Hosted by LinkedIn, the 2014 Talent Connect conference took place in San Francisco on October 20-22 – connecting “the world’s talent professionals.” As one of the 3,700+ attendees, I noticed a number of key focus areas and trends relevant to the recruiting profession – from leveraging data to employer branding. And yet, one recurring idea stuck with me throughout the conference: Brand Ambassadors.
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It’s no secret that social media is an integral part of recruiting, and we all know this isn’t going to change anytime soon. It’s also not a surprise that more than half of all job applicants engage with a company’s social media platforms when considering whether to apply for a position, respond to a recruiter’s correspondence or even to prepare for an interview.
Through research and with the help of my LinkedIn account representative at the event, I learned a number of mind-numbing statistics:
- More than 5,000 employees from the organization I represent as a recruiter have a LinkedIn profile (roughly half of the company).
- 71% of these 5,000 profiles have been viewed – a lot.
- The average number of total monthly views of these 5,000 LinkedIn profiles: 21,291.
Undeniably, LinkedIn (and social media as a whole) is huge opportunity for organizations and recruiters to market a strong brand and positive employee value proposition (EVP). This is where brand ambassadors come into play. It’s quite clear that if prospective hires view a positive social profile – one that highlights how great it is to work at Company X, how successful the company is or how engaged employees are – they are going to be drawn to that company.
Recruiters as Brand Ambassadors
Recruiters that act as brand ambassadors for their organizations are the most successful. If you’re unsure how best to promote your organization, touch base with Marketing, HR and/or whoever is in charge of the company social media platforms. They can provide you with language, materials and other ways to promote the organization as the place to work.
Hiring Managers as Brand Ambassadors
Brand amabassador-ing is especially critical for hiring managers. For example, oftentimes, when speaking with a hiring manager regarding new candidates I’ve slated for interviews, they inform me that candidates have recently showed up in their LinkedIn “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” notifications. Candidates want to know about the company, and they want to know about its employees. This is a perfect opportunity to represent the organization as an ambassador.
Hiring managers, too, need to act as brand ambassadors – sharing company news/updates, promoting the organization and ultimately helping to build relevant talent pools that we, as recruiters, can leverage to find talent that’s already shown interest in our companies. These talent pools can (and often do) become more engaged with the company, as shared materials and updates essentially turn into referral pipelines.
The best part about leveraging social platforms for your organizations: it’s free! In today’s battle for top talent, recruiting isn’t just the job of the recruiter – employees, hiring managers and all others involved with the organization can act as brand ambassadors to help the company rise in above in this “battle” for the best. Recruiters can start by becoming brand ambassadors themselves, then helping to educate the organization on the bottom-line impact of everyone taking on this proactive and passionate role.
Post contributed by Phil Schumacher. Connect with Phil on LinkedIn or Twitter @Phil_Recruiter.
