We find ourselves today with a universe of information at our fingertips. When it comes to the employment world, one has the ability to search for jobs on a device as big as one’s hand and even research the company in depth before applying for a position.

Employers, are you scared? You should be, especially with websites like Glassdoor becoming more prevalent. I like to think of Glassdoor as the Tripadvisor of the employment world. Ex- and current employees can write reviews about companies so that job seekers know what it’s like to work there, even see what the interviews and benefits are like. Most employers do not take this seriously enough and do not even have a profile to control such reviews. Have you conducted a search for your company on Glassdoor? I urge employers to go ahead and use this tool to improve the employee experience and, in so doing, your employer brand. Your company is nothing without your people, so make the effort to change small things.

Really use your website

Have a responsive (mobile friendly) careers page with up-to-date jobs and easy ways for job seekers to apply. There’s nothing quite like yet another form to bore potential candidates to tears. Use your careers page to tell the story of how great it is to work for you, what they do every day. Let them describe the best day they’ve had working for you. Show real benefits, the ones that actually add value to one’s salary. Use videos to show off the office environment so that people can envisage themselves there. Have fun with it.

Engage with potential candidates via social media

I cannot express enough how important social media is in the recruitment world. Your company likely has social media accounts for your services / products – use your followers to be your word-of-mouth marketers for when jobs are available. Your customers are brand ambassadors that are not on your payroll. Use them! Tell them about your jobs through social media and they’ll share it across their networks, creating awareness of not only your consumer brand, but more importantly, your employer brand.

In closing, I’d like to make two requests. When placing jobs on your social pages, (1) please do not just press a button to share it – use your words, grab the candidates’ attention. Make it more personal and speak to that specific target market; and (2) don’t encourage laziness and start trends by asking candidates to comment by putting their phone number down or simply the word ‘yes’. Let them be intrigued enough to click on the link to see more about your company and job – surely that is working smarter than having to phone hundreds of unsuitable candidates that just said yes without even looking?

According to Statista, Facebook has 1.55 billion, Twitter 320 million, Instagram 400 million and LinkedIn comes in at 100 million MAU (monthly average users). Where do you think you’ll find the most passive and active job seekers?

I rest my case.