This is a guest post by Robyn Melhuish.
You think you’re using social media like a networking boss. You’re tweeting at recruiters left and right, making connections on LinkedIn, and sending Facebook messages. But it’s not working.
Why not? Because you’re probably doing it wrong. You can’t just send out a few messages and hope for the best. That’s not how social networking works. To actually reach recruiters, you need to think about their needs. What are they looking for? What would get their attention?
Here’s the right way to reach out to recruiters on social media:
Contact recruiters for the right reason.
You’ve heard that social media is a great place to get career advice. You can connect with leaders and mentors with tons of experience and learn a thing or two. While that’s true, that’s not what recruiters are there for.
Most social recruiting mistakes come down to a misunderstanding of what recruiters actually do. A recruiter works for employers and their job is to find the right candidate for open positions. They don’t help candidates find jobs, and they definitely don’t offer free career counseling. Recruiters are paid when they find candidates for their clients — they just don’t have the time to answer a flood of questions on Twitter.
If you’re going to reach out to recruiters on social media, you need to do it for the right reasons. Instead of asking for advice on how to land a job or what employers in your industry are looking for, send them a message explaining why you’re the perfect fit for their job. Ask them to check out your LinkedIn profile, direct them to your personal website or portfolio, or wow them with your 140 character elevator pitch.
You won’t get anywhere if you ask for favors. Offer recruiters valuable information they can use.
Do your homework.
It may seem like a no-brainer, but before you try your hand at social networking with recruiters, do your homework. Sending generic, canned messages won’t work — you have to know the job post inside and out, and be specific.
Recruiters receive hundreds of applications and emails a day, but they’re only interested in candidates who meet the exact qualifications for the job. To get their attention, you need to be one of them.
Carefully read through job posts to see if you are truly a good match for the job. If you don’t meet the basic requirements, no amount of social networking will change that.
Don’t waste your time on jobs you’re not a good fit for. Only apply to jobs you’re qualified for. If you don’t hear back on a job you know you would be absolutely perfect for, then it’s time to hit up the recruiter on social media.
Show the recruiter that you understand the job post and that you are qualified for the job — focus the conversation on how you meet the requirements.
Be patient.
Waiting to hear back about a job application sucks. After all, just 17 percent of candidates in a 2015 CareerBuilder survey said they were notified when they weren’t selected for the position.
Instead of waiting around for an email that may or may not come, you take to social media. It starts out innocent enough. You send one tweet or a single Facebook message. But when you don’t get a response, you come out guns blazing. You attack on all fronts — multiple emails, InMails, DMs on Twitter, and messages on Facebook.
This is a slight exaggeration, but if you get impatient and send multiple follow-ups to recruiters you get their attention for the wrong reason. You’re not persistant — you’re a nuisance.
Instead, try to be patient and follow up applications professionally. Send one message and use the platform where it’s most likely to be seen. Although Jobvite’s 2016 Job Seeker Nation survey found that 67 percent of job seekers use Facebook to find jobs, their 2015 Recruiter Nation survey found that 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn, compared with 55 percent who use Facebook.
Connect with the recruiter on LinkedIn, let them know you applied for the job and ask them to take a look at your profile. When you do connect, be sure to specify any experience you have that’s a perfect fit with the job post.
Remember that recruiters are busy professionals, so don’t flood them with notifications on every platform. Be patient and reach out sparingly and deliberately to make the biggest impact.
Although you may think you know how to use social media, think twice before you jump into social networking with recruiters. It’s a valuable tool and retarget, so approach as you would any other part of the job search process — carefully and thoughtfully.
About the Guest Post Author:
Robyn Melhuish is the Communications Manager at MedReps.com, a job board which gives members access to the most sought after medical sales jobs and pharmaceutical sales jobs on the Web. Connect with Robyn and MedReps.com on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.