Social Recruiting Rules of Engagement

Keys to Recruiting with Social Media A recent survey revealed 89% of companies plan to use social recruiting this year (Jobvite). Utilizing social networking from a recruiting perspective is a tricky task. As a recruiter I had been leery of using social networking to market my positions. I didn’t want to have to inundate my friends and colleagues with available jobs and be “that guy” on LinkedIn and Facebook. Using the following tactics, I was able to turn my suspicions about social networking around and see how it can indeed benefit me professionally.

As a recruiter, you must take the time to cultivate and engage your network. You need to make your network want to be involved with you and your organization. Just as you wouldn’t go up to someone you didn’t know at a cocktail party and offer them a position without introducing yourself or creating a rapport, you shouldn’t expect to do the same on social media.

Some rules of engagement:
1. Engage your network, ask questions, be open to a dialog and differing opinions

2. No overuse – you don’t want to be the person who is abusing their network and overtalking about the job they have and need to fill.

3. Transparency is key – ask your network if they would mind if you occasionally posted about a job or asked them for leads and opinions.

4. Treat your social network as though you were seeing them in person with every interaction, what’s socially acceptable in a professional environment or event is still the guideline you should follow when interacting professionally on a social network.

Differentiating the social media outlets from the job board direct posting style is the number one hurdle for most recruiters. We have been craving the “quick fix” that mass postings and advertising provided without realizing the “social” or “networking” aspect of these types of forums. Joining groups and forums is the best way to engage in the dialogue within these groups. This enables you to establish a conversation and rapport with your target demographic. Then you can go out on a limb and create your own group.

Once you have a presence, people won’t mind the occasional job posting or a plea for help with a hard to fill position. In fact, they will want to help you and point you in the right direction. Most importantly, they won’t see you as “that guy,” they won’t hide your posts and think you’re the creep in the corner who only comes out to sell an impossible job.

 

The State of Social Recruiting

Comments

3 Comments

  • Your rules of engagement are very useful! What if employers could leverage social recruiting to build and own their own talent network and create a dynamic link between LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc?

  • Sujit Paul says:

    Excellent. Yes, recruitment process has changed. Companies prefer to see the social activity than a simple CV. Even they don’t trust CVs. And that’s why personal marketing is essential these days for better job offers.

  • Very true. Evan i Know few friends of mine who are employed now because of social sites like linkedIn and few more like this. And it also makes Recruiters job easy as well.

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