Recruitment is becoming very challenging from different aspects, among them, the increasing competition rate, whether locally or internationally, the economic growth rate, and the need to have top qualified talents and experts to provide high quality products and services. Confirming this, 78% of HR leader surveys said finding top talents was their number one challenge. Even companies with “highly successful HR programs” lose 1 out of every 4 top employees. And it takes on average 51 days to fill an open position.
Moreover, looking at the talent pool, we will find that 80% are passive candidates, not actively searching for jobs, yet 60% are open to new opportunities. So relying on traditional methods of recruitment, for example: jobs sites, or companies’ applicant tracking systems (ATS), or newspapers, will never attract more than 5%-15% of the talent pool. Adding to this, most studies concluded that the 20% active candidates provide biased information, and according to a survey conducted by Forensic Psychology 31% of people lie on their resumes!
I have to mention also, that talents’ perception about recruiters, unfortunately, is not always positive, and there are some roles, with very high demand, are not welcomed by jobs seekers (e.g. call center and sales jobs), and a high percentage of talents are not really motivated and have the passion to work and do a proper job due to many other factors related mainly to education, economic/political instability and countries’ culture in general.
Based on the above, it is very obvious that, there is an urgent need to change our hiring strategy. We cannot expect to get what we want without getting back to anyone, so what we need is “engagement”, i.e. to build a 2-ways-communication channel between us as employers and recruiters and the talent pool. And here I can say that “social recruitment” is the answer, to position your company/industry as an “employer of choice” and get the attention of the top qualified candidates.
Why social recruitment?
In the past recruiters needed “reach” and/or “accessibility” to a database of candidates, and the traditional methods were doing fine at that time, but now it is not the case, as the 80% of the talent pool is not reachable via those traditional methods. Now recruiters need more than just a job post or accessibility to a database of candidates. Recruiters now think not only “reach” but also “virality”. They need to promote their companies and industries, they need to be branded as “employer of choice”, they need to attract top qualified talents and this will not happen through a job offer, but by opening a communication channel with them. Think about it like this, who wants to work for Google and why? Is it because of the brand or the pay only, or because of the work environment and the culture within the organization? How did Google communicate this, is it through a job post, or through on-going communication? Answering these questions will definitely bring up the conclusion.
Ongoing and effective communication is needed, and this can happen easily through social channels, but we have to understand how to use them, and we need to know the difference between social networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), and professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn and Jobzella). Social networks are great channels to promote companies’ brand, culture and work environment, and also to promote job offers, but actually they do not provide workable applicant tracking systems (ATS) or workable search engine with the needed filters and features that can help recruiters to filter and narrow down their search activities, and here comes the role of professional networks.
My advice is to apply 3 simple steps:
- Grow your base of audience and followers (create an appealing company page on the most relevant/important social and professional networks, and add a career tab to your page).
- Engage with your audience (promote your company’s culture, industry, work environment and benefits, and communicate regularly with your audience).
- Recruit (use the power of social and professional networks).
It is time now to make “Human Resources” human again, digitally!”
This presentation is explaining the importance of “social recruitment” and what, how, and when to apply it.
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