Unsure whether placing an advertisement on Facebook will help you recruit your next superstar employee? After all, Facebook is a social media platform and you’re trying to hire a working professional. You might be thinking that LinkedIn is your only social media resource. It’s important to consider, though, that as of Q2 2016, Facebook has 1.71 billion monthly active users vs. LinkedIn’s 400 million users.1 That’s a lot of eyeballs! What’s more, according to research, 67 percent of job seekers in all income levels use Facebook in some capacity during their job search.2
1. Employee Referrals Are #1! Without spending a dime, you might want to suggest your team share your job openings with their network on Facebook. Employee referrals are still the most effective way to recruit.3
2. Engage Quickly. According to studies, the first four words of your Facebook ad will mean the most. Make sure they count. A Facebook ad is about drawing job seekers in by making the job opening as appealing as possible. Your text should only include the most essential and appealing info such as job title, salary, location, and benefits. If you have an awesome office environment, an incredible flex schedule, or other outstanding benefits, be sure to highlight those front and center.
3. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words. Cliche but true, research shows that ads with photos are clicked twice as often as those without photos. It’s important to note that photos of real employees doing a job in their company attire actually draw more clicks than stock photos. A video, gif or graphic can also add appeal to draw in potential candidates.
4. Play Up Your Brand. Always include your logo in a well-designed recruitment ad that ties in visually with the rest of your public brand.
5. Timing Matters. Generally speaking, the best times to post a recruitment ad on Facebook are between 1 and 4pm in the afternoon and 8 and 9pm in the evening. According to Yesmail, the best day of the week to post is Tuesday.4 As always, these times and dates can vary depending on job title.
6. Boost Your Visibility. Further target your recruiting efforts with the Facebook “Boost Post” button. Here you’ll be able to target your ad using Facebook’s data including geography, employment, gender, age, education and interests. Want even more control of your job post content and budget? The Facebook “Ads Manager” allows you to further “Promote” your post.
7. Company Talent Communities or Groups. According to research, 21 percent of active job seekers use Facebook to find out more about the brands and companies they’re interested in working for by seeking out company websites and Talent Communities.4 A good example of a talent community is “Zappos Insiders” which was created by Zappos to engage with prospective employees. They have postings about various employee activities such as contests, outings, and employee spotlights as well as job openings. If you’re an employer you might want to consider creating your own company page or talent community.
8. Specifically for Recruiters. If you’re a recruiter, you might want to consider joining different Facebook talent communities and groups and posting your open positions directly to the various sites based on your client’s needs. A professional tip is to be sure to consider quality, not quantity, when joining group sites and talent communities. For obvious reasons, active group sites with ongoing engagement and interaction are ideal. Also, when posting on someone else’s site, it’s important to respect the rules of the community. There may be restrictions on the number of groups you can join on a given day and posting outside recruitment ads.4
1 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/27/facebook-reporting-second-quarter-2016-earnings.html
2 http://snip.ly/4r95t utm_content=bufferbf8a9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bufferapp.com&utm_campaign=buffer#http://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jobvite_Jobseeker_Nation_2016.pdf
3 https://resources.workable.com/tutorial/how-to-post-a-job-on-facebook
4 https://www.eremedia.com/ere/how-to-recruit-on-facebook/