Recruiting Tools to be Thankful For This Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving time once again. By now, you’re probably more focused on your Thanksgiving dinner plan of attack than your recruiting strategy. As family flies in and cans of cranberries are popped open, it can become hard to remember the true lesson of the holiday. Thanksgiving isn’t just a time to gorge ourselves on amazing food and slip into a tryptophan-induced nap. It’s also the one time of year to count our blessings and reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

In your personal life, you might only have to look around the Thanksgiving table to see everything you have to be grateful for this year. In your professional life, however, new recruiting tools are making it easier than ever before to find and hire the best people. Now it’s easier to connect with talent and find the exact right person to fill your open position.

So before you stuff your turkey, fill your gravy boat, or eat just one more slice of pumpkin pie, let’s take a moment to reflect on all the great recruiting tools to be thankful for this year:

Take off like a social (media) butterfly
Social media tools are making it easier than ever before to tap into talent communities, finding the places where the best candidates trade advice and talk shop online. It makes it infinitely easier than ever before to find and connect with great candidates — and to allow motivated job seekers to show you their passion and enthusiasm. It shouldn’t be surprising that 92 percent of recruiters are using social media in their search for the perfect candidate, considering LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have a combined user base of 535 million.

In fact, social media can even make your company more attractive to top potential talent. 70 percent of job seekers agreed positive posts and comments from followers on a company’s social media site would make them more likely to apply for a job. This means great talent might only need to see the volunteer outing picture you posted on Facebook to decide your company is a great place to work.

Plus, social media makes both active and passive job seekers more likely to take a gander at your jobs. Fifty-four percent said they are more likely to apply for a job at a company after becoming a fan or following it on social media. A well-updated social media presence and a smart social strategy can help you pull in the candidates your company needs. So, before passing out the creamed corn, make sure you remember to be thankful for the status updates and tweets bringing you top talent.

Press play on your next great hire
Is it possible to connect with your next great employee merely by pressing play? Online video is gaining traction in the hiring process as a way for employers to connect more personally with candidates earlier than in the traditional process. As a hiring manager or recruiter, this saves you a lot of wasted time you would usually spend performing first round interviews just to find out the candidate doesn’t have what it takes upon first contact. This is probably why a recent survey found six out of ten companies are embracing video interviews to connect with candidates.

However, online video isn’t just useful for viewing video resumes and connecting with candidates in video interviews. Video can in fact be a powerful tool allowing you to promote your company’s culture and open positions. In fact, job postings coupled with video received an average of 12% more views and 34% more applications than those that weren’t. So before devouring your homemade pie, remember to thank online video for making it easier to find the candidates your company needs.

Listen to your current superstars to find your next great employee
Relying on your current talent to help you nab new employees is a tried and true strategy. Now, applicant tracking systems (ATS) are helping hiring managers and recruiters implement a more attractive and dynamic employee referral program into their overall talent acquisition plan. Obviously more companies are seeing the value of referrals, since in 2011 they accounted for the number-one source of external hires, above the corporate career site and job boards.

It’s not surprising more companies are focusing on employee referrals. Getting a current employee to vouch for talent can cut the hiring process down by an average of 16 days. Referrals also have the best retention rates, at 45 percent after two years. So it’s not surprising companies are embracing ATS systems which make it easy for employees to refer talented friends and contacts.

Smart companies are even incentivizing the process by offering cash bonuses and perks to those referring great talent. So before flipping on the Thanksgiving day parade, remember to thank the current employees who are sending great people your way.

Thanksgiving is a special time of year when we focus on all we have to be grateful for. This year, before eating all the turkey and stuffing you can dream of, make sure to keep in mind the recruiting tools which make finding the best talent a breeze.

What are some recruiting tools you’re thankful for? Share in the comments!