Creating a value proposition with a social media strategy for talent acquisition

Abstract

The talent acquisition process involves complex interactions between potential job seekers and the enterprises that seek to ultimately employ them. Although both parties are aligned to produce an optimal outcome, the emergence of social media technologies and a workforce adept at using them offers new challenges for companies. At the same time, studies of millennials (i.e. people born from the early 1980s to 2000) reveal that they are a large demographic currently seeking employment and that one of their characteristics is a values-orientation (i.e. wanting their jobs and companies to make a difference in the world). Just as talent managers are recognising the changing attitudes of their potential workforce, companies are becoming aware that they need to seek talent proactively rather than relying on traditional job postings. Social media strategies provide opportunities for companies to reach out to today’s job seekers by using new types of engagement through direct contact and personalization. This paper investigates opportunities and challenges in utilising social media during the recruitment process based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the understand-deliver-measure cycle. We present two case studies with a large and mid-sized firm to illustrate how companies can utilise social media to create a value proposition for job seekers and personalise content to enhance talent acquisition.