Online recruiting strategies to improve your virtual hiring
Email advertisements, text messages, job boards, mobile apps—your company has job postings everywhere. But how can you use these technologies and platforms to get the candidate’s attention? Now more than ever, it’s important for organizations to make sure their online recruiting strategies are up to par.
“Six months, we were in one of the tightest and most competitive job markets in history,” says Michael Solomon, Co-founder and Managing Partner of 10X Management, which recruits freelance tech talent.
“In shockingly quick fashion, we’ve flipped to the polar opposite.” In other words, there’s a great opportunity to step up your recruiting game and use the current crisis to make much-needed changes to your process.
By shifting gears to focus on online recruiting strategies (not only out of necessity, but to plan for the future), hiring can move faster and better candidate matches can be made.
Here are some tried-and-true online recruiting strategies that every organization should get behind.
Make sure everything you do is mobile optimized
From text recruiting to mobile-designed career sites and applications, connecting with candidates on mobile isn’t something you can afford to neglect.
According to Pew data, 54% of candidates applied to jobs from a mobile device. And that number will grow.
If your career site is not already mobile-friendly, this can be a good downtime project for your team to work on. Any changes to your site or application should always be tested on a mobile device to make sure it’s a user-friendly experience and has as few clicks as possible. A clunky application or hard to see site will result in job seekers elsewhere.
Go all in on video
In Monster’s State of the Recruiter survey, over 80% of recruiting professionals said they’d like to see more use of video, and they also told us that the youngest job seekers they interact with fully expect and look forward to seeing video used in their job search and hiring process. Some examples include:
- Video calls with recruiters during the interview process (36%)
- Video job descriptions (27%)
- Video application submission (25%)
- Video featuring a recruiter describing a job ad (22%)
And as recent events have shown, when face-to-face communications aren’t possible, the companies that can quickly pivot to video-based activities can keep their hiring activity going.
But even beyond using video for interviews, companies that learn to incorporate video in new ways can open up a world of possibilities for reaching and communicating with candidates. Video creates a 4-D experience rather than just text on a page, or a faceless voice over the phone. It gives job seekers an inside look at your organization, and gives them a platform to put their best self on display. That’s why video is one of the most relevant online recruiting strategies today.
Add keyword optimization to all job descriptions
You know that job candidates are searching for jobs online, so it’s important to make sure that your open roles appear in their search results. The best way to do that is to make sure that you’re writing job descriptions that use the most common keywords and phrases that candidates for that job would use to search.
Of course, it’s not enough to keyword-stuff. Once the job seekers land on your posting, you still have to get their attention and sell the position. Start with a paragraph on what makes your company different, followed by another paragraph about the team. Then, you can get into how the role you’re seeking to fill will make an impact on the business and the world. Lastly, share some tidbits about the culture and location. You’ll find great job description templates with helpful tips here on Monster.
Audit your employer brand across platforms and channels
Candidates are going to do their due diligence and research potential employers before they get in touch. That means your employer value proposition (EVP) and overall message needs to be consistent and spot on. Not just on your website, but on social media platforms, in job descriptions, and in outside media, too. Here’s a quick checklist to make sure your employer brand is shining through in all of your communications:
- Does your website clearly define what your company stands for?
- Can candidates easily find your company’s story, and the impact that each team member can have?
- Do your social media posts and other off-site content reflect the company’s core values, and the company culture?
- Are your employees featured front and center to advocate for why your company is a great place to work?
- Is your brand authentic? For instance, if you claim work/life balance is a core value, do your benefits and policies align with that?
Build up a strong social presence
Over half of Gen Z (58%) and millennials (59%) say they check out social platforms when looking for work. And Gen Z actually prefers YouTube, Instagram and Facebook to LinkedIn.
That’s why your social media content strategy cannot be brushed off when it comes to online recruiting strategies. Social media should be an extension of the message you’re trying to put out to prospective candidates. They will want to see what you’re saying on Twitter, the photos of your workplace on Instagram, and the video testimonials about what life at your company is really like.
By investing in and continually improving on your online recruiting strategies, you can position your company to stand out from competitors. And, should another situation arise that causes people to rely heavily on digital and virtual job seeking, you’ll be well-prepared.
Optimize your online recruiting strategies today with Monster at your side
In an online world, it takes more than smart technology to engage tech talent. It also takes smart recruiting. If you want to improve your company’s ability to reach the best talent, look no further. With expert recruiting and hiring resources, Monster Hiring Solutions can help your company find and hire the best.