Recently, I did an experiment on Instagram to find out its potential as a recruiting tool. The test revealed that encouraging your Instagram followers to consider working for your company can do two important things:
- Increase the likelihood of a candidate applying to your job.
- Get an otherwise passive candidate to check out your jobs.
Given 70% of the people following your company on LinkedIn are interested in working for you, imagine what you could do if you used Instagram to drive passionate fans of your company to check out your LinkedIn page and job postings.
Get started: Feature jobs visually on Instagram
If you're looking for a free and easy way to drive some eyeballs to your job postings, take a walk down the hallway and have a friendly chat with your social media manager. If you can work out a plan with the person in charge of running your Instagram, you can build very easy content every day to promote job openings. Here’s what to do:
Step 1: Identify which jobs you want to feature
Pick a job that has a unique aspect, . i.e. working with customers, managing people, designing new products, etc. The goal is to identify the biggest aspect of the job and how it relates to the success of the company.
Step 2: Take a picture of someone or something in the office that represents a fun or respect-worthy aspect of your company culture
This picture doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, the more casual (taken on your smartphone), the better. Try to capture something interesting. It's even better if it’s related to the department the job is located in.
Step 3: Come up with a short caption explaining the photo
Articulate how the picture is connected to the job you are featuring. Something like, “This is what our customer service agents get to do in their down time.” Or, “This is what a new product manager can expect to enjoy at our office.” Highlight the activity as it relates to the role.
Step 4: At the end of the caption, add “Visit our Company Page on LinkedIn to see all the great jobs we have open!”
Very straightforward - you're telling followers the action you want them to take. Inviting them to consider you as an employer is the first step to turning talented fans into highly passionate, productive employees.
Step 5: Don’t forget the #hashtag
Smart companies are creating unique hashtags to showcase their employer brands. When you start to use a bunch of different social media channels, like Instagram, to display your employer brand, you should create a hashtag to put in every tweet, post, and share so that candidates interested in working for your can use the hashtag to search and see all of your great material.
In addition to being on top of their game on Instagram, Salesforce.com also knows the power of the customized hashtag. They use #dreamjob. Check out how they use it, along with five other noteworthy companies leveraging recruiting hashtags in this article.
Especially effective for recruiting millennials
Using Instagram to get millennial talent to check you out is a real home run. As this article I wrote points out, millennials make up nearly 50% of the workforce today and Instagram is their favorite social media tool. It has 50X the engagement rate of other platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. That means leveraging its connective power to drive passive candidates to your LinkedIn page can help increase your engagement there.
For all my purple squirrel hunters out there with small recruiting budgets but huge talent demands from hiring managers, I encourage you to explore the idea above. Other than your time, it’s free and easy to try. [NOTE: If you are a purple squirrel hunter, check this out too for another free way to get more passive candidates.]
P.S. - Be sure to follow me on Instagram (@careerealism), and I’ll follow you back and share your featured jobs!
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J.T. O’Donnell is the founder and CEO of CAREEREALISM Media, which specializes in helping companies attract top talent by featuring and promoting their employment brand. Check out their FREE e-guide on inbound recruiting and the power it has to help drive the right candidates to your inbox.
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Topics: Recruiting tips
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