WORKPLACE TRENDS #4: SOCIAL MEDIA – ENGAGE AND EXCHANGE
Kirk Herring
HR Project Manager | Sr. Recruiter
TWEET AND RETWEET
Like many companies, Atlantic Business Technologies (ABT) uses Twitter to find new talent, but it is more developed than most other companies. ABT focuses specifically on getting users to retweet posts about open positions. The more tweets a job opening gets, the more exposure it gets to potential talent. To maximize exposure, ask people in your network, including employees, to retweet open positions using assigned hashtags. Use promotions or contests that offer prizes, PTO, recognition, or added perks to employees that engage and retweet the most. Best Practice: Keep the dialogue going by resharing.
Best Practice:Keep the dialogue going by resharing.
CAREER CHAT
Career pages on any given social media site can be more than just job postings, and Marriott is doing a lot of things right with theirs. With over 1.2 million likes, people come to their career page on Facebook to view and apply for current job openings, but they leave with a better sense of what it would be like to work at Marriott. Candidates can post questions or comments and get real-time responses in “Career Chats” from current employees. Employees use their first names to personalize the process, and speak candidly with respondents. Of course you will need internal guidelines to control the dialogue, but pick dedicated employees to be the voice of your company. This personal type of engage and exchange fosters the “I’m part of the team” ideals, and makes the work culture more transparent to new talent.
Best Practice:
Use employees to personalize the conversation.
DIVERSITY UNIVERSITY
One way to reach a broader and more diverse group of talent through social media, is do what UPS has done to feature the company’s unique value proposition. UPS uses Facebook to highlight volunteer efforts, non-standard field employees, and highlight the diverse employee values of their company. This brings a much broader group of applicants that a recruiter could normally never acquire. UPS also utilizes real-time dialogue by keeping users, and potential employees, engaged in the conversation.
Best Practice:
Fine-Tune your value proposition.
KEEPING IT REAL
As you might expect with a large company, Home Depot have a very busy Facebook page. But what sets their career site apart from the others, is that all job-applicants who ask about a particular job they have applied for are answered quickly and personally. This transparency changes the perception of hiring from intimidating to a genuine two-way process. This process keeps candidates engaged, interested and encourages others to apply when they see this type of response on social media. Not feeling like your application has gone into the HR black hole shows candidates that you care about them, even before you interview or hire them.
Best Practice:
Respond quickly to candidates’ questions and comments.
Without good talent, your company cannot survive. Using real-time social media to recruit, engage, and exchange with current employees and perspective new talent, ensures that personal rewards are for the taking – for both current employees and new talent yet to be hired.
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