Sourcing on FacebookSourcing on Facebook is the norm now. Don’t worry; I am not going to try to sell you on why you should use Facebook as a recruiting tool. Nope. In fact, today I am going to talk about how to use social cues to communicate with strangers, AKA potential candidates.

I’m From Texas Y’all

I am a Texan. (I can feel your groans all the way in Waco.) On the whole, Texans LOVE Texas. This is why Texans get such grief. And while you don’t need to know that I live in Texas to get me to review your software, it helps. To illustrate, if you send me an email that says, “We have a great, new, one of a kind recruiting software out. You should try it.” I will probably ignore your email. But, if you say, “Hey Jackye, I see you live in Waco. Did you go to Baylor?” I am going to respond. I feel like you took the time to get to know more me.

Moreover, the same is true for candidates. If you send an email saying, “We have this great job that is better than the one you have. Call me if you are interested.” you will get ignored. Instead, if you say, “Hey I see you are a basketball fan, are you watching the playoffs?” the candidate will most likely respond.

Sourcing on FacebookSourcing is a Networking Event

You wouldn’t go to a networking event and just start passing out copies of a job description to anyone who will take them. Rather, you would get to know the person you are talking to. For this reason, as you are sourcing on Facebook, make sure you get to know their likes and dislikes. For example, do they have a family? What makes them tick? Facebook will give you all the answers to the test. As a matter of fact, you can do this through their standard search functionality. With this in mind, there is a tool that can do the stalking, I mean research for you. It is called StalkFace.

To use StalkFace, enter the Facebook personal profile URL for the person you are sourcing, and it will show you:

  • Photos
  • Photos Tagged
  • Photos Commented
  • Photos Liked
  • Stories Commented
  • Stories Liked
  • Pages Liked
  • Groups
  • Events
  • Places Visited

Sourcing on FacebookStalking or Researching?

Now, provided that you are armed with this information, you have something to talk about when reaching out to your candidates. Of course, there is a fine line between information gathering, oversharing and stalking. When sourcing on Facebook, it is probably not a good idea to call and say, “Hey Gus, I see you have four babies. You having any more?” However, you can gather information on what your candidates like as well as insight into whether they are a good cultural fit. If you would like to try StalkFace, click here and let me know the results in the comment section.

In the video below, Dean Da Costa shows us how he uses StalkFace himself.

 

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By Jackye Clayton

Jackye is an acclaimed thought leader and inspirational speaker on recruiting and DEIB topics. She brings years of experience recruiting across a variety of industries including tech, HR, legal, and finance. In her role as VP of Talent Acquisition and DEIB, she leads all related work at Textio, provides critical expertise to customers, and serves as a leading voice in the products Textio creates for the broader ecosystem. Jackye has been named one of the 9 Powerful Women in Business You Should Know by SDHR Consulting, one of the 15 Women in HR Tech to Follow by VidCruiter, and is on the Top 100 list of Human Resources Influencers by Human Resource Executive Magazine.