The world of hiring has changed immensely over the last years and employers are now looking towards channels such as social media to find new team members.
Simply posting on job boards isn’t going to help you get in front of your ideal candidates. With a billion active users, Instagram represents one of the largest talent pools available. If you are hoping to attract talent via Instagram, it is crucial to have a profile that showcases your company culture and paints a clear picture of who you are as a brand or organisation. Short videos or reels work great for giving prospective employees an insight into your company – use these to offer a behind-the-scenes look at office life.
Be sure to connect with relevant accounts on Instagram, and don’t be afraid to reach out to talented individuals and invite them to connect. Not only is Insta a great place to showcase your brand, but it also works well as a headhunting tool, especially for creative industries and start-ups. This article will help you get an understanding how and where to start.
Why you should use Instagram for recruiting
There are many benefits to using Instagram for recruiting. Firstly, it’s free to set up an account and connect with like-minded businesses and individuals, making it a cost-effective way to source talent. Secondly, taking a look at a prospective candidate’s feed will give you a sense of their personality and working style.
Some users treat Instagram like a portfolio, making it a great place to identify and source amazingly talented people. As it is highly visual, sourcing candidates in fields such as photography, graphic design, lettering and fashion is ideal on a platform like Instagram. Many creatives will also have a link to their website, bio or CV linked in their profile, where you can dive deeper into their background and experience. Instagram is also easy to use and offers multiple ways to locate people, such as through hashtags and connected accounts, making it a super interesting platform to use for recruitment.
Instagram recruitment strategy
Before embarking on any recruitment run, whether it’s short-term or long-term, it is worth developing the strategy you will take. Having a process in place will help you assess the success of Instagram as a recruiting channel for your organisation. Instagram recruitment campaigns will let you reach an audience that perhaps is not present on standard recruitment platforms. Plus, Instagram’s insightful data will let you measure the success of this particular channel for you. Use it to tweak campaigns, targeting, and posts, or to develop a one-term strategy for the whole quarter or year ahead.
Step 1: Build an on-brand profile
Connect with companies, individuals and organisations in the same field as yours and build a community. Keep your content and messaging on brand and be sure to get your ethos out there. Share content such and insights about what your company is working towards, and the milestones you hit along the way. Profiles that strongly reflect company culture have a higher success rate when it comes to connecting with like-minded accounts, and potential future employees. Having a strong brand message is more likely to resonate with passive candidates who are perhaps discovering you for the first time.
Step 2: Use a strong CTA
Instagram stories that have a strong, clear call-to-action (CTA) have a much greater chance of capturing the attention of viewers. Embedding a link in your story and ensuring that it uses clear text and intent will lead to a higher click-through rate (CTR) and a greater likelihood that you will connect with candidates who match your criteria. Likewise, in a grid post, be sure to lead users to a clear link to your vacancy or jobs page. This will usually be via a link in your bio.
Step 3: Schedule job posts
Instagram users tend to be most active on weekdays, in particular Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This type of data lets you decide on and plan the best time to release your job openings. You want to reach as many job seekers as possible, so posting at peak times is an ideal strategy to use. Planning ahead and scheduling content to go live makes planning easier and lets you prepare content for the days and weeks ahead in one go.
How to advertise a job on Instagram
When advertising a job opening on Instagram, it is best to use content that is consistent with your company’s style. Use colours and fonts that are on-brand. If you post the ad to your grid as well as to your Instagram stories, it will have a wider reach. Why not create your company hashtag and use it so you are easily distinguishable and discoverable?
Plus, you can consider taking out a paid ad to target a pool of potential candidates you’d like to hear from and further increase your reach.
Boost your employer brand on Instagram
In an era where workers can choose from a wide range of great employers, it is more important than ever that your brand has a clear message and ethos. This goes hand-in-hand with employer branding. Having a strong and consistent brand identity is super important, and Instagram is a great place to express it. You can boost your employer brand on the platform by ensuring you are consistent with your style of posting. Always use on-brand font, colours and camera work so that your content is aligned with your brand’s style guide. This will help leave a strong impression on anyone who visits your page.
Make your hiring process easier
After looking at the metrics and data of your recruitment campaign, you may decide that Instagram is a worthwhile recruitment platform to use in the long term. It can be used to make your hiring process swifter and easier. Niche targeting based on interests, professional experience, likes and dislikes lets you reach an audience that is likely to vibe with your brand. Making connections with brands and individuals in the same field as yours also lets you grow your community. This will also increase your organic reach and visibility over time.
Beyond headhunting candidates and making connections, Instagram will also let you get your voice there and paint a picture of what your brand is all about. This is extremely valuable as it is something that all candidates research before the interview or consider joining the team.
And, if you want to make your whole recruitment process more efficient, don’t hesitate to book a demo of Teamdash, a recruitment software with social media recruitment tools which will help you boost your social recruitment strategies.
