May 16, 2016
Every employer needs to build a pipeline of passive job seekers: people who, although currently employed and not actively seeking a new position, are open to exploring new opportunities. These people have their own goal: to decide if your company and the job you’re recruiting for are the right fit for them.
You can’t just write a blog post and expect the ideal candidate to apply for your job opening. You need to keep your content fresh by updating it regularly — whether on your blog, the career page of your company’s website or elsewhere. You should also tailor your approach. You need to speak directly to your potential employees’ specific interests by customizing what you say to them. An accountant who might be open to a new opportunity doesn’t want to hear about your warehouse vacancy. Set up your site so people can register passive-candidate profiles, then send them regular information about topics relevant to them.
Remember that basic business ethics apply. Just as you wouldn’t walk in to a competitor’s lobby and start handing out job postings, you wouldn’t go to their blog and post that “we’re hiring, so please come apply at our site.” Be professional, post engaging content, build your reputation and entice people to your career page.
Find specialized blogs about your industry that you can use to develop relationships with potential candidates. Posting comments on these blogs, with links back to your company’s website, can help position you as a leading company and employer. You can also start a personal or company blog so you and your staff can engage in discussions with external readers. Have your CEO post the latest strategic news, have a team member post about a recent project, or have someone in HR write about your workplace culture. Use blogs to establish credibility, build relationships and develop an external pool of potential candidates.
Whether posted on YouTube, your own site or elsewhere, video is a powerful tool for telling a story and building trust among potential employees. It’s easy: use your digital camera to shoot some footage, then edit and upload it, and you’re live on the Net.
For recruiting, you can create a corporate page or post one-off videos. Showcase the latest career vacancies, talk about your workplace culture or show footage from the company picnic to give job seekers a glimpse of life at your company before they even apply.
You can use Facebook Ads, by selecting cities and keywords such as job titles, to get your job postings in front of users who match your search criteria. Next time you receive a great résumé, look up the applicant on Facebook; you might be impressed by what you see. Finally, use Facebook Marketplace to post your jobs by listing minimum requirements and mandatory experience to allow applicants to self-select.
Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 520 million registered users. On average this micro-blogging site receives 1 billion unique visitors every month.
Twitter allows you to push out job announcements to potential candidates, stay connected to a select group of people, and keep top candidates in the loop. The key is to remain active on Twitter to keep your followers interested. Post industry and company news to engage your followers in conversations. Encourage them to pass on job postings to friends and colleagues.
This online business network boasts more than 950 million members from 200 countries around the world in 150 industries. If you join LinkedIn, you can create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments and will help you find and be found by former colleagues, clients and passive job seekers. As you build your network, you’ll find members who can recommended other professionals, search for great jobs and discover inside connections. As well, you can develop a profile of a target candidate. Then, for a modest monthly fee, you can have it sent to members who fit that profile and in return receive lists of matched candidates.
go2HR is BC’s tourism & hospitality, human resources and health & safety association driving strong workforces and safe workplaces that deliver world class tourism and hospitality experiences in BC. Follow us on LinkedIn or reach out to our team.
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