Social recruiting is the process of advertising jobs, recruiting candidates and connecting with potential employees through social media platforms. It is also commonly referred to as social hiring or social media recruiting.
According to a 2021 study by CareerArc, 92% of employers said they use social networks to find talent. In fact, for many companies, social is now the go-to option for finding candidates. It basically ranks ahead of ads, employee referrals and even job boards.
Related: How to Prepare for Gen Z in the Workplace
How to use social media for recruitment
When you post a job on your company’s social media page, you can leverage your followers’ and employees’ networks to get the word out in just three steps:
- You share a new job posting on your company’s social media page.
- Your followers and employees share the post with their networks.
- Your reach grows exponentially, making you more likely to find the perfect candidate.
Platforms for social media recruiting
When you think of using social media for talent acquisition, LinkedIn probably comes to mind.
LinkedIn is a proven leader in social media hiring:
- 55 job applications are submitted every second.
- 50 million companies are listed.
- 2 million small businesses are using LinkedIn to hire employees.
- Over 20 million open job listings are posted on LinkedIn Jobs.
But LinkedIn isn’t the only option for recruiting via social media. Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram have become popular social media recruiting sites.
Does social recruiting work?
Yes! Done correctly, social recruiting can help your business identify, reach out to, and hire high-quality job candidates. In fact, the following social recruiting stats tell us that this strategy is a must-have:
- 86% of job seekers say they use social media for their job search (CareerArc)
- 35% of respondents to a 2019 Jobvite survey said they learn about new job openings through social media.
- 41% of younger respondents said they were most likely to use social media to look for new jobs
- 71% of hiring decision-makers said reviewing social media profiles is an effective way to screen job applicants (Express)
- Roughly 40 million people look for jobs using LinkedIn every week
- 78% of recruiters expect the use of social media for finding candidates will increase (Jobvite)
- 80% of employers say social recruiting helped them identify passive prospects (Betterteam)
- 70% of hiring managers said they hired candidates using social media (Betterteam)
- 84% of companies are currently using social media for recruiting (SHRM)
Social media use by companies, and specifically recruiters, has been on the rise for several years. A 2017 CareerArc report found that employers predicted social media marketing to be the most in-demand HR skill by 2020—and that trend has not slowed down.
Is social recruiting more effective than traditional recruiting?
Yes. While traditional recruiting styles are still in use, social recruiting is more effective in terms of generating reach and keeping costs low. You don’t have to pay on a cost-per-click basis for a single applicant (which can run up to thousands of dollars per posting in some cases).
Instead, you just have to focus on getting your job postings in front of the right people through a strong social strategy.
