MightyRecruiter
The last time you purchased something, did you make the decision to buy because you believed the polished marketing messaging or the reviews you read? Was it a clever ad that convinced you to pull out your credit card or did the opinions of other consumers sway you more?
If you’re like nearly 55% of those surveyed by Moz.com, what people are saying online about a specific product or experience affects your decision-making process in a big way.
Needless to say, review sites have become incredibly important: Yelp helps us find great places to eat, and Expedia ensures we have a great holiday – and let’s not forget the impact of Amazon customer reviews or those on Google Maps and Facebook.
What does this have to do with recruiting?
Well, if you didn’t already know, the hiring industry has its very own feedback hubs. And we’ve already discussed the impact of Indeed and Glassdoor reviews on talent acquisition; they’re goldmines of information that can indicate how well you’re managing and caring for your employees and candidates. And perhaps more importantly, they’re platforms that applicants will likely visit when deciding whether to apply for a position or accept a job offer at your company.
Don’t just watch – act
No matter the size of your company, if you have engaged employees and want to stand out from the crowd, motivating your peers to share genuine transparent employee-generated content (EGC) is your easiest way forward.
Authenticity is key. Make it opt-in and let employees use their own voice and choice of platform. Some may want to blog, others will prefer to share photos or videos, and some may even post on social media platforms that you may not understand yet! And that’s okay.
What better way to show what it’s truly like to work at your company than from your own employees’ view? And if you happen to lose a potential recruit along the way because they don’t see themselves gelling with the company culture, good, bad hires are expensive!
It’s easier than you think
So often I hear concern that employees won’t want to share their work life or are too busy to do so, but you may be surprised to discover that they already are.
The most common place I find “hidden” EGC is through a location search on Instagram, employees sharing a moment and tagging the location. Check yours out by searching for location, like this:
If you want to ramp it up, encourage your team to use the same hashtag. CA Technologies employees know to and are regularly encouraged to use #LifeAtCA when they share photos and videos on Instagram or Twitter.
The company’s content is real, relevant, and current because it’s from their own engaged employees who are choosing to share moments in their days. They show that they are living their company’s values and that they are valued.
CA Technologies realizes that potential recruits may not be aware of the company hashtag, so they make it easy for them by reposting their employees’ photos onto the company account. The employees love this too!
Check out these hashtags for more ideas on what you could share: #insideindeed, #hootsuitelife, #rgfun, #zalandotech, #uniquelyFMI, and #iwork4dell.
Cross post
I love the way Cisco operates their WeAreCisco account on Snapchat. They entrust a different employee each day to share their stories; the day I took these screenshots, I was chatting with InfoSec Analyst Tammy Nguyen.
And don’t feel you have to leave your content on Snapchat either. You could download individual Snaps and upload them to your Instagram Story, or you could download your whole Story to your camera reel and share on Facebook and YouTube too (some phones will automatically stitch the videos together making it easy to do)!
Don’t forget to share them far and wide!
The great thing about employee-generated content is that you have permission. By sharing photos publicly and by using your company hashtag your employees are saying it’s okay to share, so do!
Cisco has even written a post explaining why the careers’ site features 200+ images of real Cisco employees, and this is gold:
“We want to change your perception of how you view Cisco (and how you view our site – it’s super mobile-friendly!) Think we’re a “stodgy 30-year-old router company”? Think again.”
Reward Gateway is very transparent and makes it easy to find their employees’ genuine insights on Instagram:
Consider Tagboard too; though a paid option, it easily embeds your shared media onto your website. It brings all posts across multiple sites into one place and even gives you a sentiment rating, so you know how you’re doing in real time.
But don’t stop at your career site, upload your photos and videos onto your Facebook page and ask your employees to tag themselves in it.
And why not add them to Glassdoor and Google Places while you’re at it? Your photos are easily visible to potential recruits on Google Maps, so let them see inside. They’ll feel relaxed about what to expect and that can only be a good thing!
In 2017, we are recruiting in a transparent world. Use it to your advantage; be real and let candidates see who you are, your culture, your opinions, and your environment. They may well choose you over the competition!
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