5 easy steps to crowd recruiting success

Crowdsourcing is a popular buzzword right now. It is being used for everything from funding Zach Braff’s latest film to developing new ideas in Fortune 500 companies. So why aren’t you utilizing it during your hiring process? Crowd recruiting is on the rise, whether the dark-age HR departments like it or not. Referrals, social klout, “shareability” - they should all be on your radar.

1. Encourage referrals

This tried and tested method of crowd recruiting has been around for years. Offering your current team incentives for making suggestions for your next hiring need is smart business. Encourage your employees to do professional networking to meet more people who may become contributors to your business.

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2. Embrace social media

Often considered the enemy to corporate offices, social media shouldn’t be treated as a nuisance. It is understandable that you want your team to focus on the parts of their job that makes money or advances processes. But with the right strategy, you can direct their social media energy to become brand ambassadors for your company and promote a great workplace on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

3. Leverage LinkedIn

The best way to focus social recruiting is to pay special attention to the social media site designed to bring professionals together online. Encourage your employees to join groups and make connections. Human Resources should expand their own network because the more first degree connections you have the bigger your network expands. Your next superstar could be waiting on LinkedIn.

4. Make job listings sharable

Many businesses are giving their employees an opportunity to review internal job postings and be able to push these out to their networks on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn with a single button. This functionality is now a key selling point in many applicant tracking or talent management systems. Also getting in on the act are the socially savvy HRMS vendors, who recognize that social integration in self-service portals is crucial for employee engagement.

5. Be a brand worth promoting

Most importantly, if you want “the crowd” to refer your openings and company to friends and connections you need to be a company worth promoting. Build a company culture in which people will find admirable and engaging. Increasingly, this culture can be built around valuable content and strong customer relationships, nurtured through social media.

Crowd recruiting will never be a magic bullet - sometimes you will have to fork out for that job board - but it can be a useful tool. Work with your current employees, and build networks that can bring the best and the brightest right to your front door.