The employees' fast-shifting priorities, the tight job market, and several others, the challenges will continue in 2023. Retaining and acquiring talents will still be determining factors for the company's success. In hiring, going outside Job Boards to reach different candidates is an effective strategy for recruiters looking to lower cost-per-apply and reduce friction along the process. In that sense, Social Hiring Platforms make an effective Tech Trend strategy.
With that technology, recruiters can start to promote their open jobs with Social Media, which enables them to advertise campaigns on multiple channels, focusing on qualified passive candidates. Also, the platforms provide more effective budget control, faster job campaign creation management, and higher assertiveness.
The power of Social media helps businesses and recruiters reach more qualified passive candidates. It allows companies to get new, more qualified, and engaged candidates completing their job applications in the ATS, eliminating any friction in the process. Yet, from creating a Careers page on your pages to posting a video with Q&A about the job on social media, here are 11 answers to the question, "How can you reach candidates outside of job boards?”
If a candidate is interested in your brand and wants to learn more about what you do, they're going to end up on your website. That's why creating a Career page that lets them skip the awkward stages of applying via another website is such a great idea. This also gives you a chance to set a great first impression and inform potential applicants of everything your organization has to offer — from employee benefits, to work culture and your diversity and inclusivity initiatives too.
Harry Morton, Founder, Lower Street
Participate in career networking events and job fairs. This allows you to connect with job seekers in person. Meeting job seekers at these networking events can speed up the process of determining whether you wish to invite them for an interview. Otherwise, you would only be going by people's resumes at first. While the resume alone is helpful, it does not necessarily reveal everything about your applicants in terms of their personalities and behaviors.
Miles Beckett, Co-Founder & CEO, Flossy
Many employers do not realize that they have one of the best ways to reach candidates without using a job board already at their disposal, and this is through the social media prowess of their current employees. Over 90% of all employees have their own social media accounts and three-fourths of them have multiple ones.
Encouraging your employees to post your job openings on their social media accounts, articles about the benefits of working in your industry, photos from work, and even potential future opportunities, can be an excellent way to extend your reach and find quality candidates. In addition, by utilizing this strategy, many of the candidates will come with pre-vetting, as they will often come recommended with a current team member’s backing. By encouraging your employees to use their social media accounts to promote a current employment opportunity, you can greatly increase your candidate pool without using a job board.
David Derigiotis, CIO, Embroker
I have found passive candidates to be a minefield and email lists to be the best way to leverage this demographic. Of course, this only applies if you already have a pipeline of candidates. So instead of going hunting for new candidates on job boards or social media, why not engage the ones you already have in your CRM? Scouting for new candidates can be expensive and time-consuming compared to reaching out to candidates whose data you already have, including their interests and qualifications. For the best results, target your job ads to specific candidates instead of sending a mass email to everyone. Targeting increases open rates and will generate higher conversions, giving you greater ROI on your talent scouting efforts. Another advantage of your email list is that it is unique, setting you steps ahead in a competitive talent marketplace. When everyone is fighting for the same talent pool on job boards, you can leverage your exclusive email list and put in offers quickly.
Joe Coletta, Founder & CEO, 180 Engineering
Encourage your current employees to be advocates in your recruiting process by launching a referral program that incentivizes staff — typically a cash bonus — to send qualified candidates your way.
Though it may lack glitz and glamour, it’s an effective tactic that flies under the radar, funneling a steady stream of job seekers who might otherwise overlook your job board advertisements. Furthermore, these potential new hires are likely to receive a positive primer on your company culture from the staffers who refer them.
Jessica Arias, Director of People & Culture, OnPay Payroll Services
80% of the workforce isn't on the job boards. They're passive candidates. But it's in this untapped workforce pool where you'll find best of the best employees. So it makes sense for employers to create a strategy around reaching passive candidates in order to attract these in-demand candidates.
So it's at this point that many companies will hire a team of recruiters to hunt down these unicorn employees. But that it misses a huge opportunity to improve results. What employers forget is to create ongoing video content around what the workplace is like.
Pairing recruiters with video content increases recruiter effectiveness by double or even triple digits. Why? Just like how great marketing teams make great sales even better, video content can improve the odds of recruiter outreach.
When your recruiters share employee testimonials and leader interviews on a regular basis, they build rapport faster and convince passive candidates that it's worth making the switch to work for you.
Justin Vajko, Principal & Chief Strategy Guy, Dialog
When reaching candidates outside of job boards, one tip is to consider using social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. These platforms can help you connect with potential candidates and build relationships with them. They can also be used to share job postings and other information about your company.
Reaching out to potential candidates through these platforms can help you connect with a larger pool of qualified candidates. Additionally, using these platforms can help you build relationships with candidates and keep them updated on your company and job openings.
Linda Shaffer, Chief People Operations Officer, Checkr
One way to attract candidates without using a job board is to form a relationship with your local college or university. Many businesses work with colleges and universities to offer courses and work experience relevant to the needs of the business, benefiting both the students and the business. Courses can be tailored to meet the requirements of the business and in return, the business can offer internships or work experience, helping the students to gain the skills and experience they will require in the workplace.
Students who successfully complete their internships can be offered regular employment when their studies finish but by offering these places you will raise the profile of the business among the college attendees and generate interest in the company. Your internees will become advocates for the business and you should find that the applications for vacant roles attract widespread interest.
Colin Palfrey, Chief Marketing Officer, Crediful
One method that has been extremely successful for me in finding solid candidates outside of job boards is attending networking events and industry-specific seminars. To be clear, I do not treat these events as recruiting trips. I try not to bombard the people I meet with recruiting pitches. Instead, I view these events as a casual means to get the word out that our company is hiring.
The majority of professionals who attend these types of events have tons of connections and friends who also work in the industry. You would be shocked how many people I talk to say they have a friend who is either actively looking for a new job or open to at least hearing about the position. After attending these events, I usually get three to four solid leads on attractive candidates.
Alaina Ross, Co-Founder & Registered Nurse, Sleep Family
I've had a lot of unfortunate experiences using popular online job boards such as UpWork, which is why I decided to reach out to potential candidates elsewhere, specifically, in closed social media groups.
Here is the thing: there are a lot of amazing Facebook Groups filled with talented workers. If you put in the work to find and reach out to potential candidates who are interested in working with you, I have zero doubt that you will find some great people. This year alone, I found two wonderful people through Facebook Groups, and they've already contributed so much to my company.
Gilad Zilberman, CEO, SeatPick
Four out of five candidates are passive candidates, i.e. those who do not visit job boards.
In our company, we noticed that we achieved a huge interest in applying to us by publishing short videos on social media, mainly LinkedIn. The films were less than two minutes long, during which the person recruiting for his team told who he was looking for, what the job was about, how much the candidate would earn, and what it was like to work for us. All shot on a phone, with questions written on the screen. Simple and extremely effective.
During interviews, over 70% of applicants said they applied because of these videos. We do this every time and have exceptional results.
Maciej Kujawa, CEO, Eye One