Subscribe and Listen Now!

New call-to-action New call-to-action New call-to-action

 


Between the continuous battle in the search for talent and the Great Resignation, old recruiting tactics are no longer as successful as they once were. In today's labor market, recruiters must develop a creative approach to talent acquisition. 

Facebook is not only the largest social media platform, but also one of the largest online talent pools, with nearly 2.5 billion active monthly users, and around 1.8 billion of those belonging to Facebook groups. Aside from that, 2 billion messages are exchanged between individual users and businesses each month.

In this episode, Michele Vincent, Senior Director of Marketing and Sales at MADICORP, explains everything you need to know about recruiting through Facebook groups and be sure to check out her follow-up episode Creating Talent Communities Using Facebook groups

What you will learn:

➡️ Why Facebook groups are a great place to source talent

➡️ Targeting active vs. passive job-seekers

➡️ Helpful tools for social recruiting

Facebook Groups Are A Great Place To Source Talent

Social media can be a love-hate relationship, however, Facebook is overflowing with active job-seekers and passive candidates. If you've been working in manufacturing for a while then you know that job boards aren't delivering the number of applicants that they used to. One reason is that the way people look for jobs has changed. Recruiters can no longer rely on the post-and-pray method of putting up a job ad and waiting for applicants.

Successful recruiting today must include a multi-channel approach because job seekers and passive candidates learn about companies and jobs through a variety of platforms beyond job boards.  It has become increasingly important for the modern-day recruiter to tap into their inner marketer when it comes to attracting talent and getting ahead of job seekers.

Manufacturing Industry Facebook Groups

Michele confesses that Facebook groups have become a guilty pleasure of hers and is a member of over seventy groups. Here are some Facebook groups for recruiters in manufacturing:


The above suggestions include groups with members from across the United States, as MADI sources talent nationwide; however, there are location-specific Facebook groups for recruiters looking to hire local manufacturing talent. A couple of examples are listed below.

When searching for groups to become a member of, it is good to keep in mind quality over quantity. If there is a group you're interested in, but it's not large, don't get discouraged because sometimes large groups can have irrelevant posts or spam if administrators of the group are not monitoring and moderating it well.

Targeting Active Vs. Passive Job-Seekers

When it comes to targeting active job seekers and passive candidates, each one may require a different plan of attack. We break it down for you here:

  • Active job seekers - Share specific job postings and highlight all the bells and whistles such as location, requirements, salary, etc. and if you want something a little extra, throwing in a graphic can make postings more visually appealing.
  • Passive candidates - Create and share variations of content such as employee testimonials, company benefits, or even a video allowing candidates to get a sneak peek into your company culture.

Some people may hear about content creation and wonder where they should begin or how much it will cost them, but truth be told, you don't need to be a large corporation with a large budget. There are multiple free and user-friendly graphic design platforms and stock photo websites you can use. One popular graphic design platform, called Canva, allows various sizing options compatible with different social channels and templates to choose from. The possibilities are truly endless with video, photo, text, and graphic elements! As for stock photo sites, a couple of good options include Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash.

Getting Started With Facebook Groups

There are 4 stages on the road to recruiting in Facebook groups and Michele breaks it down in the following order:

  1. Finding Facebook groups - Search for groups related to your industry and hiring requirements. There is an internal search bar where you can plug in keywords, city/ state, and filter criteria. If there are specific trades you have in mind, search-related terms such as machinist skilled trades or welders. Look for as many groups of interest to you and request to become a member. 

  2. Figuring out what to do once you found them - Prior to posting in the group, it is good to do your research and get a feel for what the group's community is like, and the types of content they share to see if it's a good fit for your needs. Another important task is to have an understanding of the group's rules in order to represent yourself in the best way possible.

  3. Deciding what content to share in groups - Understanding your candidate persona should be top of mind for recruiters. This is yet another factor why it is important to understand the community you are a part of because that is how you get to know what appeals to the talent pools you're trying to target. Additional details to provide are links to your job board, careers page, specific job ads, and campaign landing pages.

  4. Developing ways to engage and source talent from groups - The best way to boost your reach is to stay on top of notifications and respond to group members' questions on your posts. You'll also want to comment on other people's posts and provide value to the community. It's important to stay consistent and engage with group members, but that doesn't necessarily require a lot of time. You could set aside 15 to 20 minutes a week to check groups, share posts, and answer a question or two. 

Sourcing Manufacturing Talent In F

If you're looking for new ways to source manufacturing talent, then Facebook groups are worth exploring. There are many different types of groups that you can join based on location, manufacturing sector, and even for particular skilled trades. These are places to engage with candidates, and increase awareness of your company. We encourage you to poke around and engage with the community to see if it aligns with your particular manufacturing sector.

It is important to be reminded that this is not a magic solution to your hiring challenges. As Michele says, "posting a job ad once or twice may not make a huge difference in your overall hiring efforts, but consistently showing up and adding value to different communities in addition to posting your jobs, will definitely increase awareness of your company, your open opportunities, and increase applicants".

Engaging with members does not have to be time-consuming; simply set aside 15-20 minutes each week, to post jobs in each group you're a member of, comment on other people's posts, answer questions, and add value. Food for thought - if you are struggling to find groups related to your industry and location, then you may want to consider creating a Facebook group of your own!

The train doesn't stop there. If you're willing to implement Facebook groups in your recruiting strategy, then keep a lookout for her follow-up episode on Creating Talent Communities Using Facebook Groups. Michele will walk you through the steps she took to create her Facebook group Traveling Contract Jobs, which has a member count of 18,000+ job seekers and recruiters.

Subscribe and Review our Podcast!

New call-to-action New call-to-action New call-to-action

 

Recent Posts