Recruiters are going to have to get 'socially savvy' if they want to succeed

As the world becomes increasingly virtual, recruiters will have to reconsider where — and how — they're recruiting talent. 

Ninety-five percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to source potential candidates to fill open positions, according to workforce insights platform Workmonger. That means that having a successful social media presence is essential to the success of their role. The problem? LinkedIn isn't the only form of social media applicants are using to find new opportunities, but it's one of the only ones recruiters are comfortable with.  

"Recruiters never anticipated needing to be socially savvy — they didn't set out to get into social media," says Bryant Chase, social media director at social recruiting platform CareerArc, who specializes in reaching audiences on other social media platforms job seekers frequent, like Twitter and Facebook. "In the past, recruiters could rely on in-person events and job boards. But obviously, in-person events are few and far between now, and even when they are hosted, a lot of people aren't attending them in the same way." 

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As for job boards, they're still a good source for candidates, but recruiters often only have access to "active applicants" — which refers to people actively looking for jobs and makes up approximately just 30% of candidates, according to Chase. With social media, however, recruiters have access to nearly 100% of all job applicants, both active and passive.

Even those passive applicants, who may not necessarily be looking for a new job, can learn the answers to the most pressing recruitment questions just by checking a company's or a recruiter's profile. Does it seem like a fun place to work? Does the company give back in any sort of way? Can they really feel good about the work that they'll do there? Are there scandals? If so, how did the company respond and react? 

"Social media can seem really daunting to a lot of recruiters," Bryant says. "But you don't have to have some phenomenal social media presence, and nobody expects your company to really compete with agency-led efforts. The most effective job posts on social media are really simple. They can be as impressive or basic as they need to be for your purposes."

Despite the fact that social media will become a staple of the recruitment process, it won't drastically change a recruiter's skills. It's just a matter of broadening the scope, according to Bryant.

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"If you're hiring for seasonal workers and you're looking for younger people, then Instagram and TikTok could be additionally helpful to your posts," Bryant says. "Because if you're hiring college students, they might not have a LinkedIn profile, or haven't realized the value of LinkedIn just yet." 

He also warns that it's not enough to just search and post from the company social account, either. It may have once been taboo to incorporate personal accounts into workplace activities, but not anymore: employee posts can generate eight times more engagement than the same content shared through a brand handle, according to Bryant. For many companies, their employees' networks are larger and more engaged than their brands' networks and followers, sometimes by 10 times.

"Look at social media as an opportunity to get back to what you do best — especially for recruiters who are uncomfortable with social media," he says. "It gives you more time for sorting through candidates and more space to find the right candidates all while focusing on your company's branding."