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Last week's Link Love about social recruiting role models was my favorite article we've published to date on the Jobcast blog. This is because in that post, we got to highlight some of the people who have made this blog what it is today, and in doing so, thank them for being such a great source of knowledge and inspiration.

(Check out our list of 7 Incredible Social Recruiting Role Models)

It is so important to learn from other people in your field if you want to improve at what you do, but it is also helpful to look outside of your own genre for inspiration. Social recruiting involves a diverse skill set. Creative writing, the ability to manage multiple tasks effectively, trend analysis, excellent communication, and the list goes on! In order to cultivate these skills I highly recommend you add these non HR or recruitment related blogs to your RSS feed. 5 Unexpected yet Essential Blogs for Social Recruiters:

Lifehacker

http://lifehacker.com/ Lifehacker is a blog that offers its readers simple but clever solutions (hacks) for all sorts of annoying problems. The site, whose tagline is “Tips and downloads for getting things done”, churns out tons of great articles that will make you more productive, keep you informed about helpful new apps, and teach you all the best tricks for getting the most out of social media… And life in general! Check out this recent Lifehacker article, The Three Questions You Should Ask to Think More Critically.

Fast Company

http://www.fastcompany.com/

Fast Company is an online magazine focusing on innovation, design, leadership, and technology. With articles written by some of the most progressive and successful business leaders it’s no wonder that they were named 2014’s Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Fast Company is a fantastic source of inspiration, and shareable workforce related content that any social recruiter can benefit from. Their article, Is a Truly Flexible Workplace Possible, is an excellent example of the high quality content they publish on a regular basis.

Buffer Blog

http://blog.bufferapp.com/

The Buffer Blog is my current obsession. I have never before come across such a consistently valuable source of social media and content creation tips. The articles on Buffer are innovative, well written, and offer advice you have NOT heard before, such as how to apply Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to your content creation strategy, amazing! This blog post, All About Content Calendars, completely revolutionized our content calendar for Jobcast’s social media, newsletters, and blog.

99u

http://99u.com/

This winner of two blogging Webby Awards mission is to help its readers put their ideas into action by providing them with educational videos, articles, blog posts, and interviews. Not only will you find 99u to be a source for quality shareable content but, with a little bit of exploration, I’m sure you’ll find it be a wealth of actionable tips to improve your own recruiting and social media efforts. An example of the perspective shifting content 99u consistently provides is this video: Change the World with Outrospection.

CopyBlogger

http://www.copyblogger.com/

To succeed with social you must be able to write strong copy that fits with the social platforms you use. CopyBlogger is hands-down the best source of information for anyone looking to write better online content and social media posts. There article, How to be Authentic, is a must read for anyone looking to build up a trustworthy brand. Happy Link Loving and stay social!

Do you like an underdog? I know I do! Last week’s blog post on choosing the best social network for your hiring, covered the major players in social recruiting: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Plus. It explained how each of them could be used for recruiting, and how you can determine which of these platforms best suits your needs. We did not cover LinkedIn because LinkedIn is a recruitment app in its very essence, so we thought it might be a little too obvious! We did not cover uniquely visual networks, Pinterest and Instagram, for the opposite reason. These platforms are the underdogs of social recruiting. They are not underdogs because they are unpopular, underdogs are almost always popular, but because they’re just not as universally strong when it comes to recruiting as the previously mentioned networks. Any business can use LinkedIn successfully for their recruitment endeavors. Plumbing companies, accounting firms, and government organizations can hugely improve their hiring strategy with LinkedIn. No problem. Try using Instagram to recruit accountants. Or Pinterest to visually express how exciting gov jobs are… Problem! But, like all the best underdogs, when matched with the right opponent, these two social networks bring the Pain, and by pain I mean awesome results (note to self, lay off the UFC for a bit!)

When to use Pinterest for recruitment

You want to hire professional creatives:

•  Bloggers

• Interior Designers

• Food photographers

This type of candidate will often use Pinterest to display their portfolio, you can find and connect with them on the network by using Pinterest’s awesome search function. Here’s an example of what you can find when searching “Interior Design”:

You want to hire more women:

• Pinterest is predominantly female, go where the candidates are!

Your company has an extremely visual brand:

• You sell a compelling lifestyle, easily conveyed with photos

• Your product is visually appealing

• You are in the fitness industry (abs are a Pinterest favorite)

If you are recruiting for a gorgeous lifestyle magazine you’ll have a ton of great images to pin. If you are recruiting for an accounting firm, you’re either going to have to take a ton of high quality photographs at your next staff party, or buy stock photos of happy office workers to fill your pin boards. Unlike with Facebook, where you can get away with posting only one or two pieces of original visual content per week, Pinterest is entirely visual so you’ll need a lot of pictures to draw on. (If you think Pinterest makes sense for your recruitment strategy, this article will teach you how to use Pinterest for hiring) Speaking of original image based content…

When to use Instagram for recruitment

You want to hire youngsters:

• 90% of Instagram users are under 35

You want to hire young women:

• Like Pinterest, Instagram’s user base is predominantly female, but they are on average younger than those found on Pinterest

You want to hires hipster creatives

• Hipster fashionistas

• Bearded bloggers

• Hotspot travel writers

Instagram still has a lot of indie cred. If you’re company has an “edgy”, hip brand, or is based out of Portland, Instagram is for you! Check out Kinfolk for a perfect example of the kind of company that tends to excel with Instagram:

You are in the fitness or healthy living industry:

• The Insta fitness community is huge

• Abs are highly visual

• Healthy food photos are almost as popular as pictures of coffee!

If you are looking to recruit for a fitness clothing store, for a gym, or for a healthy food/supplement company. Instagram is a perfect place to grow your employer brand, just try searching #fitfam and you’ll see what I mean… Or check out Lululemon’s awesome brand presence on Insta.

(If you think Instagram recruiting is for you, this article will help you get started) I love both Pinterest and Instagram for recruiting. Would I use either network to recruit for Jobcast? Nope! Hopefully this article has helped you decide whether Pinterest or Instagram makes sense for your hiring strategy. Happy social recruiting! Do you use either of these networks to recruit? Are you thinking of trying them? Let us know in the comments!

Role models are great. I don't know about you, but I have lots of them. There's Nia Shanks, who is my fitness role model, Charles Francis Xavier who is my super hero/life ethical role model, and let's not forget my blog role model, Passive Aggressive Notes! When it comes to social recruiting, there are a whole lot of fantastic role models to choose from. This is terrible because choosing is hard. But never fear, I am here to help rescue you from the stress and torment caused by excessive choice. I have narrowed the list down to 7. This was a harrowing experience, but your well being is worth the pain, tears, and hurt feelings. Feel free to send Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as a token of thanks though.

7 Awesome Social Recruiting Role Models

Lisa Jones - Lisa is a director at Barclay Jones, she writes for all the best HR blogs (including the Barclay Jones Blog), and gives killer social media recruitment advice. Oh, and she has really pretty hair... That's an important trait in a role model right? (Says the girl with hair envy.)

Ashley Lauren Perez - Ashley's blog, The Social HR Connection, is a breath of fresh air. She is extremely honest, intelligent, and well written. Ashley is also the Talent Acquisition Content Strategist at Wilson HCG and can definitely teach you a thing or two about social recruiting. Andy Headworth - Andy is hilarious, and the Social recruiting Strategist and Managing Director for Sirona Consulting. His blog posts tackle even the most controversial social recruiting topics deftly. And they are hilarious. Maybe he is my blogging role model... Stacy Donovan Zapar - The most connected woman on LinkedIn and Recruiting Strategist & Chief Trainer at Tenfold Social. She has founded multiple businesses, runs a very successful blog, and is a genuinely awesome person. Susan Wright-Boucher - Susan is the perfect combo of old school and new school because she writes about all the latest trending social recruiting topics on her blog, Plugged In Recruiter, but all of her posts are perfectly edited and of magazine level quality. Glen Cathey - When I do not understand a concept related to social recruiting or HR tech, I turn to Glen's blog: Boolean Black Belt. Glen is smart, direct, and pulls no punches. Now if only he would release a Cliffs Notes version of his blog. Laurie Ruettimann - Laurie is great role model material. She's smart, successful, and a very well respected social recruitment consultant. Most importantly, she has fun doing it, checkout Laurie’s blog and you'll see what I mean. Happy role model/Link Loving and stay social!

You want to brand yourself as a social recruiting pro. Developing your social media skills is a fantastic way to advance your career. If you don’t believe me, ask me (connect on Linked in and ask away; it’s fun!) Or read this blog post about how adding social recruiting to your resume is an excellent career move. To start getting social you've got to decide which platforms you’ll use. There are so many social networks out there and you don’t have to stick to just one. What is important is that you select platforms that match your organization’s goals.It is also important that you keep an open mind about which networks those may be. Most recruiters fixate on LinkedIn and job boards because they are very obviously recruitment oriented and they are already familiar with how those platforms work. Basically; most recruiters play it safe. But, if you want better results, to stand out from the crowd, and to take your career to the next level, you can’t just do what everyone else is doing. Not only that, but most of the data we have on job seekers shows that they are actually far more active on other social platforms, Facebook in particular.

Here are team Jobcast’s top 4 choices for social recruiting and employer branding:

Facebook:

• Only 65% of recruiters are using Facebook to recruit, compared to the 96% percent who use LinkedIn = Less competition for you!

• 83% of job seekers use Facebook, compared to the mere 36% who use LinkedIn = More candidates for you!

• 81% of job seekers want to see job opportunities posted to Facebook career pages = Improved candidate experience from you!

• Candidates are more likely to update their professional information on Facebook than either Twitter, or LinkedIn = More information at your fingertips!

Facebook is a great choice for general recruiting and employer branding. Facebook’s user base is broad, but their targeted ads allow you to narrow your focus when looking for candidates with specific skill sets. No matter what field your organization specializes in; expertise in Facebook recruiting is highly valuable, and implementing a Facebook recruiting and employer branding process is a sure way to make a name for yourself as socially savvy!

Twitter:

• 2 Million Jobs are posted on Twitter per month!

• Reaching out to candidates through Twitter is less invasive than adding them on LinkedIn or Facebook and the casual nature of tweets makes engagement more casual.

• Twitter is an ideal way to promote your other social channels or your company career site

I firmly believe that every company should use Twitter. It is one of the easiest ways to communicate with clients and customers, promote your events, or handle complaints. It is also a great network for driving candidates to your job posts. Use relevant hashtags such as #location (the location of your job), #hiring, and #retail (or whatever type of position you are hiring for, to announce your new job openings, then link to your Facebook Career Page, job board postings, or company career site. Twitter and Facebook is basically the perfect recruitment combo! But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try...

Google+:

• G+ has over 540 million active users, but no job posting facility = Lots of candidates, but very little competition for you!

• The ability to create “Circles” that are specific to your talent communities which makes it easy to create content strategies customized to specific candidates = A more personalized touch, and more effective content strategy and candidate targeting for you!

• Google Plus boosts organic SEO = More candidates eyes on your online job posts, shared content, and employer branding!

Google Plus is a great general recruiting choice as well, but not quite as good as Facebook. Where it wins out is technical recruiting. If your company is tech related, or you are looking to brand yourself as a specialist in that field, then Google+ is the network for you. YouTube or Vine:

(YouTube has a broader audience, but if you are looking for younger recruits, Vines your network!)

• Job postings that include video receive a 36% higher rate of application = More applications and greater selection for you!

• Content that includes video is 53% more likely to appear on the first page of a Google search = Better SEO for you and your organization!

• Mobile video ads that include social media buttons drive 36% higher engagement (interesting how the engagement stats mirror application stats huh?)

Does your organization need to improve its overall engagement, brand, and online reach? If so, then showing off your video recruiting skills is a great way to make a splash. Video centric networks are also an easy sell if your superiors are socially reluctant, because using online video for recruiting improves your organizations SEO, which is great for marketing and branding overall. It’s a win-win situation! We’ll delve into some more niche platforms next week, but for most organizations, focusing on a couple, or even all of these networks will see the best return on investment. Become an expert in social recruiting, and you’ll brand yourself as an innovator in no time. I believe in you! Happy social recruiting!

To attract top talent you have to show them that your company is a place they want to work. You must express this in your job ads, as that's the first place job seekers get to know your organization. Recruiting expert and Jobcast guest blogger Susan Wright-Boucher wrote about how to craft job posts that will make candidates want to work for your company in her recent article: Transform Your Job Ads from Ho-Hum to Aha!

But, as important as they are, it’s not just your job posts that sell candidates on applying for your open positions. Your entire social media presence will influence how potential hires feel about your company and determine whether they click ‘Apply now’ or run for the hills. Here are 5 great articles about how to make candidates like you! - Click to Tweet

• Make them like you by giving them what they want: a fantastic mobile recruiting experience!

• Then make them like you even more by giving them more of what they want: straight talk

• Make them like you by NOT doing these 7 things when recruiting

• Check out this survey of over 200, 000 job seekers to learn what makes an employer brand likeable

• Since we are all about social recruiting here are 6 ways to be likeable on social media

• Oh and bonus link: check out the Likeable HR blog, it's pretty new, but very well written and informative

Happy Link Loving and stay social!

Great job ads stand out from the crowd. They engage applicants on an emotional level by answering their top questions and creating a clear and compelling picture of what’s on offer. In this article, I’ll show you a quick way to assess ads and give you two tips you can start using today.

Take This Test For this test, you'll need a real job ad. I recommend picking one that's not from your own company -- competitor ads are marvelous for this. Using someone else's ad will eliminate defensive thinking so you can focus entirely on seeing the content from an applicant's perspective.

Reading only the job title and first two or three lines of text, can you answer these questions?

• How does this role impact the company's larger goals?

• How will the new employee be measured?

• What is the culture like in this company?

My guess is you can't answer any of those questions yet, and possibly you never will, even if you read right to the bottom of the ad. It isn't that companies are being secretive; I blame a faulty writing formula that has somehow become the go-to job ad style. You know the one -- the first lines of text are reserved for marketing hype about the company, followed by a redundant statement announcing they have an opening, and then comes a laundry list of must-haves that reads more like a legal contract than an attraction piece.

Here’s What Applicants Want To Know 1. How does this role fit into the company as a whole? 2. What is the position responsible to create or make happen? 3. What's it like to work there? How do you fit all that into the small amount of space available? First, get ready to drop the standard job ad formula and second, make friends with the two most valuable pieces of real estate in your job ad: the job title and the first 20 words.

Prime Real Estate #1: The Job Title When faced with a page full of search results consisting of job titles only, most applicants won’t take the time to click on each one to verify their assumptions about the role. They’ll be drawn to the ones they understand and the ones that grab their interest. I suggest you remove your corporate or agency hat and pick a job title that truly describes the role. Don't feel obligated to use your actual internal job title if it doesn't give outsiders a fair idea of what the position entails. Here are two examples showing exactly how an ad can get off track.

• CAM Manager. This is a real job title I found this morning. From research, I discovered that CAM can stand for Community Association Manager, Certified Apartment Manager, and Corporate Account Manager. This job ad would do better if the title were spelled out in words or changed to something completely different that describes the functional responsibilities.

• CSR is another job title that will cost you dearly in lost candidates. The initials CSR stand for Customer Service Representative, typically an entry-level position in a call centre or order processing environment. The junior people most likely to be interested in this role may not understand that they qualify to be a CSR.

Prime Real Estate #2: The first 20 Words Now that you’ve got your job title working for you, it’s time to drive interest and curiosity by making the first 20 words all about the applicant and what they’ll get from this role. It’s the best way to cut through digital noise and get past short attention spans. It’s also an effective way to net those passive candidates. Let’s jump right in and compare two ads:

Old Style A) Acme Spuds is one of the world's most trusted producers of French fries and winner of the Bell Food Service Prix d'Excellence. For more than 30 years, we have provided North American restaurants with the best and highest quality foods at fair prices. Due to continued growth, we are expanding our team. We are now accepting applications for Customer Service Representative II. Candidates must possess 2 years' experience in a service capacity with a demonstrated commitment to excellence and have strong written and oral communication skills. New Style

B) Be part of the team that puts smiles on customers' faces and the world's best fries on dinner plates. We don't know which is better; the open work environment, the relaxed dress code, or the free fries every Wednesday. Do you love talking to lots of different people? Is good service part of your DNA? We want to hear from you. Tell us what you do to delight customers and what you've learned from past experience. See the difference? The old style is all about the company. The newer style leads with candidate interests. Now it’s your turn. What can you do to make your job ads stand out from the crowd? Check out more of Susan's work at Plugged In Recruiter and connect with her on LinkedIn.

If your midweek doldrums are setting in, and the Wednesday hump seems insurmountable; fear not! Today is Link Love day and what could be better than a well curated selection of blog posts to re-energize you! Especially when we have a ton of great articles about social recruiting, your favorite topic... Okay, second favorite topic. I know, I know, pancakes are number one. Which is why I am going to start things off on a sweet note with an unusually off topic link: Delicious, eggy, banana pancakes.

These are delicious, and only require two ingredients (can you guess what they are?) They are also super quick and easy to make, so you can whip up a batch to devour while checking out the rest of today's links.

Facebook is going to launch a mobile advertising network this month. No, this is NOT boring. It just sounds boring. In fact, this is going to improve Facebook Ad targeting and reach. And I know you're all using targeted Facebook Ads to recruit top talent (if not, it's time to start, they are rad).

Twitter is following in Facebook's footsteps. I am referring both to their brand new layout's blatant rip-off of FB's design, and the huge improvement it provides for social recruiting. Need a little inspiration for your next hiring campaign? Then checkout these beautiful and creative social recruiting campaigns posted over at Likeable HR. Those campaigns are totally inspiring, but they are also rather lofty... Check out these 50 simple things you can do to recruit with Facebook. Much more actionable, if I do say so myself. "43% of job seekers used their mobile device to look for jobs" - Tweet this!

That's just one of the many social recruiting trends reported in Recruiter.com's Recruitment Technology Trends for 2014. The mobile stat is an important reminder that your online recruitment efforts really do need to allow for easy access from any device! This is another great reason for using social networks to share your jobs. A more surprising stat from this report is that 45-54 year olds are currently the fasting growing demographic on Google+. Proof that social recruiting isn't just about targeting the youngsters. If you want to get weekly tips about how to reach 45 - 54 year old candidates with social recruiting, sign up for our awesome newsletter! Happy Link Loving, and stay social.

Today is Easter Monday. It is a holiday where I currently live, The Netherlands, and where I am originally from, Canada. Easter Monday is a day for sleeping off your chocolate-bunny-induced sugar hangover, for eating pancakes in bed, and for discovering strange and mysterious “Easter eggs” on the internet. No, I’m not talking about finding actual candy online. That technology does not exist… yet! Nope. In this context, the term Easter egg refers to a hidden message – often an inside joke – or a little bonus feature, intentionally cached in a movie, computer game, website, online app etc… The traditional hunt for internet Easter Eggs goes waaaay back – like 1990’s back—so you know we just can’t ignore it on the blog. Today’s blog post is a bit of silly Easter fun. Next week we’ll get back to the hard-hitting social media journalism that you know and love, but for now, check out these delightful Easter eggs hidden inside the workings of your favorite social networks: Our first find, a video about Easter eggs on Facebook, is almost sweeter than Peeps (those awful yellow-marshmallow bird-shaped candies that you hate to love). How could you not want to emoji yourself, or change your language settings to “Pirate” for a couple of days? There are even some actually useful tips, like paying to send strangers a message (source much?), or finding your “hidden messages”. Once you have finished playing with “Upside Down English” on Facebook, head on over to HubSpot and check out this article that shares 13 of the best hidden gems on the internet. I am particularly partial to the YouTube Easter egg: Beam Me up Scotty! It makes me smile every time. .. and speaking of YouTube, here are 12 YouTube Easter eggs that are completely worth the time suck. One of them even features a flying rainbow-cat for your viewing pleasure. Happy Easter Monday, happy Easter egg hunting, and – if you don’t get today off – happy social recruiting!

I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly fretting about whether or not I’m good at my job. No matter how much praise a superior gives, how many goals I meet, or how often my mom remembers to Like my blog posts on Facebook; I’m constantly thinking about how I could do things better. I have a feeling you may also be like this. Otherwise, why would you be reading a blog about social recruiting whey you could be surfing Pinterest! Think of all the different cupcake recipes you could be pinning right now... When it comes to social recruiting there are a lot of awesome tips and tools floating around the internet that can help satisfy your obsessive desire to perfect your craft, so that you can get a huge gold star from your boss, and possibly even land a promotion… Or at least show off your newly honed skills to your co-workers! Here are some such links: The title of this article: How to Avoid Becoming a Hiring Mistake,  made me squirm. The thought alone is terrifying! But, it is full of great tips for excelling in a new working environment. In fact her tip about finding your “value add” reminds me quite a bit about a recent article on the benefits of social recruiting, published on a very well respected blog… This next post by Barbara Bruno breaks down the stages of recruiting and gives 9 tips for improving your hiring process. 

Now let’s get to the social recruiting stuff! Social media has provided HR with a whole lot of new data about candidate and employee behaviors; this article explains how you can leverage all that big data to improve HR practices. Google Plus is becoming a hotter Hangout (see what I did there?) for social recruiters, check out this podcast and article to learn how you can use Google+ to improve your SEO and promote your content. Then you can:

Double Your Twitter Followers in 5 Minutes per Day!

Yeeeeaaahhhh riiiiiiiight… That sounds like a real thing. The claim of this infographic is probably false, but the advice is solid, so I am still going to recommend it, bogus title or not! That’s it for the links, but I would love to hear any tips you may have about how to get better at work. Share your advice in the comments :D Happy Link Loving, and stay social.

Competition in the workplace is fierce. If you want to stand out from the crowd, i.e. your co-workers, then you need to do something to set yourself apart. You need to build a unique personal brand. A brand that screams innovator, or at least states it in a clear and confident manner. Yes, I know, personal branding is kinda cheesy! Think of it like this: Personal branding is really just showing your superiors, your peers, and the world what you’re made of, with a pinch of strategy added to the mix. If you’re a recruiter, or work in HR, becoming a social recruiting expert is an excellent way to make your name synonymous with innovation at your organization and is one of the best things you can do to build your recruiting brand. Why social recruiting?

Using social networks to hire is the future:

• At the beginning of 2014, 2 out of 3 companies surveyed were expanding their social recruiting

• A third of job seekers use social channels as their primary means of looking for work

• 84% of candidates start their job hunt with a Google search

Social recruiting is effective:

• 1 in 3 recruiters report that social recruiting has improved the quality and quantity of applications they receive

• 76% of social job seekers found their current position on Facebook -

  Tweet it!

• Social recruiting is very effective for referrals, and referrals are the best source of quality hires

Social recruiting sets you apart:

Social recruiting has been around for a while now, but thanks to slow adoption, and the tendency for recruiters and sourcers to confine their efforts to LinkedIn, you can still be seen as a trailblazer. Becoming a LinkedIn expert is not going to get you noticed! It’s still a smart idea to know your way around the network, keep your profile up to date, and make it a part of your social recruiting, but making it your thing at this point in the game, isn't going to help brand you as an innovator. So which networks should you master? That depends on your goals! Next week's blog post will explain how to choose the right network or networks to focus on if you want to take your career to the next level.

Until then, get out there, get social, and show ‘em what you’re made of!