Social Recruiting: How Do You Connect with Your Candidates?

Full disclosure, I have been leveraging Glassdoor for social recruiting since shortly after their launch in 2008. I recall reading a reddit post regarding job search hacks around that time, and one of the redditors offered a quick how-to of the Glassdoor site. At the time, my primary interest was seeing what the interview process entailed, how long to expect it to last, and what salary range would be appropriate for someone with my skills and experience.

Just seven years later, with all the talk about Candidate Experience, Glassdoor’s employee sourced reviews are more relevant than ever. The candidates applying for your jobs, just like I was, are checking out your company and seeing what the they can find out on the down low before they apply or contact anyone from the company.

I was listening to William Tincup on a webinar the other day and he mentioned some advice he received from his uncle, “If you aren’t taking care of your wife, someone else will.” Moral of the story? Your company’s brand and reputation are the same thing.  If you haven’t taken ownership of your company’s Glassdoor account I suggest you do so immediately. It’s a channel of direct communication with your future employees, and if you aren’t the one controlling the message, someone else is.

New Release: Company Updates

Last week, Glassdoor debuted a new feature worth checking out called Company Updates. Jadea Abolahrari, manager of employment branding at Nestlé Purina Pet Care Company, was one of the beta testers for the feature. Abolahrari states, “Glassdoor Company Updates allow us to give an even deeper view into our company culture and personality. Even more, we’re able to easily customize our recruiting messages to accommodate the potential candidates who visit our Glassdoor page.”

“Company Updates publish directly to a company’s Glassdoor overview page and are subsequently viewable on all tabs of the profile along a side panel. Within the Employer Center, companies can pin important posts to remain at the top of the feed and access free analytics to track impressions, engagement and followers acquired by each post. They can also monitor competitor performance, including which companies they are competing with for followers’ attention,” Glassdoor explains in their press release.

Every chance you have to communicate directly, and in your own voice, to your candidates is a win. Think about staying in a hotel you have never been to. I always check the TripAdvisor reviews. If the hotel has a poor reputation or hasn’t signed on to address any of the complaints, I take that as a sign of how they will treat me as a customer during my stay. I want a hotel that addresses concerns in a timely fashion and leaves customers satisfied, and that is for a room I may only spend one night in. You had better believe your candidates have the same expectation for a company they are looking to spend the next several years of their life in.

Recruiters are often tasked with social recruiting, building pipelines, talking about jobs, etc. While we wish candidates would come to our career sites to learn about our culture, in reality that is often not the case. With this tool, recruiters have a chance to be social in a space where your potential candidates actually already are, not robots retweeting your Twitter feed, or those 2 super engaged followers on Facebook who like every single thing you post but don’t have the skill set you are looking for.  My friend Katrina Kibben said to me earlier, “Social is about relationships, and recruiting is about hiring, but it is damn near impossible for social to be about hiring without it being mechanical, forced and interrupting a stream of information that has nothing to do with getting a job.” I see this tool as a 2 birds 1 stone function, a chance for both information and engagement.

How are you using Glassdoor or other recruiting tools to connect with you candidates?   What do you love or hate about connecting with your candidates.? What do you find most useful and what do you think isn’t worth the hype? Let me know with a comment below.

About the Author: Daniel Fogel serves as the VP of Content and Community for Recruiting Daily, bringing 10+ years of experience in both the HR realm at large and talent acquisition specifically. Previously Director of Digital Content Strategy at HCI, Daniel builds communities and relationships organically through crafting thought-provoking content, networking constantly, and connecting people and groups to common purposes and goals. Don’t be surprised if you see emails from him looking to chat.

A well travelled and culturally savvy foodie, you’re likely to find him on his fourth coffee of the day discussing how candidate and employee engagement go hand in hand or why storytelling needs to be key in your employer branding.

Follow Dan on Twitter @daniel_trending or connect with him on LinkedIn.

By Daniel Fogel