Some years back, a typical talent acquisition strategy used to look like this: Employers would pepper newspapers with ads and trawl through their go-to recruiting sites, leaving candidates to wade through generic job descriptions and dozens of cold reach-out emails.
And even after all the effort employers put in, most often they couldn’t identify the best talent because they had been looking for it at the wrong places.
Let’s face it! Attracting the right talent can feel like a battle tough to win — unless you work for Google, Facebook or Amazon obviously. Nevertheless, staffing your company with top talent is extremely important in order for you to help it succeed.
To compete with these tech giants, you would have to offer enormous benefits and perks on top of competitive salaries to make your job opportunities look attractive. Fortunately, today’s hyper-competitive market presents you with a more creative sourcing strategy, which not only allows you to stand out from the crowd but also to engage, inspire, and even amuse the finest Millennial talent in the process.
Yes, we’re talking about social media! A powerful tool for companies to engage with Millennial talent on a one-on-one basis with more personalized messaging, making candidates feel more valued and cared for.
Today, social media is no more a novelty. Rather it is an indispensable tool when it comes to creating a successful recruiting strategy. Not only is the use of social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other job posting websites – an effective way to discover talent, advertise jobs and converse with potential candidates, it is also an awesome way to showcase your employer brand and company culture.
Companies are going all-out for social media recruitment. It is an important strategy for them to meet millennial candidates – where they actually hang out – online. Much like other aspects of workplace, talent acquisition is also becoming more and more virtual now. It is now being driven by the online marketplace and is built on information that is accessible, shareable and responsive.
And it is not only the large companies that are leveraging social media for recruiting millennials. Statista reveals that “over 90 percent of companies are presently making use of social media networks in their hiring process.”
This ultimately means that to compete for the best millennial talent in your industry, you need to have a social media presence that will impress and engage the most outstanding candidates.
Why Use Social Media for Recruiting Millennials?
Social platforms are reporting robust growth owing to their ever-increasing usage. This is why social media surfing has, undoubtedly, become one of the most popular activities that users indulge in.
Statistics from 2019 suggest that there are 3.5 billion social media users globally – equivalent to about 45% of the current population – and this number is only increasing.
Plus, now that social media is becoming more integrated in our daily lives, it opens up plenty of opportunities for businesses who are looking to reach out to their potential candidates through social media.
How Much Time Do We Spend on Social Media?
Let’s be honest. We all are slowly getting addicted to social media. In fact, many of us already have. Whether it is about scrolling down our infinite Facebook feed or posting the perfect dinner photo on Instagram before digging into our food, social media has become somewhat a part of our lives.
Social media statistics indicate that on average each person spends about 3 hours on social networks and messaging.
Social Media: Daily Usage by Generation
Emarketer has broken down the use of social media by generation, and the results, though interesting, aren’t surprising. According to the study, 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active social media users.
Millennials top the charts with the highest use of social media, and also the easiest access to smartphones. In contrast to that, Gen X are more likely to be using tablets.
Finally, Baby Boomers are also making an effort to bridge their gap with technology and are familiarizing themselves with social media platforms. This statistic is an unequivocal evidence of why social media is a valuable tool for attracting the millennial talent.
Best Social Media Recruitment Examples
Here are some great examples of companies doing social media recruitment right.
• MasterCard Canada
Mastercard went on a global hunt for millennials with high hopes and big ideas for a cashless future. The multinational financial services corporation ran a campaign on social media for recruiting millennials with the hashtag #internswanted, giving college students a chance to compete for an internship at their company.
Each applicant submitted an idea for an app, product or a technique to help the company direct towards creating a cashless future. Successful candidates validated their application through social media and were judged on the number of likes and retweets their idea earned.
In the end, 532 candidates qualified for the internship program. MasterCard even stretched their program intake to hire an additional intern due to the talent quality.
• The Heineken Company
In 2019, The Heineken Company launched a campaign “Go Places 2.0” that aimed to engage and inspire future talent. Informed by the real-life experiences of employees, the campaign showcased the brand’s entrepreneurial culture by featuring the stories of 33 Heineken employees from around the world.
The interactive video demonstrates the kind of the talent Heineken intends to recruit while encouraging bold ideas and granting potential recruits and employees full authority to shape their career.
Heineken also visited several universities and hosted career talks where they shared with students what it is like to Go Places with Heineken.
As for social media, the digital campaign on Heineken’s corporate Facebook page reached a broader audience and inspired many potential employees to understand how the company operates and what it would mean to become a part of the company.
• Marriott
Believe it or not, Marriot’s career page has 1.2 million Facebook likes, four times more than Facebook’s career page. The company engages with the audience by posting at least twice a day, shedding light on its employee’s accomplishments and showing what it feels like to work for the company.
What makes the Marriot’s social media so unique is the personal feel that it adds; its career chats give practical advice to prospects on how to get accepted for a job in the company and also in the hospitality industry in general.
