Social media isn’t just used by students that want to keep in touch with their friends and family. Many businesses professionals and even companies are jumping onto the social media bandwagon in the attempt to tap into a larger pool of potential candidates for employment opportunities. To use this medium successfully, it is helpful to know the best practices in order to increase the odds of attracting the right candidate for staff hire purposes.
Flesh It Out
When setting up a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook, make sure to fill out the fields with plenty of information. A bare bones profile won’t attract anyone, whereas a Facebook or LinkedIn profile with engaging content and links will catch a person’s eye and motivate them to check out your company and what it has to offer. Be original when writing about your company and its services and/or products. Copying and pasting from your official website is a quick way for people to lose interest.
Add Pictures
Aside from providing informative and engaging content about your company, add pictures, too. In addition to uploading images of your logo and other branding graphics, provide a more insightful look by sharing pictures of the office, snapshots from employee events, holiday parties and other candid moments. Many businesses use stock images of happy, smiling, generic employees, which does not accurately show candidates what they can expect, should they be offered a job.
Keep It Updated
Looking for staff and want to fill positions quickly? Then Twitter is a great way to announce current openings. This method gets the word out to many people all at once. However, it is vital that all of your sources match. The job listings on the company’s official website, Twitter posts and Facebook/LinkedIn profiles should all display the same content. Make it a point to go through and remove old job postings and double check that the contact information and recruitment submission guidelines are up to date as well. The last thing you want to do is promote a job opportunity and have candidates submit to the wrong email address or find that the position is not currently listed on the website.
Stay Connected
Once you’ve started gathering a following of fans on Twitter and/or accumulating friends on your Facebook profile, stay on top of your communication with those that appear to be viable candidates for your open positions. Those working in human resources should learn how to be comfortable with messaging through social networking sites, posting job opportunities on people’s Walls and other tools and tricks of the trade.
As advanced as such technology is, however, it is recommended to maximize your search for candidates by also working with employment agencies. Doing so increases your chances of finding individuals that meet your company’s qualifications. A recruitment agency has the ability to tap into resources that you might not have access to, even with social media.

Vlasta Eriksson, Signature Staff