Beyond mining ATS systems’ word propensity matching using Statistical Text / Neural Language algorithms between Job Descriptions and Candidate CV’s. Ideally, devising AI/ML engines that cross-reference contextual/situational Data transactional domains the specific Job Req. role commands, and synthesizing the Social Platform data into Flocks of Candidates by applying Data Analytics Persona Modeling in determining multi-variative clusters that define a specific job req. As complex as this sounds, there is one free tool that emulates “Persona Modeling” depicting a candidate’s Sales “Authority” within a respective Industry Expertise. I recommend LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index as a tactic to showcase Executive buy-in into investing in exploiting Social Media Platforms (www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi). This is useful to pitch Executives in budgeting for proprietary ATS Algorithms mining Secondary Data ingest from Social Media Platforms towards “Smart” Talent Acquisition in this Digital era.
It's essential to maintain executives' passion, and one way to do that is to speak their language. When you talk about financial ratios and operational efficiency, you can grab leadership's attention, and they will listen much more attentively to your pitch. Executives care about operational efficiency because it indicates a wiser use of finite resources, the promise of greater growth potential, and enduring profitability. Your own focus on customer/employee/partner experience scores and engagement metrics is important, but financial ratios are the prize for executives. Show them how and why you can save them money, and they will be on board with your plans for social recruiting.
Build the case for social recruiting to show how you can use it to achieve specific business goals. When you can clearly identify the value social media can provide to a brand, you’re much more likely to get executive buy-in. For example, if the company is trying to increase market share in a particular industry, discuss how social recruiting targets experienced candidates by creating content tailored to their interests and needs. Additionally, let them know that with it, you can connect with industry professionals and thought leaders who can help identify top talent. If the company aims to improve customer satisfaction, demonstrate how social media platforms can serve as an avenue to post job descriptions and attract candidates who have the desired skills. Also, discuss other options, such as searching for and contacting potential candidates on platforms like LinkedIn or connecting with customer service experts to ask for recommendations.
Present social recruiting as a strategy to uncover and connect with top job candidates before your competitors do. Social channels dramatically increase access to a growing pool of talent: it’s how people search for career opportunities, learn about a company’s culture, and in many cases, potential new hires prefer to use social messaging — instead of a phone call — to start conversations with human resources. If employers ignore social recruiting, they’re closing the doors on so many job seekers who can be game-changers in their organization.
In order to get executive buy-in on social recruiting, it's important to first understand what their concerns are about the strategy. Oftentimes, executives are worried about the time commitment required for managing social media accounts, and they're also concerned about the potential for negative comments from customers or employees. Once you've addressed these concerns, you can begin to show them how social recruiting can help achieve their goals. For example, you can point out that social media can be used to build relationships with potential candidates, and that it can also help identify top talent who may not be actively looking for a job. You can also highlight the benefits of using social media to track employee or customer sentiment. If you can show executives how social recruiting can help them achieve their goals, they're likely to be more receptive to the idea.
You wouldn’t buy a new car before test driving it, right? While testimonials and case studies can help persuade leaders, I’ve found that they often want to see real results before they ‘buy’ for themselves. I’ve had a lot of success pitching social recruiting pilots, as they tend to be low cost and low risk. To do this, you need to 1. set clear goals for your pilot program that are aligned with the goals of your organization; 2. establish a pilot timeframe that is just long enough for you to know if your strategy is working; 3. map out the tactics and recommended resourcing to achieve your goals; 4. run your full plan by your leadership team for alignment and support; and 5. provide regular updates to the leadership team (without editorializing your results). If your pilot is successful — as defined by the goals you aligned on at the start — it should be relatively easy to justify additional investment (time, headcount, budget).
Hi, this is Eli from CareerArc. Just adding in Deb's answer here so her picture gets added to the panel picture. Thanks! Also, apparently I need more characters to submit this, so I'm just trying to add more characters here.
To the leadership and your stakeholders, they only see social networks as something personal in nature but have never seen it through the lens of an employer brander or job seeker. What I\'ve done to get buy-in is first, share stats that justify why it works. Next, I talk them through my process of meeting people where they\'re at. The passive job seekers that we want to hire are not running to job boards, but are on social networks doing watching/doing things, and interacting with family/friends. If we want them to even consider us, we need to meet them where they\'re at and capture their attention in the form of an ad (text, graphic, video, etc...).
There are many ways to get executive buy-in, but the most important thing is to make sure to involve them early on in the process. EXECs are busy people, and they don’t have time to sit around and read long documents. You want to make sure that you are making their lives easier, not more difficult. The best way to do this is to involve them in the process of creating your social recruiting strategy. Ask their opinion about what types of content you should be posting and what types of people you should be targeting.
Social recruiting is not only effective at finding potential job candidates, but also in increasing brand awareness amongst your audience. When you advertise job openings on social media, you promote your brand and build trust not just among potential employees but also among potential customers. Surveys show that brands that have a social media presence are more easily recognized and viewed as more trustworthy. When people see your brand frequently pop up on their social media they start to see you as a familiar and comfortable name. This accumulated comfort and trust means that these people are more likely to buy from you than a competitor that they are less familiar with.
Co-Founder & CEO at Hoist
Answered 4 years ago
Many executives don’t yet realize that social recruiting has become one of the primary ways that employers fill out their workforce. Whether it’s LinkedIn, or even more informal venues like Twitter and Facebook, the reality of the modern world is that these digital spaces have become some of our primary means of communication, and thereby legitimate types of job fairs. Simply put, to rely solely on traditional job postings is a passive form of recruiting, and it’s a great way to get left in the past.
The best way to get executive buy-in for social recruiting is to show them the numbers. Executive decision-makers are always looking at the bottom line, so it's important to show them how social recruiting can impact the company's bottom line. Use data and analytics to show them how social recruiting can help the company save money or make more money. You can also use case studies and success stories to show them how social recruiting has helped other companies achieve their goals.
A personal recommendation goes a long way for many executives, but to really make the case strong, make clear how a particular recruit will solve one of your company’s long-standing problems. Whether it’s the recruit’s personal traits or his or her record of success at a different company, give an example how that person can help address one of the pain-points your executives have been dealing with. Executives are far more likely to buy in when they have a clear idea of what an applicant offers their company.
It's a little bit chicken-versus-egg, but honestly the best way to get buy in on social recruiting is being able to show quality candidates and hires. If you have ANY freedom or good rapport with c-suite, go ahead and set up some interviews with candidates you've found via socials. When you have a pool of quality candidates for proof of concept, present their profiles and credentials to your superiors. As the adage goes, its sometimes better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. A lot of the time, especially if older, executives just don't understand what they are being asked, so having proof and a tactile explanation of how it works will go a long way to convince them of this recruitment strategy.
If your company is looking to expand social recruiting efforts, you can gain professional buy-in by showing just how powerful it's been for your business in the past. Many organizations participate in social recruiting without knowing it- primarily through LinkedIn. Since LinkedIn is usually perfect for attracting qualified leads, most companies have a positive outlook of using that platform to recruit more talent. LinkedIn also allows you to see how your job posting travels, including how it's been shared. Highlighting how social media postings move from person-to-person, getting more attention with less cost or marketing efforts, is one of the best ways to win-over nervous executives who are uncertain about using social recruiting to highlight their business needs.
A great way to get buy-in for social recruiting is to show your executives the ROI of social recruiting. If you are looking to trim the time it takes to hire, then you can show your executives how social recruiting can help you hire faster. Some social recruiting software platforms also have a feature where you can see how many candidates have applied for specific jobs. Demonstrate how candidates are engaging with your company via social recruiting sites.
Present executives with data on why social recruiting is worth the investment. For example, this could look like collecting evidence online, such as social recruiting success rates of other brands or testing a hiring strategy via social media and providing the results. Without the numbers, a proposition is just an idea – make sure to convey to leadership why social recruiting is successful in the modern job market.
Getting referrals using social media is easy and convenient, and this is what you need to explain to the management. Through social recruiting, current employees can quickly disseminate details regarding the job opening in your company. They can also share the information with their family members, friends, and even those they don't personally know but are qualified for the position. Tell the management that with the evolution of technology, word of mouth is now becoming more digital than ever.
Executives are open to strategies that work, so presenting the statistics on social recruiting helps build a stronger case to gain buy-in. Considering 79% of job applicants use social media during their job search, and 70% of hiring managers have successfully hired with social media, it won’t take long to build a compelling case that gets executives invested financially and emotionally in social recruitment strategies. Pull examples from top-tier brands that have effectively used social media to build their team, like Disney, Mcdonald's, and UPS, along with some examples from businesses in your industry of a similar size. When executives understand that adoption avoidance will make the business fall behind the pack, they’ll hop on board quickly.
Many people will tell you that you need a strong business case to get executive buy-in. While this is undoubtedly important, it is only a bare minimum. A good pitcher anticipates having to persuade someone to do something they didn't want to do at the outset of the conversation. Even if this isn't the case, it's best to be ready in case of an emergency. The importance of emotional intelligence cannot be overstated. Rather than pointing out all of the flaws, the manager compared user reviews for both pieces of equipment and enlisted the help of an expert whom he knew his boss admired to laud the new technology's praises. In circumstances like this, egos are frequently involved. It's crucial to know how to deal with them. After you've persuaded them to support your plan, the following step is to solidify their commitment.