Digital footprints left behind on social are a hot topic of today. We’ve all heard horror stories about employers following our digital breadcrumbs to find out about the ‘real you’. While many wish for “world peace” on their job applications, photos of an applicant dancing on the bar looking more than worse for wear can communicate a different story.
But is this the only impact social listening has had on HR?
Table of contents
Social Listening Offers Profiling Opportunities
Social Listening Facilitates Head Hunting
Social Listening Facilitates Employer Branding
Social Listening to Keep an Eye on Competition
Social Listening Offers Profiling Opportunities
When crafted appropriately, a candidate’s online presence can work in their favour. The HR departments are able to gain a more informed impression of a candidate before the interview stage, thus helping with the screening process. For the candidate, social listening and media monitoring provide customer profiling opportunities. For example, companies will be able to see if a candidate has shared industry news, engaged with industry influencers, or published blogs to demonstrate their enthusiasm and knowledge.
Social Listening Facilitates Head Hunting
Social listening and media monitoring also deliver the added benefit of finding talent for a company. If we set up a keyword search for ‘graduates’, as an example, we can then discover new and fresh talent before our competitors in the industry. The early bird catches the worm, right? Inga Boesecke, Meltwater HR Director Europe explains, “Social listening and engagement allows us to identify potential recruits who are seeking employment but perhaps haven’t considered or heard of Meltwater. We are then able to connect with them directly and give real insight into Meltwater as an employer of choice”.
Social Listening Facilitates Employer Branding
Now we come to the other side of the coin: not only do companies expect to see more of a candidate, candidates also expect to see more of a company. Social media offers a good opportunity for HR to increase employer branding. Online profiles can show how fun, challenging, and inspiring it is to work for a brand, as well as offering employees the chance to have their voices heard as advocates. By running a keyword such on a brand's name we are able to see both negative and positive comments from employees, thus helping to manage brand reputation. Check out our Meltwater recruitment video on Youtube!
Social Listening to Keep an Eye on Competition
Social listening and online media monitoring have also changed the way companies can keep an eye on the competition through competitor monitoring. A well-established social listening and media monitoring search can help an organisation keep ahead of the curve on developments in the industry and in particular the big players within it. Nowadays we can find all vacancies adverts online; a quick search on a competitor enables us to see:
- Where our competitors are recruiting.
This gives a good indication of their expansion plans - Roles our competitors are recruiting for.
If we know they are recruiting for a number of R&D jobs we then know new product development is on the way so that we can prepare for this and adapt our strategy accordingly
Hopefully, by now you have a better understanding of how social listening can be used outside of the PR and marketing department.
