Using Social Media to Attract, Keep Employees
The last couple of weeks we’ve been exploring major trends unfolding in the workplace for 2013 and beyond. We started by discussing why companies will have to get creative and offer non-traditional benefits for the younger workforce. Next we explored how the insurance exchanges created by the new healthcare law will transform the health benefits provided by employers.
This week we’re taking a look at how companies will increasingly use social media to recruit and retain employees.
Remember when all you had to do to attract employees was to post job openings, offer decent pay and benefits and have good work environment? Now it takes a lot more than that to compete for talent. Aside from the standard static website where prospective applicants can browse jobs and read testimonials from happy employees, companies are now using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to create interactive online communities with current and potential employees.
Facebook offers employers an opportunity to provide fresh, updated company information, all delivered in an upbeat, friendly format. Whether it’s a new branch opening, the office holiday party, employee awards or charity events, Facebook is an ideal setting to showcase employee happenings with plenty of photos. Facebook has become such an effective tool for sharing company information while visually demonstrating that “this is a nice place to work”, that some companies are skipping the website altogether, and spending their efforts on creating a robust active Facebook page.
Another more serious way companies are gaining exposure to potential candidates is by having a strong employment component on their LinkedIn page. Here, employers create company profiles and set up feeds of information (including new job postings) available for anyone with an interest in the company. Of course the savviest job seekers who’ve done their research and identified their target companies can easily follow those same newsfeeds. This is fertile ground for recruiting and employers who dedicate resources specifically for this purpose will have a competitive edge.
See why this trend is inevitable? Current employees and prospective employees want and expect to interact and communicate with employers. It’s the new normal.
Next week: why job openings remain unfilled when so many are looking for work.
