Social media recruiting: trends and features to watch

Social recruitment can evolve as quickly as social media features do, leaving recruiters feeling overwhelmed. Here’s a roundup of standout social recruiting trends to follow and what features are worth exploring this year.

Social media recruitment trends

Live broadcast

All major social media networks have invested in live broadcasting: Facebook Live, Instagram Live Video, Snapchat Live Stories and Periscope on Twitter. You should consider doing the same. As technology advances and helps build better streaming apps, it’s safe to say that live videos will be a big trend in social recruitment for 2017.

For recruiters, live streaming could mean a 360⁰ video of your office, a live Q&A session or backstage footage of an event you’re hosting. With live streaming, you’re giving your followers the chance to participate in your company, thus increasing engagement on (and traffic to) your company’s career page.

Ephemeral interfaces

Snapchat was the first network to use content that disappears after a few seconds. Instagram has already announced a similar feature, Disappearing messages.

Ephemeral content is becoming a trend in social recruiting because of its carefree nature. You don’t have to spend too much effort creating something perfect; people are mostly looking for an authentic, raw approach. A good Snapchat “We are hiring” video doesn’t need to give much information to applicants about your open role, but should show personality and spread a playful attitude. You can pique candidates’ attention with a fun message and then route them to your official careers page.

Exclusive content

It’s no longer surprising to see a job ad on Facebook or Twitter. In fact, more people are looking on social networks for their next job opportunity. Offering a realistic glimpse into your company life is the next social media recruitment challenge. Use your company’s social media accounts to build your employer brand and share information that candidates won’t find elsewhere:

• • Designer eyewear company Warby Parker uses its corporate Instagram account to showcase employees playing ping pong or wearing nap masks.
  • Here, at Workable we shared some of our Halloween festivities with our Twitter followers:

Just a typical working day at @Workable..
#halloween @screeklish pic.twitter.com/XSz9CzioDq

— Eftychia Karavelaki (@Eftychia_K) October 31, 2016

You can also curate your content to reach your desired job applicants:

• Build unique pages for each country, if your company has multiple international offices. Nestle is a good example: they keep a global Facebook careers page and several country-based ones.

• Share career-related advice for applicants. Deloitte UK includes a “Career Inspiration” section in their Facebook page, where people can ask about the application process, career issues and what it’s like to work for Deloitte.

• Create distinct tabs for different career levels. On Unilever’s Facebook page, for example, you can find sections for entry-level, senior-level and recent graduates careers.

New social media recruitment features for 2017

Here are some of the features – either already released or coming soon – that you should keep an eye on:

• Facebook has recently introduced the Jobs tab feature that allows companies to post their open roles using the status updater tool on their business page. Job listings will appear in the new tab and applicants can directly send their personal information via Messenger.

• Instagram has also gone through some major changes, adding Instagram stories and Disappearing messages features. With these new features, recruiters can share more spontaneous moments from their company life to grab potential candidates’ interest.

• Twitter frequently releases new features, like Moments and the Connect tab. Recent changes in the Twitter interface allow you to include more than 140 characters in your tweets and to improve notifications on your timeline. These features help you curate your content to attract more followers.

• Snapchat, or Snap Inc., is not just a messaging app anymore. Upgrades to their Discover feature encourage users to read their favorite publications and contribute to local news. Also, the latest Snap feature, Group Chat, facilitates team communication. Recruiters can use Snap features to offer an inside look into their company life and interact with candidates in a casual way.

Social media platforms aren’t going to replace official recruiting channels, like job boards. At least not for now. But social media recruiting will only get bigger. This doesn’t mean you have to adopt every new feature and trend. Explore the possibilities social media offers and craft your recruiting strategy based on your needs. You can take social recruiting in bite-sized chunks or go all-in and record your very own #MannequinChallenge.

Taking a PAUSE while sorting food to have some fun w/ employees #MannequinChallenge ? @ChuckRobbins @FranKatsoudas @ChrisDedicoat @rjacoby15 pic.twitter.com/UYs4ocaZxf

— We Are Cisco (@WeAreCisco) November 28, 2016