Inside Sales Employee Recruiting: Leveraging Facebook to Inform Prospective Candidates

Recruiting, more specifically finding the right people, is a struggle for many inside sales managers. Today, however, thanks to social networking sites, this task has become easier. By investing time in an active presence on such sites as Facebook , you can share photo albums, videos and links to company and  product information that helps job seekers get a good feel for company culture and focus.

For example, at Insidesales.com, we are useing Facebook as a way to give applicants a sneak peek into company activities, the faces of our people, our products, and our industry. There is definitely a plethora of social media to choose from, but we decided to use Facebook as a primary recruiting site for a number of reasons:

• Facebook is the #1 Social Networking site: With over a 955 million users, Facebook is the undisputed powerhouse of the social media world. Because users can ’like’ our page and receive updates in their news feeds, Facebook is a great way to reach potential candidates and enable  them to do their homework before applying or going to a job interview.
• Pictures: Recruiters can post pictures of activities, events, training and employees to give applicants an idea of what the company culture is like and if it will be a good fit. Posting pictures on the Timeline itself or in a special photo album allows for easy categorization and promotion.
• Tabs and Apps: Administrators of the company page can add different apps to the tab bar (next to the ‘About’ section and under the banner).  Facebook allows administrators to put the apps in any order they want.
• Resources and eBooks: Posting links on Facebook to blogs and eBooks can provide the potential candidate with additional perspective on your company and its business. Additionally, general educational materials may actually introduce future candidates to your company, as well.
• YouTube: If you have a YouTube channel you can create a playlist of videos you would like to present on Facebook to educate applicants about the company. Like Facebook, there are several handy applications for managing videos on YouTube, and you can install these apps in your Tab bar. (We like the ‘Cueler YouTube App.’)
• Career Apps: There are several career apps out there that allow companies to post jobs to Facebook. Many of these apps have free versions, though they are often limited. You have to shop around for the right career app to meet your needs. At Insidesales.com, we found Joscast, an app (Jobcast Social Recruitment  App) that allows for unlimited postings, though we use it to direct potential employees straight to our company career listings page. Otherwise, you have to maintain your job postings in two locations, which typically isn’t the best idea.
•  Events: Use events to inform visitors of where they meet and talk with your employees. For those reading this blog and seeking a new job, candidate should check our “Events” to see where and when the next Employment Open House is.
• Interaction: Whenever one of our employees at Insidesales.com comments on, ‘likes’ a picture, or posts something,  that activity creates an open-doorway into the company culture. Additionally, interactions on Facebook make your Timeline look less like a ghost town. Encouraging social media interaction with employees is a great way for job seekers to see what type of people work for the company. It also allows applicants to interact with employees and other people who ‘like’ the company page.
• Links: Facebook allows hyperlinks! Linking back to your blog or corporate site is very helpful because it allows job seekers to explore the company outside of Facebook.
• The ‘About’ Section: Under Facebook’s ‘About’ section, administrators can include company and product information. This allows job seekers to get a broader view into the company’s focus and products.

What social media do you use for recruiting? Have you seen results with your efforts? Share some of your techniques with us.