Human resources
Glassdoor Updates

Why Companies Must Embrace Social Media in Recruitment

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 10 Jan 2018

In this blog I’ll discuss why organisations need to embrace social media in recruitment practices. Many organisations already do, and do so very well. But many either do it badly, or don’t do it at all. Using social media in recruitment isn’t something you can do Mon-Fri 9 to 5, as candidates aren’t necessarily job hunting exclusively in these times. It isn’t easy, and you do need to plan what you’re doing, and be prepared for some negative reactions and respond well to those. It’s also something you can’t give to an apprentice to do or let the Comms team tightly control - HR and operations staff need to be fully involved. Why? Let’s look at some statistics.
  • 92% of the UK population have access to the internet
  • 85% of these access the internet at least once a day
  • 77% of these have bought something online in the last month
  • 81% of the UK population has a mobile phone, which account for the majority of internet access, and the majority of social media users have never used a PC to access the internet.
  • 48% of the UK population have active social media accounts (and growing), and these 48% spend an average of 1.5 hours/day on social media
 Convinced yet?  Consider this too. Organisations have an employer brand online whether they want to or not. Whether it’s on sites like Glassdoor, or something that evolves on the mainstream social media sites all the time, it’s there. It’s up to organisations how they manage it, but it’s there even if organisations try their level best to prevent it. It’s like trying to hold back the tide. My children have grown up using social media, and it’s been part of their lives all the way through. They use it to communicate with friends, teachers, each other and me. And in a few years time they’ll be entering the world of work and expecting to communicate with employers using social media, and to talk to those on the other end of job application processes using social media.  If we as organisations are not already embracing social media to attract talent, then it's us that are in the wrong, not the talent.  It’s us whose skills and use of technology is out of date, not theirs. So let’s get with it. There are some really good examples of organisations using social media for recruitment purposes. Here’s some you can have a look at. You can even find good examples of organisations using Snapchat. Try searching for Cisco, MacDonalds, Airbnb, JP Morgan to see what they’re doing.  There’s good and not so good in these examples, but at least they’re trying. And they recognise that in order to attract people, they need to show social media use almost 24/7 to tap into when the talent may be using it. They need to empower their employees to use it to build stories and relationships.  And above all, they need to give the impression when using the corporate accounts that they are people who work for a company, not an actual company.  It makes a huge difference.  We are all human and have a need to connect with other humans. Social media gives us a platform to do that with those who may want to work for our organisation. The talent is already using it.  We should too. Via Gary Cookson.
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Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team

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