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The Key to Recruiting Success: Social Media

Social recruiting is no longer a novelty—it’s the cornerstone of a successful recruiting strategy and is an essential tool for businesses looking to market themselves online. Utilizing your social pages and profiles to advertise open positions will help you reduce recruiting costs compared to more traditional methods and is more likely to result in a good cultural match for your company.

Attracting Employees via Social Media

Sharing job openings on social media is a great first step, but you can use these tips to take your company’s social recruitment to the next level.

Spotlight Company Culture

Your business becomes infinitely more relatable when you discuss company culture online. This not only attracts customers and clients, but potential job candidates as well. If someone is already a follower of your company’s social media, there’s a pretty good chance that they connect with you on a personal level and that their values align with your brand. This eliminates the need to ask candidates what they know about your company because they’re already well informed.

Show Off Your Employees

Everyone wants to feel valued. Use your company’s social media to show off your employees and their accomplishments. These images will also show potential candidates what their colleagues would be like and gives them a feel on whether or not they think they could fit into the dynamic. Check out Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Twitter page. He is a great example of showing off and praising employees on a regular basis.

Publish Valuable Content

Potential employees and customers need a reason to follow you. Publishing valuable content is a great way to convince them. The easiest way to expand your reach and then keep those followers is posting at least once per weekday. Share original content or relevant posts from an external source that you believe will benefit your audience.

Use a Social Media Management Platform

Don’t let social media and the need to post on multiple platforms scare you. Programs like Buffer, HootSuite, HubSpot, MeetEdgar, TweetDeck, Sprout Social, etc. brings all of your accounts into one convenient place for you to manage.

Strive for Rich Media

Text-only posts are boring and won’t stand out. In fact, posts on LinkedIn that include images receive 98 percent more comments compared to those that don’t. Adding videos to your posts is another great way to include rich media.

Encourage Employee Participation

Employees [LINK TO IT TAKES A VILLAGE ARTICLE THAT I WROTE] are the face of your brand and encouraging them to share workplace culture will only benefit your recruitment efforts. Follow employees with your company’s accounts and share their posts about work in order to add authenticity to your pages.

Social Platforms

LinkedIn is the most professional social networking site and boasts over 560 million users. With over 40 million students and recent college graduates on the site, it is a great place to recruit new talent entering the workforce.

The first step to recruiting on LinkedIn is setting up a company page. LinkedIn provides you with the template, so all you have to do is fill in the details. Once your page is set up, it is important to add followers in order to expand your company’s reach.

LinkedIn Recruiter

LinkedIn Recruiter is a platform within the social network created to help recruiters find, connect with and manage candidates. This tool also allows you to connect to your applicant tracking system (ATS) in order to collaborate with others more efficiently, save time, and ensure accuracy across systems.

Groups

Use LinkedIn Groups to connect with other professionals in your field, kind of like a virtual professional association. Posting job openings in those groups will allow you to target the specific candidates you are looking for.

Use targeted ads to attract potential candidates to your job openings. LinkedIn allows you to hone in on specific people by several factors, including job function, seniority, company name, geography, industry, skills, field of study and more.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social network with more than 1.5 billion members. The site was originally intended to connect friends, family and coworkers, but has expanded to include organizations, businesses and interests.

Job Openings Tab

Create a custom job openings tab on your Facebook page for current openings. This way, you can attract applicants out of the pool of followers you already have and potentially increase the number of qualified applicants to your open positions.

Like LinkedIn, Facebook offers targeted ads, which you could use to promote job openings. Facebook Core Audiences helps you select the right recipients for your ad based on several factors such as location, demographics, behavior, connections and interests.

Twitter

According to research, 85 percent of followers feel more connected with a small business after following them on Twitter and 42 percent of Twitter users use the site to learn more about products and services.

Hashtags

Using hashtags will expand your audience by allowing people to find tweets that interest them. The first step is to come up with a hashtag that will be used with all recruitment-related posts. It should be simple, unique and relevant. Starbucks uses #sbuxjobstalk and Disney uses #LifeAtDisney.

It is also wise to use existing broad hashtags so that more people will see your posts. Terms like #jobs, #jobsearch, #jobhunt, #careers and #jobopening will help people find you.

Instagram

Instagram is now the king of social engagement, according to a report by Forrester, so if you want to attract high quality candidates via social media, a business account is a must-have.

Keep it real

Instagram is very visual, so take real photos and video of your products and employees to give potential candidates a sneak peek into what it’s like to work at your company—the work, the play and everything in between. Take Novartis’ lead and share stories from patients who have benefited from using your products.

YouTube

Half of all Internet users (about 1.9 billion users) visit YouTube every month and they watch billions of hours of video. That means that there is a huge untapped pool of potential candidates waiting for you on the social network.

Utilize Video Marketing

Creating a short, fun video about what it’s like to work at your company and why candidates should apply for a job opening is a great way to use video marketing to your advantage.

Your Website or Blog

Don’t forget to create a permanent Careers page on your website to post job listings. This is a great place to link back to from social posts so that candidates can easily find out more information on your company.

Managers: Preparing for the Year Ahead

For managers, the new year is typically a mix of emotions. On the one hand, it’s an exciting time as people feel more energized after the holiday break and are enthusiastic about the year ahead. It can even bring a sense of relief–the prior year is rearview and there’s an opportunity for a fresh start.

On the other hand, the new year can be daunting with new initiatives and budgets, and the pressure to make it all happen quickly. On top of that, there’s the stress of reviews and hiring that typically come this time of year. In general, the new year brings a renewed sense of pressure to keep everyone above and below happy.

With some preparation, the New Year doesn’t have to be so overwhelming. You can harness that New Year optimism by making resolutions that will allow you to start on the right foot and stay there. Let us help you get started. We suggested a few resolutions for managers and pulled helpful links.

Give effective feedback during performance reviews. In 2020, think of ways you can give your employees more effective feedback on their performance. If there is something your employee needs to work on, remember to focus on changeable behaviors rather than personality traits and work together to brainstorm a clear action plan for improvement. Even if your review is positive, try to be as specific as possible so that the compliments feel genuine and personalized.

Show your team you appreciate their hard work. Research shows that people do more for people who appreciate them. Everybody gets busy with the fast pace of biotech, so try setting a monthly calendar reminder to bring in a treat for the team or add a final to-do list item after a presentation to thank the team members who contributed.

Update your job descriptions. In 2020, try adding a sentence or two to your job descriptions that give it some flair. Most job descriptions are fairly generic and don’t highlight much of what sets your company apart or give job seekers an idea of the company culture.

Plan the recruitment cycle for the year. Don’t get caught scrambling to fill a role during the busy season. Start the recruitment cycle ahead of time so you can give some thought to who you are looking to add to your team. You will be able to find better candidates by thinking about things like cultural fit ahead of time.

Make time to review the accomplishments and the goals of the department. In the fast-paced world of biotech, it can be easy to get caught in maintenance mode where you are constantly executing. The New Year is the perfect time to reflect on all that your team has done, and plan for the year ahead.

Do any of these resolutions resonate with you more than others? If so, why?

Good luck!

Is GDPR the End of Recruiting?

Have you noticed the increase in privacy policy emails from companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and LinkedIn over the past year? Although the emails do not advertise it, they are the direct result of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in April 2016 and implemented by the European Union (EU) in May 25, 2018.This new ruling is governing the collection of personal information of individuals within the EU, ultimately causing a paradigm shift in how personal data sharing occurs on the internet.

So, why was GDPR introduced?

Prior to GDPR, laws were written for a world without smartphones that could collect massive amounts of sensitive information for companies such as Google and Facebook. GDPR now provides companies guidelines on how they may utilize personal data, while giving users clarity on how their data is being used.

Legislators in the United States are working on regulation that would be similar while also monitoring GDPR’s effects. No matter where you are located, however, GDPR impacts companies and users everywhere. Although it’s only law in the EU, it’s become a de facto world regulation.

But, what exactly is personal data under GDPR?

GDPR was designed to protect the data of European users, but because the “cloud” is not on one computer and software services have a global reach, GDPR takes into account all EU users even if they work internationally. Any business hosting personal identifiable information (PII) – any data that can identify you such as your name, email address, social security number, picture, phone number, username, location, and internet protocol (IP) address – falls under GDPR’s supervision.

Well, how did the US react?

Similar to the GDPR, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 – which will go into effect on January 1, 2020 – affecting how personal data is collected, processed, and shared in California.

The CCPA was designed with three major themes: ownership, control, and security.

Ownership gives users the right to know what personal information is being collected and whether that personal identifiable information is being sold, or disclosed, and to whom.
Control gives users the right to say no to the sale of personal information and the right for equal service or price; so if you opt out of a sale, you will not be penalized. If the principle of control sounds similar, it’s because the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) put into place rules to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from selling your data without obtaining an opt-in. CCPA reinstates this legislation at the state level, requiring the ISP to ask you before they can sell or market your personal information.
To uphold security, a business that suffers a breach of their system will be penalized up to $75,000 for each violation for each affected user. Although this isn’t as strict as GDPR, it’s more than just a slap on the wrist.

Even though that CCPA is only in one state right now, it may be the most impactful start to a GDPR-like act in the US.

Ultimately, where are the ethical lines?

When data is used in ways that benefit others while adversely affecting you, ethical problems will arise. Complying with changing privacy regulations is stressful for companies, as well as a drain on resources, but many are embracing it as an opportunity to increase trust and transparency.

As we enter into the age of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and facial recognition, your data profile stems from your social network activity. When it comes to our data, many Americans see this as a black-and-white issue. In fact, an overwhelming 63 percent of Americans believe that social media platforms have far too much power.

But, how can data collection be immoral when it serves as the backbone of so many of these services we use every day? How many helpful job recommendations have been given by software that matches job seekers’ skills and attributes? How many human connections have been built through recommendations on social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn?

Social media, particularly with Facebook and Twitter, has been found to reflect people’s personality and intelligence as well as characteristics such as sexual orientation and political views. So, could it be ethical to mine this data for hiring purposes when users typically used these online applications with a different intent – and therefore, without consent for data analytics to draw conclusions from their social media postings?

Federal legislation was recently passed, via the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2019, which intends to prevent inaccuracies, bias, and discrimination in automated decisions – particularly in the hiring process. So, as the adage goes, “great power does come with great responsibility”. Data and its collection is not the issue – but rather the improper use of it is.

The Cover Letter Makes a Comeback

Cover

The advent of online job board and e-applications in the early to mid 2000s all but killed the cover letter. The impersonal nature of applying online for pharmaceutical or biopharma positions led many to believe that cover letters did not improve or enhance a person’s hireability or them an edge in landing a job. However, the cover letter is making something of a comeback in today’s highly competitive job market.

Pharmaceutical recruiters and biotech headhunters have begun to read cover letters again because in today’s fast -paced business environment. Hiring decisions must be made carefully and quickly. To that point, job applicants who actually take time to carefully read job descriptions and craft cover letters to introduce themselves to biotech & pharmaceutical recruiters are likely to be more qualified and interested in the jobs that they are applying than those those who simply attach a resume to an e-mail message and hit the send button. Also, cover letters offer candidates opportunities to make a strong first impression but injecting some of their personality into a job application.

So, what should a strong cover letter contain? Besides including keywords (taken from the job descriptions) and action rather than verbs, job candidates ought to infuse cover letters with engaging and memorable dialog. Also, applicants must include descriptions of their skill sets, career goals and previous experience that may help to differentiate them from the hundreds of other people who may have applied for a particular job. For example, rather than writing “I’m writing to apply for the open position at your company” try offering something like ” My name is ____ and I’m looking for a change. After that opening, then explain why your background, skill sets and career focus are in line with the company’s needs that were outlined in the job description. Biopharma head hunters pore over hundreds of job applications and tend to remember the ones that stand out.

There is no doubt that writing new cover letters time consuming and often difficult. It is much easier to just hit the send button because you may believe that volume will trump quality. That said, pharmaceutical recruiting firms and biotech head hunters no longer have the job to carefully evaluate potentially qualified job applicants. These days they are looking for any edge to quickly identify and separate right fit candidate from the thousands of job applications that they receive. Remember: taking time at the front end of the job application process will often pay off with success on the backend!

Until next time,

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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