Digital recruitment is the way to go. Depending on the industry, a newspaper advertisement no longer reaches the right target audience.
Organizations do not search for new talent "simply" via their own website either. Nowadays, social media is primarily used to reach potential employees (often recently graduated, young). This is evident from research by Potentialpark.
Which social media platforms are used often depends on the role of the open vacancy. When a company is looking for someone with experience for a managerial position, they focus most on LinkedIn. This channel is often taken the most seriously due to the platform's business focus.
If the company prefers someone who has just graduated and often has a young, modern perspective on business, Facebook is used.
The online presence of 500 companies from the US, Europe, and Asia has been analyzed. Almost half of the European respondents prefer to be approached by organizations via LinkedIn. This is generally seen as the more suitable medium, whereas Facebook is used more for the social aspect.
Yet, organizations themselves prefer to use Facebook to connect with potential employees. Why?
Facebook is the biggest
Facebook has over 800 million members. LinkedIn has 120 million. For this reason alone, Facebook is more attractive to organizations; the reach is much greater. It also appears that students and graduates update their Facebook status much more frequently than their LinkedIn status.
This target group is therefore also more active on Facebook.
Free
Everything on Facebook is free. Job postings, videos, and testimonials can be posted without any fee. This allows a company to utilize all desired resources to promote itself as effectively as possible. Furthermore, there are no premium accounts or other "paid" updates. Consequently, all members have access to everything, and it is low-threshold.
Communication
LinkedIn primarily ensures that organizations approach job seekers.
Through Facebook, organizations are increasingly ensuring that job seekers come to them. Organizations create a page featuring the organization's mission and benefits. If this is interesting enough for job seekers, they will naturally be drawn to it. Such a page also provides space for discussion and personal interaction.
In this way, an organization also immediately filters out the "entrepreneurial" individuals.
Brand awareness
For businesses, it is also easier to generate more brand awareness on Facebook than on LinkedIn. Because it is so business-oriented, LinkedIn is primarily focused on internal improvements. This therefore also includes recruiting new staff.
Facebook offers more opportunities to stand out, get noticed, and become better known. This, in turn, makes recruitment easier.