14 Jun How Social Media has Affected Talent Acquisition

As the world embraces technology in all aspects of life, global mobility and HR departments’ talent acquisition have gained new tools to leverage in the constantly changing business landscape. 

One of the more popular tools is social media. Social networking has revolutionized the whole recruitment process and social media has paved the way for this evolution. 

According to Socially Recruited, 79% of job applicants have used social media in searching for a job. Moreover, 70% of hiring personnel claimed that they’ve made successful hires through the media as well. 

The numbers make total sense as COVID-19 has forced businesses to use digital tools to ensure business continuity. Social media has been a blessing for recruiters worldwide as global talent has been tapped since the pandemic. 

SHRM discusses how social media has made an impact on talent acquisition. Let’s elaborate.

Supports talent sourcing. Other than the usual media like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, social media platforms such as Reddit, Twitter, and TikTok have been utilized in attracting global talent. Additionally, companies have found use for social media to build a strong and relatable presence that resonates with the right audiences.

Aids in building a social network. Attracting talent has been extremely competitive as job seekers begin to have more demands during a pandemic. Social media, however, can help recruiting teams connect to the wider employment market by tapping into the connections of their connections. For example, LinkedIn provides the ability for users to see the activities of your connections and this helps recruiters widen their reach for potential talent. 

Visualizes company culture. TeamStage discovered that 46% of job seekers consider company culture an important factor in choosing the right employer. And as the new generation of the workforce enters the labor market, it is important to note that Zoomers are visual individuals. Companies have been shown to leverage videos and animation to help new talent in visualizing the company’s values and culture. Some even go as far as to share a recruiter’s personal success story of hiring a candidate.

Levels the recruitment playing field. Historically, companies with bigger budgets were ahead of the recruiting game. When talent acquisition relied primarily on job ads, these players were just taking most of the labor market. But with social media, even small businesses have used different social media platforms to increase organic traffic from their posts. 

Provides better insights into possible candidates’ backgrounds. When social media didn’t blow up, recruiters based their insights mostly on a candidate’s resume and a series of interviews. Now, recruiters do a little bit of stalking to gain better insights concerning a candidate. With glimpses of people’s everyday lives and their common behaviors, any recruiter can make better informed hiring decisions. 

Builds engagement and transparency. There are job posts still observed to have a monotonous and impersonal tone. But with social media, recruiters noticed that communicating job opportunities have adopted a more personal and simple approach. For example, recruitment nowadays is leveraging LinkedIn to reach out to potential candidates by sliding their way into their messages. Furthermore, social media has allowed former and existing employees to share their personal experiences inside a company. This allows employers to leverage social proof concerning the company culture they pride themselves with.

Gives voice to candidates. Employees all over the world have used social media to their advantage. Taking social media by storm, employees have made important comments on key existing employment issues today. Though companies may see this as a hurdle, competitive employers view this as an opportunity to prove to the interconnected business realm the integrity of their organizations’ values and principles. 

Removes the middle man. Employees have noticed that job posts don’t necessarily come from middlemen but business executives themselves. In addition, global talents have been personally reaching out to recruiters through different social media. Some send a private message on LinkedIn. Others may have seen a recruiter’s email on a social media post. These observations have led to a shorter recruitment process.

Gives voice to companies. Numerous business owners and executives have made well use of social media to post their personal takes on employment issues as well. Some even care to share their case studies, learnings, and personal life stories. In a marketing aspect, this helps build trust from an outsider’s perspective. This can help businesses gain a competitive advantage over those more secretive organizations.

There’s no doubt that the business realm has embraced social media in its business processes. One of these days, companies will struggle to continue to exist if they refuse to leverage the benefits of using social media. They need to adapt.