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Being busy has become a badge of honor. We complain / brag about waking up at 5 A.M. to head into the office, where we will be greeted by stacks on stacks on stacks of work that we have to tackle before the day is through. We buzz around, clutching giant-sized coffees, and constantly checking our smart phones for updates to our already overloaded schedules.

Being busy is a way of life. So much so, that we’re often unsure of how to handle it when life slows down.

Often, we just fill any downtime we may get with busy-work, and continue on our stressed-out way. But what if I told you there was a better, less stressed-out way?!

Well, for those of us whose lives are focused around recruiting, these lull times can be extremely rewarding, without all of the crazy that comes with too much busy-work. When you’re not trying to find the right candidate, or fill diversity requirements, or even fill any particular job post at all, you can focus on improving those aspects of recruiting that are often overlooked when things are busier… And getting more sleep… And reheating that 20 oz. cup of Joe that you’ve been clutching since 6 am.

Here are three helpful recruitment boosters, that employers and recruiters can focus on in the off-season, that will make life less hectic in the on-season.

Get Mobile

1 billion job searches per month are done via mobile. If a job seeker cannot apply for your jobs from their device, then 50% will abandon the application process altogether. Oh, and (well-executed) mobile recruiting has a five to ten times higher conversion rate… just sayin’!

Last time we checked, only 1 in 20 Career Sites were mobile-optimized. So, chances are, your application process isn’t yet fully mobile.

The number one thing you can do to improve your hiring odds is to get mobile with your recruiting. And seeing as you have a little time on your hands… Check out this post about using Facebook to make your application process mobile-friendly 😀

Employer Brand

When you don’t have a million things to do at once, it’s easier to sit back and look at the big picture. Employer branding benefits greatly from this removed vantage point.

Take some time to look back over the last couple months of your social media endeavors. Is your brand message consistent on all of the social networks you employ? Are you responding to your connections in a timely fashion? Does the content you share represent your brand in the way that you want it to?

Answer these questions, then come up with a couple of ways that you can improve your brand. It could be as simple as increasing the frequency of your posts (try using Hootsuite or Buffer to queue content ahead of time), or adding more diverse content. You may need to fix up your logo, ensure that your Facebook Career Page is fully branded, or rethink your overall message.

Stock Content

This one’s super simple. If you have a little extra time to spare, use that downtime to find some relevant images, write some fun, non-time sensitive posts, and put together a few employees profiles that you can trot out later; Perfect for those days when you just don’t have time to create original content. That way, you still have some stuff to share that reads like there’s a person behind the Company Facebook Page and Twitter account, instead of just posting tons and tons of links.

Not that there’s anything wrong with posting links! In fact, I highly suggest that you…

Find, and Set-Up a Content Aggregator  

I use so many; It’s kind of nuts. But content aggregators help you stay on top of relevant topics and trends in your field, as well as providing you with a steady flow of share-able content.

Feedly, Alltop, Reddit, Google Currents, and Prismatic are definitely worth checking out. You can also have a look at this article for some more in-depth tips about finding great social media content.

The downside is it can take a little while to set them up, but once you do, managing your social media content will be so much easier! Another little bonus app you may want to check out is Pocket. Pocket let’s you save, and organize, the content you find from various sites in one place. I use it all the time and highly recommend you give it a try.

All of these strategies take time to implement and are easily overlooked when you have a million positions to fill, and no time to do it in! But the next time you look up and realize that the stack of papers on your desk is unusually low, and that your retention policy has been working like a charm, you’ll know exactly what to do to make life a little easier later. You’ll thank yourself once things have returned to their wonderfully chaotic norm!

You’re savvy. You search the internet for recruiting tips, you read this blog. Let’s face it — when it comes to social recruiting, you’re ahead of most employers already!

But, being as awesome as you are, I’m sure you’re always striving to be just a little bit more awesome with your recruiting. Writing better job posts is a great way to do that.

As with any endeavor, learning by example is one of the best ways to improve your job post writing skills! Researching what fantastic recruiters do, when constructing job posts for their own clients, is an awesome way to pick up some new job post writing hacks.

Check out these links for some great ideas you can use yourself:

“Want to spend three months coding and learning in New York with smart, friendly, and intellectually curious people? Read on...” - The entire Hacker School website is a perfect job post. It’s let’s the candidate know exactly what to expect, what’s expected of them, and delivers both messages in an excited, positive fashion, without ever sounding smarmy or annoying. The force is strong with these guys!

This agency wanted to attract creative people, so instead of just writing a job post, the used a cartoon. The cartoon also acts as a warning to potential candidates about just how motley the crew they are applying to join is; which is a great way to ensure those who do apply are a good cultural fit!

Last year this incredible recruiting campaign threatened imminent brain drain on all European countries! The campaign won several awards and was highly successful. But, it’s Atlassian’s awesome example of a career site I think you should mimic. They've created a slideshow that explains to candidates exactly why they ought to apply in a series of steps.Their descriptions are informative, short and sweet, enticing, funny, and represent the companies values to a tee.

An equally awesome, yet often underutilized technique, is to scour the internet for the WORST job posts ever written. Try to identify anything your own posts may have in common with them, and then expunge those similarities with extreme prejudice (yes, Jerry, I did just quote Apocalypse Now in a blog about recruiting. It isn't called the ‘war for talent’ for nothing!).

Now for some examples of what not to do, EVER. Or I will cry. And give you a look of disappointment that rivals anything your mother has ever thrown your way!

The specific job posting by the Dalkey Archive Press has been removed. This was a very good move on their part considering that the New York Observer called it the “Worst Job Post Ever”. Here’s a little taste:

“The successful applicant will not have any other commitments (personal or professional) that will interfere with their work at the Press (family obligations, writing, involvement with other organizations, degrees to be finished, holidays to be taken, weddings to attend in Rio, etc.)”

How could any candidate possibly resist?!

This next link is to an article by management today that showcases 10 amazing job ads. Some of them are amazingly good, like the one by Poke London, but we are in the negative example section of this blog post, the job post I want you to check out first, is amazingly bad.

The ad is for a personal assistant to a fellow named William. It does not require the candidate to send a resume, only personal photos. The candidate should be single, with no kids, and be willing to travel with William to romantic locations. The ad includes ten photos of William. TEN. This guy exists.

Oh, and last but not least, there’s this:

Job posts.

The most important content for any recruiting strategy. These short (please make them short!) descriptive write-ups must pack a whole lot of punch! They must describe your company, the job you’re hiring for, and what you need in a candidate. And, on top of all of that, they must be enticing.

The way you construct your job posts will largely dictate the type of candidates that apply for your jobs. As we discussed last week, the candidate you want is not always the candidate you need. Let’s take a quick minute to recap.

Unless you are hiring for an extremely lofty, head-honcho kind of position, you are not looking for Superman. Superman is a lone-gun, top dog, who you probably can’t afford anyway. He’s also pretty strange (see: love of brightly colored tights and fear of green rocks). Nope, you want yourself a Clark Kent. Smart, capable, not too loud, supports other members of the team… Office-appropriate attire!

So how do you write a job post that will attract the candidate you really need?

Step 1

Assess your Team: JLA or Fantastic Four?

What your team is like, what your team is missing, the personality types that fit well with your other employees, and the type of candidates that are compatible with your team leader will dictate which candidate is the best fit for your open position.

Yes, of course you need to know the basics, like how much education or experience the job requires, but knowing your current employees and how the operate as a team is also an important part of figuring out who your job posts should appeal to.

Step 2

Understand: The Hierarchy of (Recruiting) Needs

If your job post demands a candidate with all of the awesome powers possessed by Storm, but all you really need is a candidate with a Gambit level of skill, you won’t attract either. Storm knows the position is beneath her (come on, she can summon tornados!), and Gambit is convinced he doesn’t have a chance (he twirls a fancy staff and throws playing cards).

Figure out what skills you need your candidate to possess, what skills would be a very useful bonus, and what skills are cool-sounding but are actually superfluous.

Step 3

Communicate: Openly and Honestly

Express what you need clearly to potential candidates in your job post.

Sounds simple? I think so too, but it isn’t. Most job posts do not delineate between requirements and desires. Often they will list off a ton of traits, skills, experience, and education qualifications, but not communicate the kind of working environment or the management style the candidate should expect. A lot of them don’t even really explain what the job will be like day to day.

“We need motivated candidates, with Food Safe certification, some experience in customer service, and a high-school education to work the cash register, serve pastries, and make espresso drinks at our Italian bakery.

You must like working in a busy environment, and be comfortable making decisions on your own.

You’ll work with a fun team of students, for a manager who prefers their staff to be self-directed, but is always there to help.

Bonus points if you know how to make a killer latte, love Italian food, and have worked at a cafe before.”

Sure, this description is a little fluffy, but expressing what skills you need from a candidate, as separate from what skills you want, will get you more applications to choose from. It also let’s candidates know exactly where they stand, which is very appealing because no one wants to waste their time applying for a job they have no chance of getting, or would never accept. It’s for this reason that I also recommend including some sort of salary range as well.

Oh, and please include your location, website, and any other pertinent details. It’s shocking how many job posts neglect those basics!

Step 4

Attract: Like Metal to Magneto

Make your posts magnetic; draw in candidates in with positivity. Visit the job post section of Craigslist and you will see some terrifying things, my recruiting friends. Employers starting their posts off by saying things like, “no whiners”, “you will be expected to do exactly what you are told at all times”, and “this is a job, not a social club”. Would you want to work for an employer whose first impression was that of a jaded, and demanding meany-pants?

So you had to let go of your last employee due to their inability to follow directions — that’s no reason to write a reactionary job post. As the internet once told me “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Positive, upbeat posts will attract waaaay more candidates than those filled with negativity, and not only that, but negative job posts will only attract applications from desperate candidates. Those candidates are often desperate because they keep getting fired due to their lack of listening skills… Just sayin’!

For an example of truly awesome, positivity-filled hiring, I’d like to share with you this fine piece of Twitter recruiting gold, crafted by the ever-witty Kris Dunn:

“Twitter Position description:  @Cimation seeks first ever HR Leader. If you’re a deep, talented HR pro who’s frustrated with the shackles and wants a clean whiteboard, I’ve got the gig.”

Now that sounds like a job I would apply for!

Not only will writing more enticing job posts get you more and better applications, but when you use social to recruit, every job posting you share becomes a part of your employer brand. Make them awesome!

Happy Recruiting.

It's easy to forget what recruiting is really about. We get caught up in all of the glamorous stuff, like effective strategies, talent pipelines, and outdoing competitors with better branding. Are all of these things important? Heck yes! But they are not THE goal, they are tools towards the goal. The goal is hiring the right candidate. Not a rock star, not top talent, and not superman! The right candidate is the candidate that fits with your team, your company, and the position on offer. This week's links are all about finding those candidates, the ones that actually exist in real life. They may look more like Clark than Superman, but do you really want a candidate who spends an unnerving amount of time hiding in telephone booths and shows up for work with their undies on the outside of their too-tight pants?! We recently celebrated Remembrance Day in Canada, a day that proves all too well that our real heroes often go unnoticed and even ignored. Sadly the skill set vets bring to the table are regularly glossed over by recruiters and employers. In this article Laurie Ruettimann makes a stellar argument for hiring vets as recruiters if you want no BS, results based hiring. Another mistake we often make when imagining our perfect candidate is valuing education over vocational skills. Well, according to this article at HRMagazine, vocational skills are often much more valuable than academic qualifications! Sometimes you find the right candidate, but, on paper, they simply do not possess all of the skills you need them to. If you're hiring a surgeon? Deal breaker! If you're hiring a secretary? It's skill development time!

Development programs can help you bring new hires up to par, and improve upon the fantastic team you already have. Candidates are people too, has been a huge theme of late, not only on our blog, but with recruiters and HR pros all over the internet! Especially over at Blogging4Jobs where they presented an entire week of content focused on candidate experience. Satisfaction with one's job is so important. Satisfied employees are happier, happier candidates are more productive, in better health, and are more likely to stay with your company.

Keep your employees satisfied with this advice from Jessica Miller-Merrell. And no, the occasional pizza is not enough! Oh, and last, but not least, need an example of a job post that will attract candidates, instead of terrifying them? Check out this post by Kris Dunn over at HR Capitalist for a job post that balances telling candidates what is needed of them, with what they can expect in return :D Happy Linking!

It’s popular to be Type-A.

Bragging over how full your schedule is, constantly checking your phone for updates, and running around half-dazed, chugging coffee, means you are you are working hard and getting stuff done.

Even when there just isn’t that much that needs doing, we fill those times to the brim with ‘busy work’, still chugging coffee like there’s no tomorrow, running around frantically like mice in one of those spinny-wheel things that I don’t know the name of.

This type of behavior is actually detrimental to productivity. And yet we demand it of candidates every single day.

In job posts, employers describe their ideal candidate as constantly working, proficient every aspect of their field, and as perfectionists who want to get every detail exactly right. This DO-ALL-THE-THINGS attitude may be in high demand, but it’s not going to benefit your company, or recruiting efforts, or your potential hires.

Take this job description for example:

“We want someone who doesn’t understand the term ‘office hours’. You’re always online!”

We took this example from LinkedIn Jobs, but I will not name the employer, as I am nice. I guess they also want someone who is operating at at a fraction of their potential, and is at risk of stroke, depression, and serious burn out. <sarcasm> Sounds like a great retention strategy to me! <sarcasm>

It’s like there are two planets: the reality of actual humans, and the irreality of job descriptions. When you ask for a candidate to have all of the skills of Superman, for a job Clark Kent that could do, the only applicants you’re going to attract are the ones with superhero complexes. And more often than not, these candidates will not deliver on what they promise!

I know it’s tempting, when writing up a job post, to envision a perfect employee, who turns everything they touch to gold. An employee who just intuitively knows how to fulfill every task required of them (and how many sugars you like in your coffee), but that candidate does not exist. And if they did, they would probably be off fighting crime somewhere, not checking their Facebook feed for potential job openings!

If that is the employee that your job posts demand, then those job posts are going to intimidate, and even alienate, lots of great candidates. Writing a job description is not just about projecting your expectations and desires, it is also about appealing to potential hires in order to get applications. You’ll get a lot more quality applications by appealing to the Clark Kent side of a candidate in your job posts, then allowing your new employee to reveal their Superman side as they grow into their position.

When you use social recruiting, every job you post builds your employer brand, and projects your corporate culture to the whole world. Those posts can help you craft an identity that makes candidates excited at the prospect of working for you, encourages them to engage, builds strong talent pipelines, and fosters positivity, trust, and growth. Make your job posts a symbol of hope amongst a sea of unrealistic expectations, and you’ll draw candidates in like never before. I mean really. We all know that the S on Superman’s chest stands for the Kryptonian word for hope, and not for our simple earthling ideas about the importance of being “Super”.

Next week, we’ll explore exactly how you can write job posts that will land you a Clark Kent employee!

Happy humpday, I mean that in the nicest possible way!

The HR superstars over at Blogging4Jobs have been running a pretty cool theme week, over on their site, dedicated to candidate experience.

Hopefully you already follow Blogging4Jobs, but just in case you don't, here's the lowdown. During Candidate Experience Week, Blogging4Jobs is publishing original daily content geared towards changing the way candidate experience is perceived. Their goal is to get recruiters and employers thinking about how the way they treat candidates affects their company's bottom line, and really focus on creating a positive experience that benefits both the company and the potential hire.

At Jobcast, we love themes, be it pirate themed water parks, theme rides, or theme parties (especially the waters parks though!) So, we thought we would compile some excellent articles that deal with candidate experience.

Links!

A candidate's experience begins with your company brand, weird huh? Apparently even the look and feel of your job post plays a huge part in a potential hire’s impression of your company. This article over at TLNT, goes so far as to say that your employer brand can make or break a candidate's’ experience.

Next up, the application process! Mobile friction during job applications = very very bad candidate experience. This is something we've already touched on quite a bit in our own blog posts, but it bears repeating because so many Career Sites are not mobile friendly, and so many job applicants abandon the application process because of mobile friction. Just check out this article on Talent HQ for more stats about the importance of a mobile-friendly job application process.

On to the interview, my favorite part of the job hunt! Unfortunately, most candidates don’t enjoy this process very much, many even find being interviewed pretty darn scary. In this lovely article, Jocelyn Aucoin shares 3 things employers can give candidates to improve their interview experience.

We saved the best for last, and by best, I mean silliest! That HR Chick, Stephanie Krieg reminds us all that no candidate wants to work for a stick in the mud, and that fun is an all to oft forgotten aspect of candidate experience. She also shares some of the funniest pictures of HR pros I have ever seen. PS I love her.

Oh, actually, the very last link is a teeny tiny bit of self promotion, but it also has to do with candidate experience and fun, so it's okay right? Here's a link to an article about improving candidate engagement through gamification that I wrote for HR Insights Magazine, it even got a gold badge on the front page! End brag fest.

After you check out all of these links, head over to Twitter and follow the candidate experience conversation with #thecandidate, and more cool articles on Blogging4Jobs.

Happy linking everyone!

What every job applicant wants to hear:

“You, my friend, are a mutant — and I have a need of mutants — desperate need!”

– Dr. Xavier

Our feature article last week explored the benefits and pitfalls of social media when it comes to inclusivity and diversity in the workplace.

So, now you know that using social media for recruiting, especially when you are targeting specific demographics, is a game of balance. While social media, and most notably Facebook Ads, offer a way to direct job postings at very specific groups of people, inclusivity requires that, during the hiring process, no one is discriminated against based on gender, race, religion, or superpower preference.

You may be targeting the 22 year-old tech-savvy millennial with your job post, but if you get an application from a 42 year-old ex-librarian who is perfect for the job, hire her. (They’re probably both wearing the same glasses anyway!)

Diversity isn’t just about gender, race, and religion. If you have a racially diverse team, but everyone on that team has the same life experience, values, interests, and opinions, then your team is not diverse. Varying outlooks, life experiences, and learning styles are equally important, and make a company flexible and strong.

That being said, let’s move on to some practical tips for using social media to banish exclusivity, embrace diversity, and create a winning team.

Make Your Content Reflect Diversity

This one’s a pretty obvious one. It’s also pretty easy to accomplish, since most stock photographers are now hyper-aware of their potential clients diversity requirements. Thus all of the racially-diverse images of happy men and women in business suits floating around the internet.

I do have a little tip for any of you looking to appeal to millennials but want to stay inclusive; old-timey images! Millennial hipsters are really into black and white photos of dudes in dapper suits, with old-fashioned hairstyles and mustaches.

Enlist Your Team

Hopefully your team of employees is pretty diverse already. If so, you have a great resource in them. Get your team on-board with your social recruiting; have them share posts, comment, and give input on the content of your Facebook Ads, Tweets, and job posts. If your content comes from diversity, then, chances are, it too will be diverse!

I’ll use an example from our own team, which is pretty darn diverse itself. Our blog is one of the main vehicles for us to share content with our clients, peers, and even candidates. Therefore, coming up with ideas for blog posts that reflect the message Jobcast wants to put out is no easy task.

Luckily, we have a team of employees who all have pretty great ideas for topics. Johnny is full of amazing suggestions about technical tasks that need covering, Ryan is always in the know about what our clients want to read, and I bring the girl power (ladies of HR unite!) as well as the ability to distill technical jargon down to regular words.

Target Diversity

This is probably the best way social media can help you bring diversity into the workplace, but it is also the most difficult to navigate.

Legality Alert! You must understand how your province, state, country, or home planet regulates recruiting practices. It’s going to vary from place to place, so I can’t really help you with this one. Sorry.

Social media, especially Facebook, allows you to target candidates really really specifically. If you need to meet diversity requirements, you can use Facebook Ads to target the demographic of candidates you need to attract.

It’s pretty straight-forward — here’s a tutorial on targeting candidates with Facebook Ads. There is some murkiness surrounding the legality and ethics of targeting candidates based on something like age or gender.

We’ve already given a legality disclaimer, so how do you avoid ethical problems with targeted recruiting campaigns? Easy. Understand that targeting diversity is different than being exclusionary.

Yes, you are primarily attempting to reach a specific demographic with your job posts, but if those posts are seen by a candidate who falls outside of that demographic, they can still apply for the position, and you, being the very ethical employer that you are, would not exclude them based on their age, gender, race, or the skinniness of their jeans.

Look for diversity, but value a culture of inclusion over all.

“You’ve proven you can think and act for yourselves!! Your training period is over!! Congratulations, my -X-Men- employers/recruiters!!”

– Samara Parker in the voice of Doctor Xavier

There are a lot of interesting conversations going on about social media education and credentials. Should you pay? What’s the benefit? Do employers care? Does your community care?

Tim Sackett recently wrote an article for SourceCon about how LinkedIn Recruiter certification is bunk. Still, people will pay big bucks for it, in order to get a fancy badge and be part of the LinkedIn ‘tribe’ of Certified Recruiters. Please read his article. Whether you agree with Tim or not, you will LOL, and LOLing is very good for your health. The Jobcast team cares about your health.

There’s also HootSuite University, which internet marketing and SEO pro, Doug Antkowiak, in a scathing review, called “The Clown College for Social Media”. (I secretly still really want to attend… sshhh don’t tell!) If you want a detailed explanation of exactly what HootSuite U has to offer, his post doesn’t hold back, and there are lots of embarrassing screenshots.

I have to say, I am a little bit skeptical of paid social media accreditation. I am also very particular about how I spend my money, as every penny I spend on credentials is money I could have spent on comic books. Comic books which teach me valuable life lessons!

… thank goodness there’s YouTube!

Who needs to pay for accreditation when you can just watch endless social networking tutorials online? Well, to be honest, there are a lot of really, really terrible tutorials out there, and sifting through them can take hours. Trust me I know, because that’s how I just spent my day. All in service of you, dear readers.

So, without further adieu, here are a few of the YouTube best-of-the-best social media tutorials:

I love, love, love yourBusinessChannel! Their tutorials are super cute and fun. They are also wonderfully informative. If you want to know how to attract followers on Twitter, then this is the tutorial for you!

This one is not cute, and it is also long. I suggest snacks and a comfy chair, and possibly a lapcat, which will make up for any lack of cute. Measuring the effectiveness of your social media efforts is probably the least exciting part of networking, but it’s also totally necessary if you want to be successful. This lecture on social media ROI will give you some great advice; it’s well put together and easy to understand.

Google Plus is becoming one of my favorite social networks. It’s really great for promoting actual dialogue, and there are lots of cool groups you can join to keep in touch with others in your industry. If you haven’t hopped on the bandwagon yet, then watch this Google+ tutorial, and learn all the things. Next, add me to your circles! (@samaraparker, and @jobcast, in case you didn’t know!)

Longest Link Love I have ever written; it’s even longer than that tutorial on ROI!

Happy social recruiting.

I think social media is great for recruiting. Duh!

.. and apparently I also think the 90s are back.

I blog for a Facebook recruiting app, so of course I think social media is great for recruiting. I also think that all of you should integrate at least some social networks into your recruiting strategy. Social recruiting is effective, social recruiting is industry standard, and social recruiting is sexy… if you’re into that sort of thing.

What social recruiting is not, is free from all of the strings and regulations of old school hiring methods. You may be able to target candidates based on specific demographics via Facebook Ads, but you also have to be aware of the possible backlash that this kind of targeting may have.

Mishandling your social recruiting policy can lead to a diversity disaster.

Millennial candidates are all the rage. The HR blogosphere would have you believe that all of your social recruiting should be aimed at attracting this generation of candidate. Just see my previous two feature articles for evidence of this, and yet, as much as engaging Gen Y is valuable, it shouldn’t get in the way of fostering inclusivity. Being cautious about diversity in recruiting isn’t just important for legality’s sake *cough, Abercrombie and Fitch, cough!*, it’s also an important part of making your employer brand attractive to potential hires.

To quote another millennial HR blogger:

“Inclusion will always be more attractive than exclusivity”

‘Always’ is a wee bit of an overstatement, of course. Try walking into your favorite local hipster coffee shop wearing sweatpants and carrying UFC 360 magazine; it’s enough to make you run to the nearest American Apparel and buy the skinniest jeans they have on offer. This reaction, caused by an intense atmosphere of exclusivity, is what makes the cafe appealing to many of its customers.

Recruiting, though, is not a hipster cafe.

When posting a job, when interacting with potential candidates, and when promoting your company culture, inclusivity will get you more applications. And it will keep legal issues at bay — what’s not to like?!

Now, that’s not to say that you cannot use targeting to your advantage when recruiting. If you create a Facebook Ad with the intent of it appealing to, or reaching out to, a target demographic, it does not mean that your social recruiting is exclusionary. Similarly, when a company makes a commercial that aims to appeal to youth, it doesn’t mean that they don’t want older people to buy their product. As we all know, most companies just want people buying their product, irrespective of age, gender, or hair color.

Understand What Diversity Really Means

Diversity isn’t just about gender, race, and religion. If it were, then there really wouldn’t be a lot of benefit to cultivating a diverse team of employees, other than meeting industry standards. I know some people think that that is all that diversity is about (again, Abercrombie!), but their opinions are wrong! If you have a racially diverse team, but everyone on that team has the same life experience, values, interests, and opinions, then your team is not diverse.

Differing opinions lead to discussion, which leads to ideas, which leads to innovation, and improvement.

Having an inclusive workplace, made up of employees who are different, but are all working towards the same goal, together, as a team, will benefit your company.

So, how do you use social media to promote inclusivity and help your company meet diversity requirements? That’s a great question!

Now that you have a groundwork for understanding how social media and diversity co-exist, we can move on to practical applications. Next week, we’ll explore exactly how you can put some of these ideas into practice, and use social inclusivity to better your company, your industry, and the world. So basically, we’re going to be using the X-men metaphor that I so dearly love. I’m pretty excited about it!

Until then I will leave you with an inspiring quote from Dr. X himself:

“My name is Charles Xavier. I am a mutant. And once upon a time I had a dream… of a world where all Earth’s children, both mutant and baseline human, might live together in peace. This isn’t it. This is today’s reality”

I ask you to ask yourself, “am I really reaching enough mutants?”

So much is happening.

Usually I try to stick to a theme, because storytelling is kind of a big deal in the blogging community. I have nightmares about the Blog Police hunting me down when I go off topic too many times, putting an end to my writing-career by encasing all of my digits in Chinese finger traps.

Oh well, bring it on guys. Too much is going on with Facebook and the interwebs right now for me to write another millennials-related Link Love! Besides, I watched that movie about Houdini —  I'll be fine!

The most important thing to share is Facebook's introduction of the option for apps to bid by cost per action (CPA). This will simplify the ad process by allowing developers the option to pay per-download instead of just per-click (CPC). This should make a lot of advertisers very happy, which is Facebook's top priority at the moment.

Facebook is also changing their ad formatting to allow users to watch a video ad / how-to (included with the ads) before they purchase an app. This gives app developers better marketing value and it gives users a better idea of what they are about to purchase. I'm sure somebody will still be grumpy about it though!

Speaking of complaining... Despite the general grumpiness expressed by Facebook users about the increase in the number of ads showing up in their news feeds, those users are clicking on those very same ads at a rate higher than ever before! Maybe it's just another one of those things we love to complain about, but secretly enjoy, like pumpkin spice lattes!

So, apparently this is just one of our usual Facebook-focused Link Loves... But for good reason! Facebook is updating its Custom Audiences feature.

This is the BEST news for recruiters!

The update to Facebook's Custom Audiences feature will allow employers to reach out to potential hires who have recently visited their company career site through their news feeds and encourage them to apply, or finish the application they've already started. Retargeting users is awesome for growing your talent pool and increasing application completion.

We can't explain it, but sometimes users visit your Career Page and end up leaving before, or even mid-way through, the application process. Maybe they got distracted by doughnuts? Anyway, the update to Facebook's Custom Audiences is pretty great! Employers and recruiters will soon be able to direct ads specifically towards users that have already shown interest, both on desktop and mobile, thus making the likelihood of re-engagement super high.  Awesome.

I'll leave you with a link I know you'll love, especially the employers among you. It isn't about Facebook per se, but this amazing Infographic by IOR is a simple and effective hiring guide that is worth printing out and framing! Recruiters, you could do this as a gift to the companies you work for.

Happy Link Loving!

Have something cool to share? Let us know in the comments.