We’ve studied the leaders in Facebook Recruitment to bring you the 14 ingredients needed for a killer recruiting presence on Facebook. Implement these elements immediately to cook your Facebook recruitment page into a Michelin Star performer, attracting top talent, spreading your brand message and connecting with potential recruits.
1. A Wide Variety of Engaging Media
Facebook was recently redesigned to provide greater space to visual media such as photos and videos. If more than three posts are simply text and even just a web link, you’re missing the point. Text just doesn’t cut it anymore. The best websites are constantly posting photos, videos and visual quotes, making the page attractive and exciting from the very first click.
2. A Glimpse Into The Life Of The Organization
Potential recruits want a glimpse into the life of your organization. Content doesn’t need to be limited to job postings or information about how to apply. Your Facebook recruitment page should be a celebration of the culture around your organization; this is best done by sharing stories from within your organization. Stories don’t mean long paragraphs of ‘how I came to work here’ but rather short quotes, pictures or videos of events and happenings focused on a particular individual or team.
Verizon Careers on Facebook
3. Posting Every Day
The best websites post information every day, sometimes more. The competition for space on a person’s newsfeed is fierce and quantity is one of the ingredients to winning attention. If you’re worried about whether you’ll have enough content to post, consider Ingredient 2: just provide a daily glimpse into the life of your organization.
4. Celebration of People
The Veteran Affairs Careers Facebook page has the highest percentage of engagement of all five of the top five government recruitment websites. Why is this? They are relentless celebrators of individuals and constantly asking their community to celebrate and encourage others. Of course, this fits with their brand and culture which aims to attract people who enjoy encouraging and improving the well being of others. Sweeten it up with a little sugar by positively celebrating individuals!
5. Never Ending Patience on Responding to Comments
The number one Facebook recruitment presence is maintained by Marriott Hotels. Nearly every post by Marriott gains at least 5 people stating they would like to work at Marriott and every single one is replied to by name and a link through to the applications website. The very best recruiters use Facebook as a valuable method of communicating with their potential recruits, even more so because the interaction is public. A Facebook page is not a webpage; by its nature Social Media is a two way street and if the information and connection is only flowing one way, your page will lose engagement quicker than an imploding soufflé.
6. Training and Tips
Speaking of two-way streets, check out the Royal Marine’s Training application. It’s a Fitness Tool designed to help potential recruits get into shape to pass the physical examinations. Consider what you might be able to offer your potential recruits in way of helping them and utilize your social media platform to spread the love!
7. Contact Information On Front Page
What’s a chocolate cake without chocolate? What’s a Facebook recruitment page without information of where to apply? Not a recruitment page is the answer. Put the two basics up in the About Us section where people will find them easily: the phone number to call and the website to visit to search and apply for jobs.
8. Brand Consistency
There are many different recipes for a great Recruitment page and the right one to use will depend on who you are targeting. Army and Airforce web pages focus on hard challenges and group mentality whereas technology related pages celebrate geeks and new innovation. Consider the culture, passions and behavioral tendencies of your target group and design your content towards that.
9. Invite Your Employees To Participate
UPS encourages its employees to participate in the recruitment process, not only by sharing job vacancies but also by answering questions and commenting on the recruitment page. This is another way to tie in real life stories and allow potential employees to connect with your future ones. Check out Dave Manning’s comment below:
UPS on Facebook
10. Share Your Website
Keep the connection between your website and the Facebook page dynamic by consistently sharing pages that may be relevant to your audience. The British Army does a great job of utilizing pages about the skills its recruits learn to engage and inspire. Each skill is given it’s own page and a colorful photo.
British Army on Facebook
11. Post Available Jobs Direct To the Website
Something about a job description makes people want to read it, to see if they’d be a fit for it. Selectively choose job descriptions, preferably those that are generic and often open for applications to profile the type of work a person can expect to be performing in your organization.
12. Use Direct Calls To Action
People respond to direct instructions. The US Airforce’s Facebook recruitment page, one of the largest recruitment communities online with huge levels of interaction, asks its community to perform an action with every post. “Like this if…”, “Share to show…”, “Time to vote!”, “Tell us about…”. Create opportunities and reasons for your audience to engage and respond.
US Air Force
13. Provide Opportunity For People To Interact
Marriott Hotels, (a reminder: the clear winner in Facebook recruitment techniques with over 890,000 likes) focuses its recruitment campaign around creating a feeling of belonging, like family. A specially designed app allows current employees to upload a photo with the caption “Marriott – Where I Belong”. This is not only a powerful insight into the culture of the Marriott, it puts real faces to a work environment, connecting powerfully with the audience.
14. BUT… Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth
We love Unilever’s huge number of likes and clear links but their recruitment page is littered with other people’s posts about subjects not related to working at Unilever. While you want the communication to be a two-way street, you still need to maintain control over your brand and keep the discussion on topic. Your readers expect it of you. The easiest way to do this is to limit your fans posting ability solely to comments and shares.
Unilever – littered with unfocused posts
How many of these are ingredients in your Facebook Recruitment page? All of them are easy to implement and will make a huge difference to your reach and connection with your future employees. Take the time to push your organization to the top of the pile by getting the right mix on your Social Media recruitment efforts.
Author
Michael Overell
Michael Overell is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in building companies, products, and teams in both startup and hyper-growth environments. Currently, he serves as a key executive at ClassDojo, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth and helping children around the world access quality education. Michael is also actively involved in investing and providing support to promising foreign founders looking to break into the US market through his work with Antipodes.
