TIPS FOR RECRUITING ON TWITTER
Q: What sets Twitter apart from other recruiting channels?
A; Erin Osterhaus [managing editor of The New Talent Times, a Software Advice blog]: Twitter is more responsive, and also more transparent, than otherrecruiting channels. With job boards, applicants often have no way of directly connecting with the recruiter or the hiring manager. Meanwhile, through LinkedIn, job applicants have no way of knowing who has viewed their profile unless they decide to upgrade to a higher membership status.
Q: How can companies increase the visibility of their recruiting-related tweets?
A: The most apparent answer: Increase the number of users tweeting out jobs. Encourage employees to use their Twitter accounts to tweet out open positions. In fact, go even further. Encourage them to tweet about company events, interesting projects they’re working on or successes they’ve experienced with your company. If you expose your company culture, and let potential applicants know what they can expect if they work for you, you’ll be able to grow your following and your brand.
Q: Should companies create a separate Twitter handle for recruiting?
A: It depends on the size of your business. At Software Advice, we only have two recruiters. Each recruits for specific job functions, and each has their own Twitter account. For us, we’ve found that having a name and a face associated with a job listing makes it easier for potential applicants to approach us, and for us to respond to their inquiries. However, having a recruiting handle is great for some companies.
Take Twitter for instance. Their recruiting team is much larger than ours, and so one handle that consolidates tweets about the company’s open positions, as well as Tweets from current employees and other corporate Twitter handles, has allowed them to create a sort of recruiting “brand,” and grow their following to about 400,000. So I’d say: Do what feels right for your company.
Q: Would you recommend using Promoted Tweets for recruiting?
A: Social media ranked second-best for delivering high-quality candidates, according to a Software Advice survey.
Erin: That depends on your recruiting budget. Promoted Tweets are a great way to reach a larger number of users who might be interested in your open positions. However, if you’re tweeting on a budget, industry specific hashtags might be your best bet.
Q: Are there any potential minefields to avoid? What’s the wrong way to recruit on Twitter?
A: Don’t post only open positions on your company’s recruiting profile. Just don’t. Yes, you should post some standard job listings, but that shouldn’t be the whole shebang. If potential candidates have gone directly to your Twitter page, chances are they already know something about you and they’re looking to learn more. Alternatively, if they have landed there as a result of seeing one of your open job postings, again, they’re probably looking to learn a little more about your organization.
To keep candidates interested, use Twitter to the max to show what it’s like to work at your company. Use employee tweets, multimedia and respond to potential candidates. It’s a much more effective way of leveraging this social platform.
Source: SmartBrief, Inc.
Q: What sets Twitter apart from other recruiting channels?
A; Erin Osterhaus [managing editor of The New Talent Times, a Software Advice blog]: Twitter is more responsive, and also more transparent, than otherrecruiting channels. With job boards, applicants often have no way of directly connecting with the recruiter or the hiring manager. Meanwhile, through LinkedIn, job applicants have no way of knowing who has viewed their profile unless they decide to upgrade to a higher membership status.
Q: How can companies increase the visibility of their recruiting-related tweets?
A: The most apparent answer: Increase the number of users tweeting out jobs. Encourage employees to use their Twitter accounts to tweet out open positions. In fact, go even further. Encourage them to tweet about company events, interesting projects they’re working on or successes they’ve experienced with your company. If you expose your company culture, and let potential applicants know what they can expect if they work for you, you’ll be able to grow your following and your brand.
Q: Should companies create a separate Twitter handle for recruiting?
A: It depends on the size of your business. At Software Advice, we only have two recruiters. Each recruits for specific job functions, and each has their own Twitter account. For us, we’ve found that having a name and a face associated with a job listing makes it easier for potential applicants to approach us, and for us to respond to their inquiries. However, having a recruiting handle is great for some companies.
Take Twitter for instance. Their recruiting team is much larger than ours, and so one handle that consolidates tweets about the company’s open positions, as well as Tweets from current employees and other corporate Twitter handles, has allowed them to create a sort of recruiting “brand,” and grow their following to about 400,000. So I’d say: Do what feels right for your company.
Q: Would you recommend using Promoted Tweets for recruiting?
A: Social media ranked second-best for delivering high-quality candidates, according to a Software Advice survey.
Erin: That depends on your recruiting budget. Promoted Tweets are a great way to reach a larger number of users who might be interested in your open positions. However, if you’re tweeting on a budget, industry specific hashtags might be your best bet.
Q: Are there any potential minefields to avoid? What’s the wrong way to recruit on Twitter?
A: Don’t post only open positions on your company’s recruiting profile. Just don’t. Yes, you should post some standard job listings, but that shouldn’t be the whole shebang. If potential candidates have gone directly to your Twitter page, chances are they already know something about you and they’re looking to learn more. Alternatively, if they have landed there as a result of seeing one of your open job postings, again, they’re probably looking to learn a little more about your organization.
To keep candidates interested, use Twitter to the max to show what it’s like to work at your company. Use employee tweets, multimedia and respond to potential candidates. It’s a much more effective way of leveraging this social platform.
Source: SmartBrief, Inc.
