Recruiting via social networking

Social networking (LinkedIn - 85 million members, Twitter - 175 million users, Facebook - 500 million members) has the potential to transform the recruitment landscape.

Essentially, there are two ways to leverage social networking sites: free applications/services provided by the site and paid advertising. In many ways, the free applications provided by the site are more compelling than the paid options. The free services include using social network sites as a sourcing tool, posting current jobs to your organization's career page, developing talent communities, and creating alumni sites.

One caveat to using social network sites is the fact that sourcing candidates via social networks is a very labor-intensive process. Eventually, there will be tools that reduce the amount of time recruiters spend identifying and communicating with prospective candidates, but those applications have yet to be delivered. There are a couple of services that are attempting to address these challenges (including LinkedIn's Professional Recruiter Services and Jobvite), and there is little doubt that we will see more applications and services introduced in the next few years.

The other way to leverage LinkedIn and Facebook is via paid advertising. Both of these sites offer low-cost pay-per-click (PPC) options that allow advertisers to target audiences based on a combination of user profile and location data. LinkedIn and Facebook use a pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-impression (CPM) advertising model that is similar to Google AdWords.

At Davis Advertising, we frequently combine targeted advertisements on Google, LinkedIn and Facebook with job postings on Indeed, SimplyHired and craigslist. By combining these media, we are able to target both active and passive job seekers. For additional information, view our AttnHR Job Marketing service.

One issue that works against relying solely on social networks is the fact that a significant number of people who participate in social networks do not provide complete demographic data (e.g., current/past employer, job function, education, career interests, etc.). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 250,000 pharmacists in the United States. Searching on the job title pharmacist on LinkedIn returns approximately 70,000 results (28% of the total market). Facebook's targeting tool returns about 40,000 results (16% of the total market). The results are similar for other healthcare professions. The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) has over 90,000 members, but less than 12,000 (13%) of LinkedIn users and less than 22,000 (24%) of Facebook users list their occupation in their profile. In a similar vein, the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has about 14,000 members. LinkedIn profiles return about 2,000 (14%) results, and Facebook profiles return about 4,000 (29%).

One challenge in using both Facebook and LinkedIn is the fact that their geo-targeting tools are not as precise as Google AdWords. Eventually, we expect that LinkedIn and Facebook will provide better ways to more precisely geo-target audiences within narrowly defined demographic boundaries.

Even with these limitations, we often use Facebook and LinkedIn advertising as part of our overall recruitment effort. In our view, advertising on LinkedIn and Facebook (as well as Google AdWords) delivers strong returns on your investment. Advertising on social networks can be particularly effective when it is combined with craigslist and sponsored ads on Indeed and SimplyHired.

You can learn more about combining Indeed, SimplyHired and craigslist with pay-per-click ads on Google, LinkedIn and Facebook via our AttnHR Job Marketing service.

Should you include salary information in your advertisements?

From a marketing perspective, there is little doubt that most recruitment advertisements would benefit by the inclusion of salary information. Recruitment advertisements that include salary information consistently outperform recruitment communications that fail to do so.

The inclusion of salary information allows employers to differentiate their job openings from their competitors'. This is particularly important for the vast majority of employers who do not have a well-known, differentiated employment brand.

How important is salary information?

Consider how many purchases you make without first knowing the cost. Consider the role of price promotions (coupons, discount pricing and other incentives) in virtually every other industry.

Including salary information is particularly important if you are looking to attract responses from "passive" candidates. Passive candidates require a catalyst to move them into the "active" candidate mode. Other catalysts include a more convenient work schedule, a shorter commute or a job opportunity that offers career advancement.

From a competitive perspective, we would recommend including salary information if your compensation is in the top 65% of the market (this means that only 35% of employers pay less than you do). Salary.com provides a quick resource to evaluate compensation levels within your geographic area. You can also obtain salary information from the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Given employer sensitivities about including salary information, we have often advised clients to exclude salary information from marketing communications that are "public" in nature, such as job postings, print ads, social network communications and postcards. When using "private" communications such as direct mail/personalized letters or search firms, we generally advise clients to include salary information.