Quick Recruiting Guide Using Facebook

As of November 2015, Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that there are 1.55 billion people on Facebook.

*Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102457987924291

Based on the photo, more than 1.5 billion are online each day, more than 900 million people are using Facebook Groups and over 45 million SME businesses are using Facebook Pages. Instagram, their “sister company”, are also gaining members with 400 million people per month. Instagram is also becoming a popular choice for small businesses to cater their products and services.

With that being said, it is no doubt that Facebook is a great venue for job seekers. And why is that?

In 2012, 52% of job seekers use Facebook to look for jobs, according to Mashable, a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. During that same year, 22 million people found jobs through social media based on a survey conducted by Jobvite, a company that. 81% want to see job postings on Facebook, according to Work4.

So how are we going to take advantage of Facebook during our recruitment process?

Have a clear picture of who you are recruiting

Before starting a search, identify the type of candidates you would like to attract. Posting a job advertisement immediately is like shooting an arrow without aiming. You will end up receiving a mixture of candidates, which is an additional workload for you because you have to screen more people.

You need to get an idea of:

• Who you should recruit?
• What type of person culturally fits with your organization?
• Who are the networks and how to find them?

By answering these questions, you will determine the daily Facebook users that you would like to target.

Build a Facebook Page

Netizens spend more than 8 hours a day online and most of it was spent on social media sites like Facebook. It is no wonder that big companies like Apple have a Facebook Page. Most of the consumers would like to see either the official website or the Facebook Page of a certain company. Some of them even prefer submitting inquiries and orders via Facebook.

Although companies use Facebook Pages for business, you will not be able to monetize right away because you have to build traffic. Before you publish your website, prepare a press release to introduce your company. Once you have published your page, you have to build rapport with visitors by posting quality content that is interesting and engaging. In this way, the visitor will turn into fans. Once they like your page, they will be able to see your notifications, including your recent job postings.

For a start, you can ask your colleagues, friends and family to “like” the page to become more visible online. “Sharing” your content is also beneficial as it will be seen by your friends’ friends and their network. Make sure to post creative and authentic posts to attract more visitors and eventually potential candidates.

Post job vacancies on Facebook

Posting on social media like Facebook is way too different from posting on job portals. A full-text post will not ignite the interest of active and passive candidates. Make sure to take a moment to think about how you will engage your audience.

Create a systematic way of posting your content. Post contents during weekdays and weekends. Try posting in the morning or at night. Using a photo or a video is more likely to gain attention. A CTA or Call to Action words can help entice candidates to look check out your job posting.

Monitor Page Activity and Research using Facebook Graph Search

Once you have established your Facebook Page and started posting vacancies online, monitor the page activity by viewing the page’s insights as shown below:

To view “Insights”, you have to click the ellipsis icon (…) and choose “View Insights”

Viewing insights will give you the overview of the page’s activities. If you feel like the numbers are not picking up, you can use the Facebook Graph Search to learn more about the population that you are targeting and will determine the type of posts that you have to do to widen your reach.

Facebook Graph Search is a built-in search engine that lets users find specific information by typing keywords and using filters.

For example, you will search for a friend who works for Google. Or you can search for a friend who still resides in New York. Or you want to look for your friend’s friend who is a consultant that you are eyeing to hire in your current search. By doing this, you will understand the interests, activities, and demographics of your fans which will help you plan better strategies in attracting qualified candidates.

Other tips:

• Ask employees to be brand advocates by letting them post about what it’s like to work in the company on the page’s timeline
• Create a schedule of posting interactive content on the Facebook page
• Review job postings on the page. If they are not getting enough views, rewrite the job description
• Ask employees to “like” and “share” job postings

It’s no denying that Facebook, apart from LinkedIn, is becoming one of the most visited social media sites for job seekers. By utilizing Facebook appropriately, you will have a wider range of candidates comprised of active and passive applicants. Who knows? The perfect candidate might be right at your fingertips.