Can I ask you a question? Have you heard of a social network called LinkedIn by any chance? Well, of course you have, and maybe you’ve just checked your own profile for updates (Still no news on that Richard Branson connect request? Oh well, maybe he’s busy).
With over 332 million members worldwide, Linkedin has become the place for professionals to network, share ideas, and recruit, and it’s not just a place for professionals either. The fastest growing demographic on Linkedin are students and recent college graduates, so, with a potential audience of experienced hires and brand new recruits, it’s no surprise that most companies use the network to share recruiting content, even it’s just listing existing vacancies.
There more than 4 million company outposts on LinkedIn, and although we work pretty hard at Corporate Eye, we haven’t checked them all out yet. We have seen quite a few however, and we’ve discovered some company pages that are very good indeed where recruiting and career messages are concerned.
So, if you have a company outpost on LinkedIn, how do you know if it’s any good, or could be better?
The good news is that we’ve come up with 3 basic rules to make your LinkedIn company page a constructive part of your online recruitment strategy:
- Share key messages, like: Why join us?
The chase is on to recruit the best. If your business wants to attract in-demand high calibre recruits, it needs to project key messages that explain why they should join you, and not one of your rivals. A LinkedIn outpost can be an ideal place to explain your culture and share your employee value proposition. By sharing these key: “Why us?” messages, a company can vastly improve its chances of recruiting high quality candidates. Hopefully you’ll already have some content like this on your website, so not share it on your LinkedIn page?
- Engage with video
59% of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text, according to Forbes Insight, and why should potential new recruits be any different? Web statistics have shown a steadily increasing rise in the use of video content, with projections suggesting this will continue to rise. An engaging, well made video clip, like an interview or company overview, can engage and communicate key messages fast. If you already have good video content on your corporate website, why not link to it from your LinkedIn outpost?
- Start talking
A company LinkedIn page can provide a great platform for directly communicating with potential recruits. This could involve answering applicant queries, elaborating on any corporate content shared on your LinkedIn page, and explaining in more detail what sort of candidate you’re looking for regards a specific vacancy. And if a company is seen to be engaging with candidates online, this also sends out powerful messages about how willing your company is to engage with applicants.
If your company LinkedIn outpost is already obeying our 3 basic rules, then we have only one thing to say to you: Well done!
However it’s important to add that we think that these are just the basics a company LinkedIn page should be doing to reach out to the right kind of candidate, and there are other ways to build an effective career strategy through social media (and other social media platforms too).
If you’d like talk to us about using social media to hire the right people, through LinkedIn or any other social media outposts, why not drop us a line and we’ll be happy to share our knowledge.
Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye
