Most Recruiters and Sourcers use Social Media for Recruiting. The popular ones being LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ but are there others that can be used for Recruiting, if so what are they? If you haven’t already thought about this don’t fret because many Recruiters or Job Seekers alike haven’t either.

The reasons why Recruiters and Sourcers might not have thought about such channels are plenty but to name a few, the popularity of these sites results in a huge pool of talented individuals to choose from, the fear of not achieving the desired results via channels that have not yet been explored, the mental block that these are the only sites where the chances of recruiting the right Candidates are higher due to the volume of users.

Well, while that may be true it doesn’t really have to be just those sites. Specific sites like Pinterest that are devoted to creativity can serve a Recruiter well for specific Candidates.

Recruiting for Creative Individuals

Pinterest being devoted to creativity is the perfect site for Recruiting Candidates for creative profiles for instance if one is searching for a Teacher or a Designer, Pinterest is a good site. Here too Recruiters can search for Candidates in a similar fashion like any other social networking site. The only drawback is direct contact with potential Candidates. But that doesn’t matter if you redirect it to sites like Facebook, Linked In or Twitter.

Recruiting for Other Profiles

If you thought Pinterest was good only for Recruiting Teachers or Designers, you are sadly mistaken. Because Pinterest functions along similar lines like any other popular Social Network, Pinterest too helps you to create a board for your company. Once created Recruiters can then post job specs on the company’s board.

Develop Connections

Although you can create boards based on your interests you can even attract individuals of similar interests to your board and thus build your connections as a recruiter. By creating such boards you can even share them on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Pin Multimedia

Don’t just use images for Recruiting, use YouTube to pin multimedia. Apart from pinning images of team building activities on your company board you can add some videos of employees in action. This will promote the skill your company is looking for. And you are likely to attract individuals who share this similar trait thus speeding up your sourcing process.

Creating User Engagement

Not only can companies promote themselves via the board but they can also gain a perspective on the interests on possible Candidates. Apart from this companies can also look at what people have pinned and by this it gives them an idea of their interests. This helps them not only to develop their brand name but also gives them an insight in to what interests customers which in turn helps them to improve their products based on these findings.

So are you going to grab this opportunity to explore new Social Media sites for Recruiting? Are you going to be the first to explore other channels that have not yet been explored to select Candidates? Besides its high time you added Pinterest to your Sourcing toolkit to boost your Recruiting and Sourcing needs.

There has been a long standing debate concerning the weightage given to education or relevant skill sets when hiring. In an attempt to come to some kind of conclusion Sourcing Adda decided to conduct the Wednesday’s discussion on, “Education OR Relevant Skill Sets, which one to be given more weight age while hiring a candidate & which one will benefit more?” at the Hike Group Chat member’s request Ankush from West.

And here’s what we discovered…

Looks like we had a lot of inputs this time and from this interaction we can conclude that while Education holds more weightage in comparison to Relevant Skill Sets yet to individuals displaying a passion and experience into the chosen profession the opportunities are unlimited. These Candidates too can gain entry into their field of choice.

It’s great to know that job opportunities aren’t as limited as one would hope without the required education. This only goes to show that one can move into any profession of choice and expect opportunities to help them move ahead in the Career Ladder. To attend more such discussions follow @SourcingAdda.

Attracting Passive Talent is simple enough with a readymade vast pool of connections available online. Making sure you attract these candidates isn’t that simple. This is because of a few changes to the Recruiter’s role today. They are now expected to possess Sales and Marketing skills clubbed together with Branding Skills all of this to scout candidates best suited for the role.

Due to this development just being a Recruiter isn’t enough if you’re looking to attract Passive Talent that now makes up 75% of the workforce according to a LinkedIn Survey conducted with 18,000 users across 26 countries. Hence, we @SourcingAdda conducted our weekly Discussion on, “How to attract Passive Talent” upon the request of our Hike Group Chat member i.e. Sainath from South and here’s what was revealed…Apart from the ones already mentioned we also have some other ways by which you can capture Passive Talent such as posting new vacancies on a well-known site like Dice, the all-time favourite Referrals programs that till date have proved very effective, posting your Job Specs on countless sites that are Industry specific and cater to only those individuals, publishing articles that are either Industry specific or otherwise. Another way is by ensuring that your site is Mobile Savvy and let’s not forget Employer and Employee Branding that inculcates audience engagement to build Talent pipelines that you can count on to meet those growing KRAs.

These are just some innovative ways to attract the right Talent. If you have something more to add please be sure to leave your comments and we’ll include them in our next post. In the meantime follow @SourcingAdda to stay updated with our ongoing activities and future events.

We’ve heard so much about Social Media Recruiting most of us even use it to a great extent yet as Recruiter’s have you stopped to wonder whether your methods are efficient?

If you haven’t then we @SourcingAdda took the liberty to find out whether the methods we’re using as Talent Acquisitions are ideal and most effective. We hosted the #SourcingChat on, “Best Practices in Social Recruiting”. If you’ve missed it then here is the Top Tweets of the #SourcingChat that we shortlisted for your reference…

1. Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q1. What aspects should one focus on when attracting candidates on Social Channels? #SourcingChat

2. Arvind Ramani @Arvind_R16

A1: Consistent messaging & a timely response structure are basics while trying to attract candidates via #Social

Channels #SourcingChat

3. Achyut Menon @achyutmenon

@SourcingAdda A1 “Fish where the fish are!” Listen in and follow them to understand, Good things come to

those who bait! #SourcingChat

4. D Prasanth Nair @DPrasanthNair

@SourcingAdda A1 #sourcingchat understand TG. Be present in where they are. Present reality

5. Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q2. What are the key elements to perfecting a Recruiting Brand’s Social Media Presence? #SourcingChat

6. Nitisha Shah @nitishashah1

The best way to encourage #Employees to post on #social media is to use #socialcontent distribution software

#SourcingChat @namanstaffing

7. Aadil Bandukwala @aadil

A2 Recruiting isn’t about B2B or B2C or B2G. It’s about H2H: Human To Human. Firms need to bring their

Culture to Life #SourcingChat

8. Soumava Alan Saha @augustbornleo

Indeed ! Specially JobDescription should be creative. D need some changes for an effective social eng

#SourcingChat

9. Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q3. How can HR analytics improve the Social Recruiting Strategy of Talent Acquisitions? #SourcingChat

10. Madhav Vamsi @Madhavspeaks

1st hv trained hr 2nd chose right tool 3rd ask right qs to ur #analytics engine #SourcingChat @SourcingAdda

11. Shyam Prajapati @i_beinghr

@SourcingAdda #Sourcingchat Hr analytics helps 2 understand need and supply related insights, it helps to

identify and track apt candidate.

12. Manav Das @manavdas

@SourcingAdda #SourcingChat a2) Proper social media channel with timely engagement with potential and

current audience

13. Manish Pipalwa @pipalwa (2RT, 2F)

A3 #HRanalytics will help Derive the #SocialRecruiting #ROI.It will help to Build Future #Hiring Plans

14. s@chin @suchnes

A 3 BUILD A PIPELINE OF PRE QUALIFIED TALENT,REDUCE SOURCING BUDGETS,IMPROVE YOUR

SOURCING STRATEGIES #SourcingChat

15. Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q4. What aspects should Recruiters focus on to generate results on Social Media besides data? #SourcingChat

16. Mukta Patil @MuktaPatil4

A4 Networking with right audience. Selling your #Brand enough to convert passive candidates active.

#SourcingChat

17. Manish Pipalwa @pipalwa

A4 Don’t Send Gentle Reminders on #Socialmedia Platforms. #Email Etiquette do not work here.#sourcingchat

18. Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q5. What kind of results Recruiters can get through Social Media? #SourcingChat

19. Parul Sharma @parulsharma23

@SourcingAdda #sourcingchat A5) Part 1 :Thru Tremendous Result of So Me Hiring I bet If my Target

Resource Exist, He will be Found, ABCF & R

20. Emma Hunt @emmahunt10

A5. Hires, brand attraction, build pipelines – the list goes beyond 140 characters #SourcingChat

The Tweets to the #SourcingChat clearly enlighten you and make you realize whether your methods are as effective as they seem so here’s where I leave you with a subject that is worth an afterthought to ensure that your efforts are effective. If you’re interested in being a part of future such activities follow @SourcingAdda.

Employee Referrals are the preferred way to meet your KRAs and is implemented by most organisations. According to a survey conducted by Jobvite the number of applicants received through Career Sites and Job boards are plenty but their conversion ratio falls far behind Employee Referral hires of 40% as against 7%. Yet we are faced with answering the critical question of how to increase the Employee Referrals Percentage.

Considering this particular development the Wednesday discussions that Sourcing Adda conducts was based on, “How do we increase the Employee Referrals Percentage” as suggested by our Hike Group Chat member Kanhaiya Lal from South and here’s what we discovered…

Some other ways to improve the percentage of employee referrals is by emphasising diversity hiring, provide referral cards to Employees, for target firm hires proactively approach employees who used to work at those firms, conduct referral events, offer supplementary bonus’ to employees whose referrals have been top performers one board, reward all employees for their referrals or if their referrals have made it to the final selection and you can also offer small rewards to first time referrals.

All of these aspects if dealt with appropriately can go a long way in boosting your employee referrals percentage. To get updates to our upcoming events and future discussions follow @SourcingAdda. In the meantime try and implement these suggestions and watch your rate of hiring soar.