Life is becoming ever more digitalized. We eat breakfast with a YouTube video, we work on the Internet, we communicate via messengers, we shop online. And this has been a reality for quite some time. Today, the World Wide Web is not only a source of education, work and entertainment, but also a tool that helps people to solve most of their everyday problems.

At the beginning of 2023, Meltwater and We Are Social published an interesting report showing that there are 64.4% Internet users among the entire global population. At the same time, 57.8% of people use it mainly for searching the information. This also relates to employment.

Thus, recruiters have no other choice but to adapt and blend into the candidate’s environment, create a setting where an applicant will feel comfortable for communication. This has even generated a term “social recruiting” or “social hiring”, which implies searching for candidates on social media platforms.

Generally, there can be two candidate search options when it comes to online approach:

• active
• passive

Active: a recruiter personally searches for candidates and contacts them.

Passive: the candidates find the company themselves, i.e., the initiative of communication shifts to the applicant.

A combination of both methods would be the most efficient way to attract the maximum number of qualified professionals.

Which resources can be used to find the candidates?

For Instagram, Twitter, and other non-specialized social networks, it is better to use a passive search method, because messages from a recruiter can be perceived as a violation of personal space. Targeted advertising, posting ads in the company profile, etc. can become the solution.

An active method would be perfect for LinkedIn, as this is a professional network for searching and establishing business contacts. Job offers on this platform are everyday practice. Facebook is used just as effectively.

Other resources might also come in handy. For example, GitHub is a reliable source for searching the IT specialists who can publish their projects and code there. Thus, employer can evaluate their skills and work experience. Searching for designers and representatives of other creative professions on Behance or Dribbble may give great results as well.

In fact, there are numerous professional forums, unions, discussion groups. Sharing the information on your offer and benefits there might pay off.

Tips for recruiting candidates via the social media and other online resources

1. Create an appealing company profile. Pages should reflect the company image, values, corporate culture and benefits.
2. Join the groups or communities in your sphere. Being a part of the community, you’ll see active users, their requests, expertise, manner of communication, etc. Networking can facilitate your search significantly.
3. Use a personal approach. Don’t send the same message to all candidates. Instead, think of details that caught your attention and created the impression that this would be the right person.
4. Use hashtags and keywords. On LinkedIn, posts containing hashtags usually get 38% more reactions.
5. Engage your team. Ask the employees to repost vacancies on their social media pages, as they can be the best ambassadors of the company. To increase motivation, promote a referral program.

Considering that Generation Z and Millennials are becoming an increasingly growing workforce, social media nowadays are an essential tool for the recruiters. It’s really worth giving new platforms a try and using the unconventional methods.