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!