As social media evolves, employers continue to utilize it as a tool to develop their businesses.
In the past, we’ve analyzed the benefits of monitoring social media for growth hacking, customer service, media outreach, crisis management, and other public relations/marketing endeavors. But how can social listening improve HR?
- Screening Prospects
Regardless of how amazing a prospect looks on paper, social media monitoring allows recruiters to see past a candidate’s resume.
Companies can see how involved a candidate is in their respective industry, what topics and discussions they actively participate in, and if they’ve published any content that further demonstrates their knowledge, skillsets and ability to perform the job to which they’ve applied.
- Headhunting
Companies are constantly competing for the best and brightest employees. That’s why monitoring social media has become an important part of the HR recruiting process, as it allows employers to proactively recruit new talent. By monitoring keywords associated to specific skillsets or levels of education, HR can quickly identify and approach new talent ahead of the competition.
Similarly, being proactive instead of reactive, HR departments can also approach potential candidates who may have never heard of their company. This allows HR to clearly introduce their company to the prospect, allowing the candidate a more thorough understanding of how they would fit within the organization itself.
- Employer Reputation Management
Just as employers research potential candidates before calling them for an interview, candidates also research their prospective employers before submitting their resume. That’s why it’s integral that a company’s social presence represent its product and service offering, but also its corporate culture.
Social media allows prospective employers to showcase current talent and build their brand, reflecting a positive image to potential recruits. HR can also use social media monitoring and analysis to see all comments, positive or negative, about their company and use social outreach to improve or maintain its reputation.
- Competitive intelligence
Media monitoring and analysis can offer actionable intel when it comes to understanding competition, but how can social listening help companies get the upper hand when it comes to HR and recruiting?
By monitoring keywords surrounding competitors and recruiting, companies can get a better understanding of where their competition is actively looking for candidates. This not only offers insights into the competition’s business development plans, but allows HR departments to look for candidates in these spaces, too.
Social listening also allows HR to see which roles the competition is actively recruiting. For example, if a technology company is hiring software developers at a steady rate, there may be a new product offering in the works. Or if a company is hiring more customer service representatives, they may have a growing sales pipeline and are quickly expanding. This information allows HR to notify the executive team that new strategies may be needed to stay competitive in the marketplace.
- Training and Development
Finally, HR can use media monitoring and analysis to keep up-to-date with the latest trends, news and information in training and employee development by monitoring industry-specific keywords.
This information allows HR to provide new employees with the tools they need to be successful in their position, while also allowing leadership and managerial teams to have access to the information they need to be successful in their current roles.
