Nowadays there is a very low unemployment rate in the US and especially here in Colorado. This situation challenges employers to find creative ways to recruit and retain employees. Judicious use of Facebook and LinkedIn can give you that extra edge.

Just recently, I did a social media training for the top leadership of a company on this very issue. Here are some of the ideas we came up with. Please note that nothing listed has any cost associated with it.

 

Use Facebook to Recruit and Retain Employees

• Post job openings on the company’s business page. Then ask current employees to share those posts to their personal Facebook pages.
• Be sure to include a link directly to page on the company website where more info can be found.
• Connect the business page to a business Instagram account and cross-post job announcements to Instagram.
• Do video interviews with current employees where you ask them to share why they like working for the company.
• Use Facebook Live videos for these interviews. It makes them more authentic and fun. Use these videos to honor employees with special work anniversaries. Or use them to honor employees with achievements, like employee of the month.
• If the company holds events of any kind, post during the event about what a great time everyone is having.
• Encourage anyone who writes positive reviews to mention specific employees in the review.

 

Use LinkedIn to Recruit and Retain Employees

• Ask employees to include the company logo as the background image on their LinkedIn profile. Have your marketing department prepare that image and send it out so everyone has access to a good quality image.
• Have the marketing department prepare a short description of the company for employees to use in their LinkedIn summary.
• Marketing can also prepare a one or two sentence job description for employees to include in their position descriptions.
• HR staff and others can share info about job openings in their posts. Always being sure to include a link directly to page on the company website where more info can be found.
• Post video testimonials of employees sharing why they like working for the company.
• Have someone upload posts and videos honoring employees with special work anniversaries or those who have won company honors such as employee of the month.
• Company management should stay in touch with former employees via LinkedIn. Doing that can help keep the door open for them to return in the future or for them to refer people for openings when they come up.

 

How About You?

Do you work at or own a company that is having challenges with recruiting and retaining employees? If so, have you used Facebook and/or LinkedIn to help? What has worked for you? What hasn’t? Do you have suggestions I have not thought of?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those ages 45 and older, to become more effective and productive using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.