One of the biggest changes to recruitment in recent years is how jobs are advertised to reach ideal candidates, and social media is the new normal. Where this was once solely a print-based occupation, running adverts in papers and pinning notices to public boards, this practice has almost entirely disappeared. With the growth of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, social media is a gamechanger for advertising new roles.

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Hashtags rule

To broaden your reach, tap into hashtags. Think practically about what your targeting candidate will be searching. This could be location – remember, abbreviations are key. For a London based role, it might be #LDN #Harrow #Jobsinlondon. Reading uses #RDGUK. Do a quick search on the location in social media and see which hashtags are being used. You also want to hashtag keywords. It could be #marketing #marketingjobs #creativejobs. It might be a sector – for example #lawjobs #lawcareers. The best option is a combination of all of these, to really broaden your reach. For every hashtag you use (especially if it is well chosen), you are increasing the chance someone will stumble across your post in their job search. Hashtagify is a fantastic tool for identifying which hashtags are most prominent in the topics you’re targeting.

Quality is important

Nothing is going to turn a candidate off like reading through a post on LinkedIn, only for it to have clearly been copied and pasted direct from the original advert on a careers site. If the formatting is poor, if the advert is hard to read on a mobile or tablet, if there is no clear place to apply, you are frustrating your candidates. If poorly done, using social media for recruitment can taint the credibility of your organisation. Always read through before posting and check again once posted.

Condense your copy

Different platforms will need different adjustments. For Twitter, a character limit will force you to choose select words to drive interest in your vacancy. Make them count! Include the job title, location, salary (if you’re disclosing it) and any key skills. The candidate wants to know the essential details before they click.

Automation is your friend

If you’re lucky enough to have an ATS, advertising vacancies on social media is easy. With Hireserve ATS, for example, it’s all programmed into the portal and automated. You’re able to choose whether to automatically share every vacancy as it goes live to your chosen social media platforms or post roles on a case by case basis. The post will automatically contain all the relevant information, including a link back to your careers site for candidates to apply. A nice and easy timesaver, we think you’ll agree.

Be realistic about what social media can do alone

For some sectors, social media will be a winning ticket. For others, this is not going to be as useful. If you’re recruiting in the IT/Tech sector, the candidates you want to employ will usually have a good grasp of where to search out vacancies and how to apply for them. If you’re looking to employ someone that is not office-based and may have limited IT skills, it isn’t going to be the most useful tactic. For some roles, you may still need to advertise with different media or consider sponsoring your vacancy on a job site/social media. Those hard to recruit roles with specialist skills are unlikely to be filled with just a few promotional tweets.

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About the author

Tristan Potter

From recruitment into central government, to financial services and the charitable sector, Leah has worked across many industries in her wide ranging career! Now working as Hireserve's Senior Marketing Executive, Leah covers all things marketing - from maintaining our social media channels to managing logistics for events across the country.