Traditional online job boards are on the way out; the future of recruiting is decidedly social. This document provides best practices for using social media as a recruitment tool and gives tips on how to leverage your social media connections to find and recruit the best talent—fast. This guide will help you learn how to harness social media to market open jobs, stay engaged with potential candidates and empower your employees to help recruit the best talent.

1. RECRUITING WITH
SOCIAL MEDIA
Using your online network to lure quality talent

2. OVERVIEW
In 2013, 94% of companies used social media networks for recruiting.*
Traditional online job boards are on the way out; the future of recruiting is decidedly social.
This document provides best practices for using social media as a recruitment tool and gives tips on how to leverage your social media connections to find and recruit the best talent—fast. This guide will help you learn how to harness social media to market open jobs, stay engaged with potential candidates and empower your employees to help recruit the best talent.
*Jobsite 2013 Social Recruiting Survey

3. “FOCUS ON HOW TO
BE SOCIAL, NOT ON
HOW TO DO SOCIAL.”
Jay Baer
Marketing Speaker & Author
@jaybaer

4. General Tips
The recruiting landscape continues to shift as companies adopt new software, tools and methods for hiring
candidates.
Make the most of your company profile
Your company’s social media page is the first impression candidates have of your company. Make sure to provide contact information and create a well-written profile using keywords relevant to your business. Be sure to use video and rich media, grow your followers and engage with them. Remember— people don’t connect with brands, they connect with people. Make sure your profile incorporates your personality.
Add value: share helpful, interesting stuff
Sharing news and tidbits of general interest can create social media small talk, which leads to bigger conversations. If you have a genuine wish to help people with the content you share, your visibility will be improved and you will build your network more easily.
Treat each social media channel differently
Each social media site has a different audience and specific social norms; devise a different strategy for each and remember quality over quantity when it comes to your followers.

5. “ONE MUST IDENTIFY, FOLLOW,
SHARE, AND CONTRIBUTE
TO GROW RELATIONSHIPS,
BUILD RAPPORT, AND WOO
THE TOP TALENT TO YOUR
ORGANIZATION.”
Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR
Founder & CEO, Blogging4Jobs
@blogging4jobs

6. LinkedIn
As of May 2014, 300 million people have a LinkedIn account, with 40% logging in on
a daily basis.
Be specific
Make sure your posting has plenty of specifics so candidates can quickly assess whether the position is a
good fit.
Mingle with groups
The simplest way of building interest in your company and your current openings is by joining relevant
LinkedIn groups. By interacting with like-minded peers in group discussions and Q&As on a regular basis,
you can establish a LinkedIn presence for yourself and your company. Don’t be afraid to engage!
Share
Sharing your open jobs with your connections who can share it with their contacts creates
a powerful viral effect, giving you a web of talented potential applicants.
It all starts with you
LinkedIn is built around connections. The more people you (and your HR staff)
know, the larger your extended network becomes, opening up the ability to see
the names and bios of your connections’ connections, and even people with whom
you have three degrees of separation.

7. “EVERYONE IS A BRAND
AMBASSADOR, EVERYONE
IS A RECRUITER.”
Lars Schmidt
Founder, Amplify Talent
@ThisIsLars

8. With users sending out more than 175 million tweets a day, the audience for Twitter is
vast and engaged.
Harness the power of the hashtag
Hashtags get your tweets in front of users who might not follow you already. For example, if your St. Louis
location is searching for a Branch Manager, an effective tweet would be:
“#Werehiring a #BranchManager for our #StL location > [link to post here] #careers #jobs”
Share news and events to expose your culture
Allowing potential candidates a glimpse into company culture keeps them interested, and might pique
the interest of passive candidates, as well.
Engage, engage, engage
Personally engaging is the most important thing you can do as a business on Twitter. Connect and
engage on a personal level by participating in discussions. Make sure someone on your staff is committed
to monitoring and responding in a timely manner.
Get current employees involved
Ask staff to retweet any job postings. Individual employees are likely to have a different
group of followers than the main company, which means more people will see the
tweet.
Twitter

9. “ALL ONE NEEDS IS A
COMPUTER, A NETWORK
CONNECTION, AND
A BRIGHT SPARK OF
INITIATIVE AND CREATIVITY
TO JOIN THE ECONOMY.”
Don Tapscott
Executive Director,
Global Solution Networks
@dtapscott

10. Facebook
Facebook is the second most trafficked website in the world, trailing Google.*
Participate
Produce a steady stream of changing content focused on the people you want to reach.
Target with ads
The Facebook ad platform lets you target a specific audience for your ads through filters such as
educational background, work experience, geographical location and interests.
Highlight your culture (and your employees)
Engage your audience by regularly posting interesting information about your company, your employees
and your industry.
*alexa.com

11. “INNOVATION NEEDS TO BE PART
OF YOUR CULTURE. CONSUMERS
ARE TRANSFORMING FASTER
THAN WE ARE, AND IF WE DON’T
CATCH UP, WE’RE IN TROUBLE.”
Ian Schafer
Founder/CEO, Deep Focus
@ischafer

12. LinkedIn
Search “National Association of Electrical Distributors”
Twitter
www.twitter.com/NAED_org
Facebook
www.facebook.com/NAEDorg
YouTube
www.youtube.com/NAEDEVENTS
Connect with us