In our Benefits of Online Presence blog post, we mentioned that a strong online presence can help a business attract more talent. This blog post will explore that point in more detail by explaining what your business can do to ensure your online presence can bolster your recruiting efforts.
Original Photos
Infusing original photos into your online presence has its benefits when it comes to both recruiting talent and appealing to prospective customers – which is why we recommend investing in professional photography AT LEAST once a year. Ideally, your business should invest in photography monthly or quarterly depending on the service your business offers.
With employee recruitment, photos can help prospective applicants get a peak into what it’s like to work at your business and can help them better understand the nature of the work they would be doing. Photos can also help potential employees envision themselves working for your business.
Here’s a list of the types of photos your business should incorporate into its online presence to improve recruiting:
Employees working in the field
Employees troubleshooting a problem
Employees being trained
Employees interacting with customers
Employees engaging with other employees
Employee appreciation events
Employee headshots and team photos
For more information about the ways to leverage photography for your business, check out this blog post.
Facebook Ads
Though most people think of using Facebook ads to generate leads or to build brand awareness, they can be an amazing employee recruitment tool!
Here’s a screenshot of an employment Facebook ad our team ran for our client, Commercial Cleaning with Commonwealth. With this ad, we got our client 150+ applicants and 30 employees in 4 months.
It’s important to note that they work best for businesses that are recruiting for roles that are entry-level positions or that require minimal experience. Businesses recruiting for positions that require depth of knowledge or extensive experience in the respective field will not find as much success in using Facebook ads for recruiting.
To use Facebook ads to recruit for a position, a business will need a:
Facebook page
Facebook ads manager account
Website landing page with a sign-up form or job application
Job description and compensation details
List of job requirements (if applicable)
Designed graphic or flyer with brief job details (e.g. position, pay, and location)
Facebook ads for employee recruitment work like any other Facebook ads. Facebook will charge your business each time someone clicks on the ad. Those who are interested in the position will be sent to your landing page to view more information and to submit an application.
Note: When using Facebook ads to recruit talent, you must indicate that they are employment ads by checking the box under the “special ads” category. Because they are employment ads, Facebook will not allow you to target audiences based on demographics or interests.
Website
Your website will often be the first impression your business has with prospective employees, so you’ll want to make sure it is set up to make a great first impression. At the very least, your website should be fully functional and should provide information about the services your business provides customers.
Your business can go above and beyond by offering information and content to educate potential employees about:
What it’s like to work for your business.
How your team engages customers.
Your business’s culture and values.
What the different roles/positions entail.
How your team impacts customers or the community.
By offering an abundance of information about the employee experience on your website, your business can stand out among your competitors which will increase the odds of attracting more talent.
*Note: Your website is an amazing place to upload all your team and employee photos. Incorporating tons of employee photos on your website is a great way to help prospective employees get a better sense of what it’s like to work at your businesses and envision themselves working for your business.
BrightView Landscapes does an amazing job with providing information on their website that informs and educates potential employees. They also do a great job incorporating photos of their team. See their employment website page below.
Online Application
In our What Is Online Presence blog post, we define online presence as the extent, quality, and effectiveness to which a business gains visibility and interacts with its audience on the internet to achieve its objectives.
Providing a way for prospective employees to apply for open positions is a great way to add an interactive element to your online presence while improving your recruitment efforts.
There are several options for offering an online application that range in complexity, depth, and functionality; but your business should select an option that provides a simple and seamless experience for the prospective employee. This will ensure they actually complete the application and share their contact information, so you can get in touch.
The best way to incorporate an application onto your website is to create a web page with information about the open position (e.g. job description, compensation, requirements, etc.). Then, on that web page, include an embedded form with the application questions.
It’s critical that you keep the online application simple by limiting the form to a few simple questions and a place for applicants to enter their contact information. Again, you want the experience to be as seamless as possible to increase the chances of potential employees completing the form. You can provide them with a more extensive application or tougher interview questions after you receive their contact information.
Below is a screenshot of the application we created for our client, Commercial Cleaning With Commonwealth. Notice how the form is limited to a few questions and fields for entering the applicants’ contact information. Despite the labor shortage, we got them 150+ applicants and 30 employees in 4 months using this application.
Social Media
Have you ever searched for someone on social media to see if you could find a little more information about a job candidate before you hired them? Guess what, prospective employees do the same thing before they submit an application.
Unfortunately, most businesses miss this opportunity to make a good impression on potential applicants by adding information and photographs that cater to the career side of the business to their social media pages.
Fortunately, this gives any business that takes the time to add employment information and photos to their social media pages a leg up on their competition who is recruiting for the same talent.
Just like the website, your business should offer content on social media pages that educates potential employees about:
What it’s like to work for your business.
How your team engages customers.
Your business’s culture and values.
What the different roles/positions entail.
How your team impacts customers or the community.
Because social media pushes down old content further down the feed as new content is added, your business should repost or pin content, so prospective employees can see it without needing to scroll too much.
Be sure to make the prospective employee experience more seamless by linking the posts to relevant pages on your website with information and applications for open positions.
Note: Your business should post career and employment content to all of your social media pages – not just to LinkedIn. This is because more people are on the less-professional social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and will have a higher chance of seeing and sharing your posts. By sharing your employment content on all social media platforms, you are increasing your potential talent pool.
Start Now!
The benefits of amending your online presence with content and information geared towards employee recruitment far outweigh the inconvenience or cost of creating it. What’s even better is that the information and content will live long after it’s created.