's solution and service was the only change we've made to our strategy and technology stack this year, and we're so glad we did."
• Von Boulder Community Health:“By using a platform like CareerArc, we were able to gain much more visibility – in general as well as in relation to job openings – in a very automated way with little internal effort.”

Looking for tips on getting started using social media for recruiting? Check out this postthe 3 social recruiting posts that get more applicants.

Pro 2: Using social media for recruitment reaches passive candidates.

Ah, passive candidates.Those frustrating candidateswho work hard, believe in their company's vision, make up the majority of the workforce - and aren't looking for a job. (sigh) But do you know what they see?

social media.

(How do we know that, you ask? Simple.

Because the wholeWeltis on social media.)

Enter Social Recruitment:the best - and arguably only - way to attract these passive candidates on a large scale, because you are recruiting in an area in which they are already active.

Pro 3: Reduce job board expenses.

Job fairs are important – nobody denies that.But job boards alone are rarely enough to get the job done.That begs the question: what are you going to do next?

One way is to simply throw money at the problem. Keep advertising your jobs on job boards in hopes of getting more views. But that is understandably a very costly approach.

With organic social media recruiting,You can increase your overall impact and reach without having to invest input more money into job fairs.That's what prompted CVS Health to call us, "One of our best sources for applicants and hires, and the lowest cost for applicants and hires."

Pro 4: Leveraging social media for recruitment is reaching Millennials and Gen Z

We all want to hire more Millennials and Gen Z. In fact, there are so many reasons to hire more Millennials and Gen Z, we thought we'd list a few:

• You are motivated, bring a fresh perspective and are technically adept
• You take over the workforce.
• Shewantenthusiastic about your company.

And recruiting on social media allows you to attract more millennials and Gen Z.First, because Millennials and Gen Z are socially savvy and use social media frequently. But more importantlybecause for Millennials and Gen Z, a job description is not enough. They want to know about your culture and brand, and they take to social media to find out.

Which brings us to our final pro.

Continue reading:Millennial Hiring vs. Gen Z Hiring: What's the Difference?

Pro 5: Most important: It is essential.

Job exchanges are not enough today more than ever,because candidates want more than just a job description. They care about culture. They take care of the employer brand. They take care of your DEI efforts.

Social media is the best way to show that. With social media, you can create posts that showcase your employer brand, culture, and DEI. Posts like this:

And the:

To support our long-term commitments to environmental sustainability, we have set numerous employee goals in three main categories: Inclusion & Diversity, Labor Practices, and Health & Safety. Read more here:https://t.co/KeKNfvAOHt pic.twitter.com/YtmgqbDKNu

— Flex (@Flexintl)July 22, 2021

And also this:

Continue reading:Top HR Trend: The Importance of Social Media in Talent Acquisition

Disadvantage 1: It requires knowledge of social media best practices.

When and how often should you post? How do you promote your employer brand and culture on social media? What to post about?A successful social media strategy requires knowledge of social media best practices.

Which is great if you already know, but not so great if you're not.

Of course, this is far from an insurmountable scam. There are countless resources you can find online about social media best practices. Some of our favorites are this post11 customizable employer branding post templates, this post onhow to stand out from the crowd, and continue this posthow to create the perfect social media post. And you can always count on social recruiting experts (insert shameless self-promotion here via our awesome customer success managers) to show you what works.

Con 2: The “recruiting” part of social recruiting can take some time

Even if you know how to manage a social media strategy, the mere task of making sure all your jobs get adequate exposure across all your social media channels can be overwhelming, especially if you're a large company with many jobs are. And when you consider not only posting these jobs, but also managing them—removing old posts, reposting current posts to keep them fresh, varying frequency and copy to try different tactics—it becomes an almost Herculean feat .

Put simply: if you don't havea social recruiting solutionand strategic support, it can take a long time.

Con 3: Using social media for recruitment can take time to build momentum

Creating something new always takes time. The old school belief "no followers = no impact" is not necessarily true -CareerArc has helped countless clients see successeven when they had few followers, by optimizing their content for search and turning recruiters into brand ambassadors—But it's definitely true that overnight success on social media is highly unlikely. It builds and improves with time and consistency.

This really leads to the first point about social media knowledge. The more you know about social media and social recruiting best practices, the faster you'll see this dynamic making an impact.

Continue reading:Six ideas to build social media momentum

Careerarc can help with this.

But here's the good news. CareerArc gives you all the benefits of social recruiting without the downside.With CareerArc you can:

• Automate the creation and publishing of social recruiting content without losing the personal touch
• Optimize social media at every level with a software platform that intelligently matches jobs with the right text and images, hashtags, geo-tagging and more to customize your posts while automatically following social media best practices
• Save more than 949 hours per year (yes we calculated it) by automating your social recruiting for you. You can also set the rules, choose which roles and job categories appear in your feeds and with what frequency, and then let the machines take over automatically.
• Use the network effect of social media by turning your recruiters and employees into brand ambassadors. Through posting on corporate social accounts, individual recruiter profiles and more, CareerArc helps you re-engage your existing followers and increase impact with new and expanded audiences through real, trusted connections that bring top talent back to you.
• Revolutionize the way you view job openings with interactive job cards

Want to see it in action?Just click here to try a demo today.

PS: Our goal is to help you provide the talent acquisition, social media recruitment and retention information you need. That's why we accept inquiries. Just post in the comments what you want us to cover next! As simple as that.

See you soon!