Social networks have become indispensable tools for recruiters. That is why we propose a series of special articles dedicated to this theme. Following our article on recruiting on Linkedin, this week we will talk about Facebook that has 1.8 billion subscribers in the world.
After the United States and Canada in 2017, the Facebook Jobs application has just been launched in Europe in May 2018. Zoom in on this new feature and on the “best practices” to be taken to effectively recruit on Facebook.
I The possibilities to recruit on Facebook
The possibilities are numerous to make known your career opportunities on Facebook. In particular, we can identify professional pages, recruitment groups and recently the Facebook Jobs platform in some European countries.
1. Professional pages/ schools
On Facebook, you have the possibility to create a page entirely dedicated to Human Resources. So you can use it to highlight your Employer Brand but also to spread offers of internships and work. It is up to you to feed it daily to arouse the interest and curiosity of potential candidates. Do not hesitate to publish videos about the different professions in the company, testimonials …
You can also be on Schools’ / Universities’ pages to make your internship opportunities available to students. This way you will work on your network and your reputation with a young audience.
2. Groups for recruiting
Facebook users have well framed the potential of this social network as a means of recruitment. There are therefore numerous groups intended exclusively for recruiting and in some cases counting more than 100,000 members. Generally this is a group specialized in a business sector / geographical sector. You can thus disseminate targeted offers directly on these groups. In this way you will be able to touch a receptive audience towards your offers and gain notoriety and visibility in particular thanks to the sharing of ads.
3. Zoom on the new Facebook Jobs platform
After the US and Canada, at the beginning of this year Facebook launched its “Facebook Jobs” feature in 42 countries, including Italy in May 2018. How does this new platform work? What specific advantages does it present?
For companies:
- The recruiter creates a job offer through his business page. It can integrate questions (open, closed or multiple choice) if you wish.
- The announcement remains active for 30 days
- By default, the company receives applications via Facebook Messenger. You can also receive them by e-mail thanks to a simple configuration
The spread of the offer takes place directly on the company page, in a totally free way. However, if you want to increase the visibility of the ad, selecting a target in a precise way, you will have to go through the paid feature “highlight the post“.
For candidates:
- The user accesses online ads via a new “job offers” tab on his Facebook page.
- Facebook propose him job offers nearby. You can also launch a search according to your criteria and set up a notification.
- To apply, the candidate accesses a form (similar to a CV) in which the information already available to Facebook is already typed(name, training if specified …).
- You can then modify or complete the information, in particular on your experience.
- Facebook Messenger opens a window with a summary of the application and proposes to start a conversation with the recruiter.
II Facebook Jobs pros
1. Realise a precise target
The great advantage of Facebook is the ability to achieve a precise target, thanks to the amount of information collected from the social network. In this way you will be able to direct yourself to the candidates by setting a number of criteria: geolocation, personal data, interests, training, etc.
You can specify the desired target thanks to the paid feature “highlighting the post”. The operation is similar to the spread of advertising on Facebook, according to an offer system.
2. Wide visibility
With 1.86 billion active monthly users, Facebook is the most important social network in the world. To make a comparison, LinkedIn has 106 million users a month. So Facebook is the social network that can guarantee you great visibility. In addition, highlighting a publication, you can achieve a precise target and make your ads stand out.
III The 5 good practices to follow to recruit on Facebook
To effectively select on Facebook, Kioskemploi offers you 5 good practices to follow:
1. Cure the career page
As we have seen, it is essential to feed one’s career page regularly and to use it to highlight one’s employer brand.
2. Supervise your reputation
Facebook is a space to express yourself, so it’s important to check what people say about your business. Sometimes, unofficial groups are created by employees, we strongly recommend that you take control of these pages to manage the image of your company.
3. Use Facebook as a complement to other media
At the base, Facebook is not a professional but social network. As a result, it is not necessarily the most suitable tool for e-recruiting. This social network is considered first of all as private: candidates do not go on Facebook as a priority with the aim of finding a job. This will certainly evolve with the efforts made by the network to establish itself in the e-recruiting market.
In any case, nowadays, Facebook should not be used as the only recruiting channel but complementary to other media (ad sites, Linkedin …) within a global strategy.
4. Publish offers adapted to Facebook
We know, Millenials and Generation Z have a different approach to social networks, and they have less brakes to use Facebook professionally. In this way, you can rely on Facebook to approach a young target. Therefore, do not hesitate to participate in the conversations on the groups of Universities and Schools.
On the other hand, we must know that, nowadays, Facebook remains more suitable for the diffusion of one-off, seasonal or technical positions (hairdresser, cook …). In fact, since at the base it is not a professional network, Facebook is not necessarily the preferred channel to target qualified candidates and frameworks for example, unlike Linkedin. However, attitudes can evolve over time, with the creation of Facebook Jobs.
5. Use the “target” feature
As we have seen, the “Highlighting the post” feature allows you to achieve extremely precise targeting. Therefore, it may be appropriate to provide a budget for it and examine the impact and then adapt it to your strategy.
In short…
Although Facebook is not a professional social network, it tends to become so with the arrival of Facebook Jobs. In fact, Marck Zuckemberg is implementing a real strategy to impose itself on the e-recruiting market. Thus, companies must henceforth lean on this social network to highlight their employer brand and raise awareness of career opportunities. With its billions of users and the possibilities of targeting, we must closely follow its evolution as it could be a major player in e-recruiting.