Developing a social media recruitment strategy

London was the final port of call in Penna Barkers' countrywide series of workshops designed to help employers develop effective strategies for social media recruitment.

Introduced by sales & marketing director Andrew Soane with a welcome from MD Anne Riley, the well-attended breakfast session (the first of two) was held on Tuesday 29^th June in the agency's handsome new Fleet Place boardroom.

The presentation was given by digital strategist Jon Davies, who began with a raft of statistics charting the rapidly growing influence of social media (now running ahead of pornography as the number-one activity on the web, incidentally) and its increasing importance in the recruitment space.

Jon emphasised the value of social media in two key areas: for boosting employer brand and reputation, and as additional new recruitment channels in their own right.  On the reputational side, it's crucially important to start listening to what's being said about an organisation, join the conversation and help maintain the buzz about the brand, while on the recruitment side social media can help with everything from providing new sources of candidates to helping aggregators find jobs more easily.

There are no short cuts: social media recruitment strategies need long-term commitment and adequate (which, nevertheless, needn't mean significant) resourcing.  Content should add value for users and be engaging, honest and transparent, while the issues underlying any negative comments should always be addressed head-on.

Jon concluded with a number of practical tips - quick, easy initiatives enabling organisations to ‘dip their toes' into social media, covering the use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and search-engine marketing.  He also stressed the need to set up some relevant analytics, given the surprising number of attendees who hadn't already done so.  His final message was "Don't stick your head in the sand" - like it or not, the social media phenomenon is here to stay, and will only get more important as part of the overall recruitment media mix.