The common perception within the recruitment industry is that recruiting and talent sourcing in social media are the same.
Though there are plenty of similarities in methodologies, the purpose differs.
In this blog, we’ll discuss talent sourcing strategies on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram:
Sourcing vs Recruiting
Sourcing is the process of searching, engaging and evaluating passive candidates (those not looking for a job) for producing qualified, interested and available applicants.
Meanwhile, recruiting is the end process of sourcing, where the sourced candidates are guided through the hiring process to fill the vacancy eventually.
Now that we’ve painted a clear picture of what’s sourcing is all about, let’s tackle talent sourcing strategies in social media:
Sourcing on LinkedIn
When you think of online talent sourcing, LinkedIn is the first platform that comes to any recruiter’s mind. It is the most extensive professional social network, boasting 303 million members across the globe.
Here are quick and easy tips to source talent in LinkedIn for free:
1. Join relevant LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups attract some of the most famous people in any occupation or industry. Participate in the discussion by sharing interesting articles. Give career advice. Doing these things establishes you as a trusted expert within your field.
2. Use Boolean Search. Construct your Boolean search by mixing keywords with operators like AND, NOT, and OR. Check out LinkedIn Boolean Help Page for details on using Boolean.
3. Set up your LinkedIn Company Page and share your latest job vacancies and blogs with links to job vacancies. You can share a link to your website’s Submit Your Resume page for pooling. Or encourage them to subscribe to your company newsletter for future jobs.
Now, if you have the budget, upgrading to LinkedIn premium services is a good investment. LinkedIn Pipeline s an add-on on LinkedIn Recruiter users, with super powerful sourcing features:
- cross-management of all talent leads
- dynamic updates of candidates’ profiles contacted
- organization of all candidates into files and folders
- through searches based on keywords, locations and other connections
- networking between sources and recruiters across the same candidate
Sourcing on Facebook
With 2.45 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2019 as per Local Gold website, Facebook has the most significant number of active users, so it just makes sense also to cast the sourcing net.
Using Facebook Natural Language search functionality, you can search for people based on the following data:
- People who work at <company name>
- People who live in <location>
- People who are from <location>
- People who used to work at <company>
- People who used to work at <company> and live in <location>
- People who graduated from university <name> after <date>
Sourcing Candidates on Twitter
Twitter has a relatively broad and general audience. Twitter was designed as a microblogging service. To send many short messages called tweets. Twitter profiles are minimal, containing only a link, a location, and a very brief self-description.
There is no chance of finding employment history on Twitter.
However, you can bypass the limitations by using the Advanced Search feature, as per Workable’s blog.
It allows you to find candidates on Twitter by location, keywords, languages and hashtags. You can filter your search results by accounts, tweets, photos, videos and news.
Twitter advanced search is also helpful when you want to track specific tweets from a passive candidate and use them to send a personalized message about your job vacancy.
Sourcing Candidates on Youtube
Be prepared for an insightful sourcing experience when you search on the most popular video sharing site in the world.
Sourcing on Youtube is like a watching a work demonstration or video resume/interview. You can see candidates talk about their daily duties, see a glimpse of their workplace, talk about the company they are working for or answer career questions.
Just by typing the occupation and location on the Search functionality, you can find videos of candidates narrating their work experience:
- ‘A Day in the Life of <Occupation>
- What it’s Like <Occupation> In <Location>
- <Occupation> FAQs
How to find out your candidate’s details on Youtube? Some of the videos published the person’s name and occupation being interviewed or giving a testimonial, or you can turn on the Subtitle/Closed Caption feature to capture the person’s name. If the candidate uploads the video herself, check out the About section of her Youtube channel to see contact details and other SM handles to send a DM/PM.
Creative professionals like designers, photographers and videographers with a penchant for social media usually upload video tutorials and portfolios of their work on Youtube. You can instantly get a feel of the candidates’ artistry by watching their videos before contacting them.
Teaching employees like professors, instructors, trainers and teachers and see their teaching/training style beforehand and see if they fit your candidate requirements.
Sourcing Candidates on Instagram
Like YouTube, you can find candidates on Instagram by typing the occupation and location without space on the search bar. Search results will generate:
- Users/people with <location> and <occupation>
- #<occupation><location>
Like Facebook, candidates can post-professional and personal stuff on IG. You need to sift through the short videos and pictures to study them. To save time, check bio for website links or email addresses to contact them directly.
In the absence of links or bio details, you need to Follow them first on Instagram. And once they accept, you can start sending them DMs.
For # results, click, and you’ll find more potential candidates.
Sourcing on social media can be fun. You get to discover your candidates’ personality that you cannot access from resumes submitted from job boards and career pages.
For better sourcing results, it’s a best practice to engage first with your target candidate. Please get to know them. Follow them or send a friend/connection request. Like their posts, comment and share them.
By engaging with candidates, you get in-depth information and decide whether they are a good fit for your vacancy.
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