Social Media: Recruiting’s New Best Friend by AJ Frigillana
Change is not only inevitable, but it’s also necessary! This applies to so many things in life, and it especially applies to the way staff recruitment is thought about. Recruitment is often seen as a face to face endeavor. From in-person job fairs to in-person interviews, these methods have served as the typical channels to successfully finding staff for many. Now that it’s 2022, technology and social media have changed the communication landscape and how people engage is more important than ever.
When recruiting staff in this day and age, what should be considered? According to Darrell "Coach D" Andrews, a Workforce Development professional and speaker at the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) 2022 Conference, and author and college student Sophia Andrews, there are several things to consider when looking to recruit!
Utilize social media!
According to research done by Apollo Technical, 73% of people 18-34 reported that they found their last job over social media. LinkedIn and TikTok were listed as sites that received the most engagement with our new generation of jobseekers.
Create a schedule
Did you know that it matters what time of day you post? Algorithms are a tricky thing, but according to Indeed, the best time to post is around 9am-1pm.
Run social media ads
Posting ads on different platforms will increase engagement with your open job posts.This will not only expand your audience, but hopefully increase your number of applicants. LinkedIn’s Job Ads Overview can help get you started.
Create a Linktree
Do you have more information about the job? Do you want to share your company website? Creating a Linktree and putting it on your organization’s social media pages will ensure that all the important information is in the same place.
Create videos
Do you have a TikTok account? Well, your next team member certainly might! Whether your video shows a brief day-in-the-life of program or staff talking about what they love about their job, this is an engaging way to get information out to future team members and shows them what makes your team special. According to Newsfeed, videos get at least 2x more engagement. Check out this TikTok that Creatively made to drive more applicants to their website. At almost 40k likes, 146 comments, and 362 shares it might be worth a try!
Whether you decide to consider one of these recruitment strategies or go for all five of them, these tips can support in changing the way you communicate with potential candidates. As we look towards 2023, social media can make the hiring process more responsive and relevant to the next generation of the youth development workforce!
Curious to learn more? Take a look at Darrell “Coach D” Andrews’ and Sophia Andrews’ talk at the NAWDP Conference here: Recruiting and Retaining A Younger Workforce Post Pandemic
