Is Social Media The Next Big Thing In Recruiting?

The recruiting industry surely has changed since its inception around the mid-1900s. However, it’s really not a surprise that today’s recruiting practices are being impacted by new technology. After all, the world of digital has found a way to change just about everything over the past 20 years or so.

With that said, social recruiting is still a rather new practice that is worth looking into. It’s something recruiters especially need to be up-to-date on and it’s also something that top brands, such as Disney, are already implementing.

What Is Social Recruiting?

Social recruiting is just what it sounds like. It’s the practice of using social media to recruit staff to a company. Of course, that might sound easy and straightforward at first, but quite a bit of work goes into it.

Nowadays, employees care about working for a company that really aligns with their own values. Therefore, “employer branding” is a huge focus in social recruiting. In other words, employers are utilizing social media to not only reach candidates, but to inform them about their brand and brand values.

How Is It Being Used?

With billions of active users logging into Facebook every month, it’s no surprise that more companies are turning to social networks to source candidates. In fact, it’s only logical since 83% of candidates are active on Facebook while only 36% of candidates are active on LinkedIn.(1)

Out of all the examples of social recruiting, Disney Careers is probably one of the most inspirational. They have taken their employer branding approach to a whole new level with the use of their social campaigns, showing off what it’s like to work for the media mogul.

Is Social Recruiting The Next Big Thing?

Social recruiting can be used by firms and agencies to recruit new salespeople and team members who will represent their company’s brand. However, it’s not a one-stop solution to finding employees.

In fact, social recruiting is best thought of as a complement to any existing recruiting strategies a company is already using. That’s because, while social recruiting can help a brand reach a lot of candidates, the candidates need to interact with the brand on a scale that goes beyond platforms like Facebook and Twitter.