As a recruiter in human resources, you are always on the lookout to find high-caliber talent to fill open positions. The age of social media has created new channels to leverage, and both job seekers and recruiters benefit as the channels create a larger reach.
However, a positive can quickly turn into a negative when HR misuses social media and damages the company’s brand. So, where and how can thing go wrong?
There is No Company Social Media Policy in Place
If there are no companies guidelines — or none applicable to specific departments — it gives employees a wild card to participate how they see fit with the company’s brand name attached to it. Freedom is good, but no guidance can lead to unwanted attention.
An example of this can be failure to respond to questions regarding a position posted by the recruiter. Make sure that if these posts are made on your company’s Twitter feed, there is someone with the knowledge to respond or point job seekers to the right place for answers.
Another frequent mistake occurs on LinkedIn. A recruiter’s personal profile often becomes tied closely with a company’s brand. The recruiter posts jobs and possibly accepts connections requesting information but never responds to job seekers’ inquiries. A negative image of the company is then passed on to the job seekers. A company policy should be clear on how recruiters should respond to these online requests; ignoring online requests is never the right approach.
HR Doesn’t Think Rules Apply to Them
Social media use and how it affects the brand is often considered to be the direct responsibility of the marketing department. Therefore, when HR is active, the policy is not extensive enough to cover their activity, leaving behavior on social media up to their best judgment.
Why Be So Picky on This Detail?
HR has direct contact with a company’s audience — meaning its future employees, possible customers and brand ambassadors. Just as it is easy for employees to mistakenly misuse social media, hurt job seekers can express their opinion about it in a flash, damaging the company’s brand.
Social media should be leveraged across the company by various departments. Just make sure employees are trained to use social media correctly and put a complete (but flexible!) social media policy in place to protect the company’s brand.