This is part three of a three part series on HRM Direct clients recruiting with social media. Click here for part one. Click here for part two.

Client in the Tech Industry

• Varying number of candidates by requisition 
• Strong social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
• Highest volume of traffic to career site via mobile phone: 18% of visitors

A competition for top talent

We found that as a tech company, our client was facing some of the same challenges as clients in a similar space. Recruiters were competing for talent that was in high demand, for example when recruiting for software engineers and developers. Given that these candidates were looking at multiple, competing offers, engaging potential candidates in meaningful ways during the recruiting process was key. Working with our client over a period of time, we found that our client found success by being dynamic with recruiting, whether they were consistently building a network via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, or bringing employees and their social networks into the recruiting process [1]. 

Consistently building networks with social media

For clients in the tech industry, social recruiting often played a more central role than for our clients in other industries. We found that these clients were more likely to use social media consistently even outside of immediate recruiting purposes, whether to highlight company culture through postings on Facebook or answer product related questions on Twitter. For recruiting purposes, we’ve seen LinkedIn play a central role, whether to post job openings to networks and groups or to reach out to connections directly. To integrate seamlessly with candidates coming in from LinkedIn we made sure our clients had our Apply via LinkedIn integration to have applicants pull in LinkedIn profiles directly to our ATS. 

Referrals as an essential source of talent

We found one crucial way our clients were able to expand the reach of their network was by tapping into employee networks. Whether employees were getting involved by posting positions on their Facebook page or reaching out to a LinkedIn connection, referrals have been found to shorten the recruiting process, make it less expensive to recruit and even aid in bringing in candidates that better fit the company culture and values [2]. To help with the referral process, we were able to add to the career site to make it more of a talent community [3]. By adding in features on the career site so that visitors can see who their connections are on LinkedIn and by allowing positions to be shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, we were able to make a passive experience more meaningful. 

1. http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/12/hiring-great-engineers-kleiner-perkins-mike-abbott-explains-how/
2. http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/infographic-employee-referrals-hire/ 
3. http://mashable.com/2013/03/03/successful-hire/