Sure, you’re posting your open jobs to your Facebook page, but so is every other company. If you want to reach candidates who are actually going to convert into great hires, you need a cohesive strategy for using Facebook for recruitment. Facebook recruiting can help you reach suitable candidates and position your employer brand in a positive light. Read on to learn more about the benefits of sourcing candidates on the number one social network and find out how to recruit on Facebook effectively.
Benefits of Facebook Recruiting
First and foremost, the size of the talent pool on Facebook is unparalleled. When you think of social recruiting, LinkedIn might be the first platform that comes to mind, but its user base pales compared to Facebook’s. More than 3 billion people use the platform monthly, with over 2 billion logging in daily. No other app or platform comes close to those kinds of engagement numbers.
Recruiting on Facebook can be highly cost-effective. You’ve probably heard talk of how companies have to “pay to play” on Facebook, and that’s partially true (more on this later). But, if you allocate even a small budget strategically, it can help you zero in on particular groups of users you’re trying to reach and can also help boost the reach of the non-paid content you’re posting.
Facebook is also a less crowded space for recruiters. According to Jobvite’s Employer Recruiter Nation survey, 41% of recruiters use LinkedIn to source candidates, but only 20% use Facebook. On the other hand, candidates are very likely to use Facebook, with about 83% of job seekers being active on the platform.
Finally, recruiting on Facebook can help you reach active and passive candidates. Candidates who aren’t currently job searching might go months without logging into LinkedIn or perusing a job board. On the other hand, Facebook is a platform most people check regularly to keep up with friends, family, and current events. When you use Facebook for recruitment, you have the advantage of getting in front of those passive users who might not otherwise learn about your open positions.
Tips for Posting Jobs on Facebook
Write a thorough job description
Social media content may be bite-sized, but your job descriptions should still be thorough. Write descriptions that accurately convey the job duties in easy-to-understand language. Imagine your ideal candidate as you write. What type of language and information would get them to stop scrolling and notice your job?
Provide key details
People who see your job on Facebook might not have been job searching when they came across your post. Thus, it’s important to include all the essential details, like the job title and location, to help narrow your focus on the right audience. Consider including other pertinent details that candidates in today’s market want to know, like the salary and whether the position is fully or partially remote.
Think mobile
The majority of people who use Facebook do so on a mobile device. Your job listing–and the application process that accompanies it–should be designed with this in mind. Ideally, make it so that candidates can apply with just a few taps. Then, use Facebook Messenger and other candidate messaging tools to learn more about them and complete further screening.
Use rich media
One downside of using Facebook for recruiting is that you’re competing with funny Reels and cute baby animal photos for users’ attention. This means you have to go beyond just posting a wall of text. Engaging media like pictures, videos, and slideshows can help your post get a higher reach and catch the eye of a potential candidate amidst their busy News Feed.
Here’s an example of a Facebook job posting that nails all the tips above.
The first sentence prominently features the company name, job title, and location. The post describes the job duties and benefits gives a salary range, and includes an engaging image to help it stand out. We spotted this post in a local group filled with other text-only posts, and it quickly stood out as one of the most eye-catching.
Here’s a different type of post that works equally well:
This image-only post uses bold colors and minimal text to make an impact. It highlights some of the most lucrative selling points of the job, like the pay and the shift, and gives a clear call to action that will prompt interested job seekers to take the next step.
How to Recruit on Facebook Effectively
Simply posting to your company page every once in a while doesn’t cut it anymore. While the platform is highly popular, Facebook is also highly competitive among brands for coveted space in users’ news feeds. Thus, you need a multi-faceted approach to recruiting on Facebook if you want to achieve the multiple regular touchpoints it takes to win candidates with this channel. Here are some best practices to pull it off.
Use a dedicated facebook page for careers
Your company probably already has a Facebook page for the brand as a whole. If you’re a small business, this might be sufficient for running your customer- and candidate-facing content. Consider creating a separate page specifically for careers if you’re a larger organization.
A dedicated Facebook page for careers is helpful because it allows you to create a content strategy with a singular focus on prospective candidates—you’re not trying to blend sales content with recruiting content. On this page, you can showcase your company culture, share testimonials from happy employees, discuss your benefits, answer candidate questions, and go into more detail about job openings than a post on your overall brand page might warrant.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the resources to support both a brand page and a careers page, you can create a dedicated tab on your regular page for content about careers.
Use ads to expand your reach
Facebook’s ad platform offers some of the most powerful capabilities of any advertising network. You can use Facebook Ads to show your job openings to candidates based on their location and interests.
When you run a Facebook ad, you’re essentially paying to extend the reach of one of your posts. This is beneficial for the post you’re paying to promote and your page as a whole. Facebook’s algorithm gives preferential treatment to highly engaging content. This means that if your posts regularly receive lots of likes, comments, and clicks, your future posts are also more likely to be seen in the news feed. Giving your best content an additional boost with some paid promotion helps build the kind of user engagement that makes the algorithm happy and helps the rest of your content get seen.
When paying to promote job openings, be sure your post has a clear and straightforward call to action that helps users take the next step, like clicking through to the job application page on your website. The last thing you want to do is spend valuable dollars on a post that leaves candidates wondering, ‘What do I do next?’
Follow best practices for Facebook content
Every social media platform has its own set of norms. A post that performs well on LinkedIn, for example, won’t necessarily get the same amount of engagement on Facebook. Success with using Facebook for recruitment means knowing and observing the best practices for content on the platform.
First and foremost, your Facebook posts should have a visual element, like a photo, graphic, or video. Text-only posts receive little to no reach.
If you post video with sound bites or narration, be sure you have subtitles enabled. Digiday reports that as many as 85% of Facebook videos are watched without the sound on (typically when users are in public places), so you want to be sure your message still gets across to those users.
The majority of the time, aim to keep your posts short. While long-form content is gaining traction on Facebook, most high-performing posts are 80 characters or less. Posts that are 40 characters or less receive 86% more engagement.
Following these and other Facebook best practices will help your posts get the maximum reach even if you’re not paying to promote them.
Source candidates in Facebook groups
Facebook Groups can be a gold mine for sourcing high-quality candidates. There are groups geared specifically to job searching. Still, you can also find talent in groups for your local community, groups for your industry (i.e., groups about healthcare), and groups specific to certain jobs (i.e. groups for engineers).
The key to using Facebook Groups for sourcing is not to be a spammer. Always abide by any group rules (these are typically pinned to the top of the group page), and aim to give more than you take. So, don’t just pop in; paste your job listing and run. Build credibility by engaging with the group regularly, not just when you need to fill an opening.
Take advantage of other native Facebook features to reach candidates
In addition to its standard posting capabilities, Facebook has other native features that can be interesting tools for recruiters. With Facebook Messenger, for example, you can set up a chatbot that responds to frequently asked questions, provides application instructions, and directs interested candidates to find more information on your website.
Facebook Live and Reels are other engaging features that users love. Recruiters can harness these types of content to announce the latest job openings, celebrate new hires, and give a sneak peek inside company events, which helps spread awareness about your company culture.
Build your employer brand
Finally, it’s important to think of Facebook as a channel (one of many) for establishing your employer brand. 59% of candidates use social media to research organizations they’re interested in, with 21% turning to Facebook to get a sense of company culture and 14% using it to research brand reputation.
This a great guidepost to use as you’re creating recruiting content. With each piece of content you prepare to publish, consider the following:
- What is the overall impression I want candidates to have of my brand?
- Is this content aligned with that brand image?
- What objectives am I hoping to achieve by using Facebook for recruitment?
- How does this content specifically work to advance those objectives?
While not every piece of content needs to be a direct call-to-action to get candidates to your careers page, every post should be thoughtfully created to elevate your employer brand.
Leverage referrals
Because so many people still log onto Facebook daily, it’s a great place to get organic referrals. Ask your employees to follow your Careers page and encourage them to share your posts about job openings. This way, you’ll expand your reach to the people on those employees’ lists of friends.
You can also gain referrals by including language in your posts that encourages sharing, like ‘tag a friend who’d be a great fit for this job!’
Mistakes to Avoid When Recruiting on Facebook
Failing to engage with followers
Facebook isn’t a one-way communication platform. Interested users will want to engage with you, and you should encourage them. Respond to comments on your posts. Monitor for tags and mentions and interact with the person who posted them. If someone tries to share your content, tag the user and thank them personally.
Copying and pasting content between platforms
It’s absolutely acceptable to repurpose content between different social media platforms, but the content that performs well on Facebook isn’t the same as for Instagram, LinkedIn, or another platform. Also, if someone follows you on multiple channels, you don’t want them to be bombarded with the exact same message multiple times.
Instead of duplicating content word for word between different channels, change the messaging, tone, or length slightly to comply with that particular platform’s best practices and audience. You can also change up content by creating distinct visuals for each channel.
Failing to monitor metrics
While Facebook recruiting can bring results, it’s not a surefire solution for all companies or all types of roles. The only way to know for sure whether your investments in the channel are paying off is to monitor your metrics consistently and analyze them over time. Some of the most important Facebook recruiting metrics to measure are post reach, post engagement, completed applications, referrals, and successful hires.
Reach More Candidates with 4 Corner Resources
Facebook is one channel to reach more qualified talent. Working with a team of staffing experts is another. The recruiting professionals at 4 Corner Resources are eager to help you expand your talent pool and find the perfect candidate to join your team. Whether you’re looking for an entry-level staffer, a C-suite executive, or a contract worker to fill seasonal gaps, our experienced headhunters will match the best talent to your desired skills and qualifications and help ensure the right culture fit for lasting success.
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