How Digital Culture Helps Talent Acquisition: 7 Takeaways

Our weekly LinkedIn Lives series focuses on bringing together marketing, sales, and HR professionals to discuss their lessons in running employee activation programs on social media.

In one of our recent Lives, Sarah Winter, Account Director at Tribal Impact, spoke to Kay Coombs from Peas in a Pod Consulting, about how digital culture helps with talent acquisition.

You can watch the full interview here, listen to the podcast below, or read the key takeaways from the discussion in this blog.

Representing company culture 

‘People want more from work than just to be fairly compensated,’ said Kay. ‘We have to create great places for people to work that satisfy different people’s different motivations.’ 

If people expect more from their job than just the salary and benefits package, how can you show that to them?

This is where social media comes in. When a company has a strong culture and values, it comes through in everything that its employees say and do online.

Building and maintaining culture

The higher up you get in a business, the harder it is to see what’s really happening. That’s why it’s important to ensure that the culture is clearly defined – and understood by everyone.

‘It almost becomes your DNA. Your employees are living and breathing a culture that you define,’ said Kay.

It’s important to live, hire and fire based on company values. These values will make it clear to employees of all levels what’s expected of them.

Once you have clearly laid out values, you can use them to help with talent acquisition. It’s important to know your values before using them for talent acquisition, though. Otherwise, it’s a huge risk.

Be open about expectations

To really show outsiders who you are and what you stand for, you could put your values, employee handbooks, and other guides online. That way, anyone who’s interested in working with the business will be able to see what it stands for. They’ll also be able to see if employees really do live by those values or if they’re just words on a page.

Finding brand ambassadors

People now see employees as being more credible and trustworthy than brands. So, if you have employees who talk about work on social media, potential candidates are more likely to believe it.

Candidates want to know what it really feels like to be an employee at a business, and they want to hear about it from a credible source. It’s the same as when we read a product review before buying something.

Ultimately, potential candidates want to see someone who’s loving their job. A high Glassdoor score is great, but you need to be able to back it up with stories from brand ambassadors.

Encouraging activity and enthusiasm

When employees are active on social media, it shows they’re enthusiastic about what they do, and that they really are living and breathing the brand’s values. It also creates a constant stream of content, ensuring the business is at the forefront of people’s minds when a new role comes up.

So instead of needing to find a bunch of cold leads, instead, you’ve got an established talent pipeline filled with warm leads who are excited to work with you.

Fostering long-term careers

Activating employees on social media can have a positive impact on retention and improve employee engagement. It gives them an opportunity to expand their knowledge, which can help them remain engaged in their role.

You’ve then given them a reason to never fall out of love with you or want to leave . Of course, some employees will always leave. It’s better to have them leave raving about the business than for them to become dejected because training and opportunities have been withheld, though.

If, further down the line, an employee says that they have the opportunities they have now because of a previous role with you, that means they’re still an amazing brand ambassador and good for your recruitment.

Create A Candidate Pipeline

An advertisement on a job board, followed by the hope that you’ll get the right people apply, isn’t enough anymore.

Just like in sales, you can create a pipeline of potential candidates, even before they’re thinking about leaving their current role. That means when they’re ready to move jobs, your company will be front of mind. They’ve already familiar with your culture and values through what they’ve seen on social media.

Conclusion

Using social media to build a talent pipeline can help you attract candidates who know what type of company they’re going to be working for. This can dramatically reduce your time to hire.

Before doing that, though, you want to ensure that the company values and the behaviours you expect from employees are clear. The clearer this is explained, the more employees will live and breathe the company culture online by becoming brand ambassadors.  They can then help you attract the right candidates when it’s time to hire.

You can listen to the full interview on our B2B Social Growth Podcast here.