How to Find a Hire Through Social Media

Are you a job shop owner struggling to find a good fit for your company? You want to hire youthful, hard-working employees that are passionate about manufacturing — and you are painfully aware that this is a shrinking population. So the question becomes: what do you do to attract these elusive young professionals?

The answer: start recruiting candidates through social media. The numbers that prove this tactic works are pretty convincing.

In today’s society, social media is a comprehensive and powerful tool that’s especially pertinent if you want to attract hard-working, tech-savvy millennials. Here are a few of the steps to take to find the perfect candidate via social online tools.

Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn exists for professionals looking to connect with companies that are hiring. There are a few ways that you, a hiring entity at one such company, can utilize LinkedIn to its fullest potential. 

• Post open positions to your personal profile and to your company’s LinkedIn profile.
• Advertise positions so they’ll show up when a person actively searches for jobs on the site.
• Join relevant LinkedIn groups where you can directly connect with members of your field, or at least compile a list of qualified individuals to reach out to through InMail.

Recruit alumni from your alma mater

You went to [insert reputable institution]? That’s an amazing school for [insert relevant major]! It makes sense that you’d like to hire a fellow [insert corresponding mascot]. Presumably, students from your alma mater will have the same foundational knowledge and motivational drive that led you to professional success.

Oftentimes, the Career Services department at a university will encourage social media interaction in the hopes that companies will find an attractive candidate (aka a recent graduate of their university) through a hashtag.

Keep an eye out for #HireBU, or whatever the hashtag may be, to scope out potential applicants on Twitter or LinkedIn. If young alumni are strategic about their job search, their social media presence will direct you to their resumes or portfolios quickly and conveniently.

Furthermore, seeing that a potential applicant knows about opportunities to connect through social media speaks to her intent to be hired for an appropriate position with a company she knows will value her skills and contributions. School loyalty is nothing to scoff at, and when you can use your school ties on social media to help your company find a new hire, you should be especially proud.

Research societies and networks

Professional societies are comprised of an echelon that understands the significance of their membership. If you belong to one or more professional societies, utilize their career centers.

Many times, eager and invested recent college graduates have become members and are using the platforms as a way to connect with potential employers. You’ll find qualified candidates that may belong to a minority demographic if you post on the job boards of the Society of Women Engineers or National Society of Black Engineers, for example.

You can also connect with members of these organizations by following their Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts.

Hashtag, Hashtag, Hashtag

Whether you’re joining in on a hashtag promoted by a university’s Career Services department, or simply directing a few key words to a targeted audience in a Facebook group or something similar, you should never underestimate the potential power of hashtags.

The best example I can come up with of hashtag success is my fairytale recruitment at INBOUND 2015. ThomasNet RPM tweeted that they were hiring and included the event hashtag. I replied, which led to an in-person chat with the VP, which led to an interview with the Marketing Operations Manager, which led to an offer for the Digital Marketing Coordinator position the following week.

Think outside the traditional social media box

It’s important to remember that social media includes more than Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Check out sites like Meetup.com to see where engineers are exercising their skills or connecting with fellow alumni — and you may just find your next hire.

Did you enjoy the video of a complex Rube Goldberg machine your colleague posted on Instagram the other day? Turns out the engineer of the contraption just graduated with honors from a local university and is looking for a job.

Final Thoughts

Social media is increasingly ubiquitous in the professional sphere. More and more people are applying social media tactics to find open positions, schedule interviews, and get jobs. Because social media has become so popular, companies in every sector should be using the tools at their disposal to find their next hires online.