Three ways to reach recruits where they are
By Rebekah Michel
U.S. employers have recruitment on the brain. With unemployment at near-historic lows, finding and keeping good talent is one of the top priorities for the HR department these days.
But is your organization’s recruitment strategy tech-savvy? Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce, and finding new talent requires meeting them where they are—and that’s online.
Here are three tips for bringing your recruitment process online.
Maximize social media
If you aren’t already posting your open positions on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, this is step one. This is effectively free marketing, and it will help you reach new talent that traditional recruitment routes might miss.
If you’re already using social media to recruit, you might not be maximizing the value of these tools. Here are a few tips for getting the most mileage out of your marketing.
First, make sure you’re promoting the company brand on social media as well as open positions. The visual-heavy nature of social media makes it a great platform to showcase pictures and videos of your company culture. Think about what makes your organization a great place to work—and show it off!
Second, get the whole team involved. By leveraging your employees’ networks, you’ll have a much bigger pool of prospects. Make it easy for them by developing an “ad” image or text that they can easily copy and share. And keep up the reminders—regular friendly prompting can make sure your posts are consistent and valuable.
Consider video
Again, social media is the best place to show off your team and your mission to future new hires. But making these posts dynamic and varied is important, too. Video is a great way to keep recruitment from getting static. Film an office tour, have employees talk about why they love working for your organization, and show off anything that makes your culture unique.
Video recruitment isn’t just a flashy way to demonstrate your organization’s technology skills, either. Using video is critical for many organizations, due to the increasingly remote nature of work.
Many hires never actually physically meet their employer or visit the company headquarters. Using video to offer a glimpse into the culture helps prospective employees get a sense of who they’re interviewing with, and can improve retention by making them feel a part of the team.
Mobile-friendly application process
Okay, your potential new hire has found you on social media, and they think your organization sounds like a great fit. What’s next?
If your application process isn’t mobile-friendly, there is a good chance you are missing out on potential new hires.
A growing share of Americans use their smartphone as their primary means of online access, and according to the Pew Research Center, one in ten use their smartphone exclusively.
Make it easy for these future hires to reach you by creating or adopting a mobile-friendly applicant tracking system, and watch your applicant numbers increase. Applicant tracking technology has additional benefits as well, including streamlining the hiring process and providing insightful data around your recruitment strategy.
Your new team members are online—you just have to find them. By improving your online recruitment strategy with web-based marketing and applicant tracking tech, you can find reduce your time-to-hire and focus on making HR more productive and strategic.
By Rebekah Michel, PHR-SHRMCP, leads BernieHR, Bernard Health’s on-demand HR consulting service for small and mid-sized employers.
