Social media and talent

Like many other areas, the world of employment is no stranger to changes brought about by digital life. Talent scouting through social media is proof of this.

Communication Team

Telefónica Follow

Reading time: 3 min
  • The digital world in general, and social media in particular, make it easier to scout talent without geographical barriers.
  • Recruiting professional profiles through social media is a new possibility for companies, especially those linked to younger segments.
  • Depending on the profiles of each social network, strategies for attracting talent can be approached differently.

Since social media emerged in the mid-1990s, its use has become hugely popular and its applications are endless.

Although in the collective imagination the highest percentage of social media use may be linked to leisure or information, there is also the possibility of using it for professional purposes.

In addition to examples such as having a social media strategy for entrepreneurship or jobs directly linked to social media, such as the community manager, whose day is celebrated on the fourth Monday of January, social media can also be used to identify talent.

Let’s see how.

Social media as talent scouts

As we have been discussing, the workplace is no stranger to how the world has evolved with the emergence of the Internet and all the derivatives of this hyperconnected society that have emerged.

For this reason, the field of employment has also been changing and shaping itself in parallel with the evolution of the digital world.

In the specific case of social media and finding talented professionals, the former have become extremely important tools for both attracting and managing talent.

Due to generational factors, young, digitally savvy profiles are generally the most likely to be spotted on social media.

Benefits of social media for attracting talent

The capabilities offered by social media also offer a number of advantages when it comes to attracting and recruiting talent.

An issue inherently linked to digital technology is the elimination of geographical barriers, something that also happens with social media, except in sporadic cases where there may be restrictions on certain networks in some countries.

Apart from these exceptions, the absence of digital borders helps to reach potential candidates virtually anywhere in the world and even facilitates not only initial contacts but also more advanced stages of the recruitment process.

Likewise, having the most relevant information on different profiles updated on the platforms facilitates the pre-selection filter for companies, allowing them to focus on those candidates whose professional experience, skills or interests match the selection process in question.

In this case, we are talking about active job searches, but it can also happen in a different way: passive profiles that are not initially interested in changing jobs but may be attractive to companies and, thanks to the platforms, can be identified and contacted.

Another possibility is to showcase the culture or work values of the employing companies on their own social media as a way of generating proximity to hypothetical selection processes, an issue that can also be more focused, as mentioned above, on a specific age segment.

At a more specialised and sophisticated level, the type of content to be published can also be segmented by social media depending on the profile of users that can be found on each network.

We could summarise all these characteristics of recruitment and talent detection through social media not just as a mere publication of vacancies, but as something much broader that includes building relationships, showcasing company values and actively participating in the relevant digital environments.

Share it on your social networks


Communication

Contact our communication department or requests additional material.