Best Channels for Candidate Engagement: Four Factors to Consider

Welcome to another installment from our Social Recruiting Pro Tips Series.

In this edition, social recruiting expert Stacy Zapar presents key factors to consider when formulating an engagement strategy that yields positive response rates from candidates. Stay tuned twice a month as we deliver expert advice and actionable tips from industry experts on social sourcing, assessments and engagements.

You’ve done your research and identified the candidates that meet all of your sourcing criteria. Now what? What method do you use to reach out and engage them in a way that will be welcomed? TenFold founder Stacy Zapar stresses four key factors when choosing a channel for initial outreach.

Tips for Choosing the Right Channel for Candidate Outreach

1. Where Are Tech Pros Most Active?

Has it been months since they last used Twitter? If so, you can tweet all you want and hear nothing back but crickets. For conversation starters, dig deeper. Use Open Web to access the 130 sites most often frequented by tech pros. You may uncover some unexpected platforms, like Meetup, About.me or Quora.

2. What Sites Are Most Likely to Yield a Response?

Many candidates are active on Twitter, and you certainly can’t beat the cost of reaching them this way because it’s free. So taking advantage of Twitter’s statistically high response rate (six times higher than other social sites) is prudent. On the flipside, Linkedin traditionally provides lower response rates. And Facebook? Though some recruiters favor it for reaching out, its response rates are unknown. Other social sites like Meetup, About.Me, GitHub and Stack Overflow offer average response rates.

3. Which Sites Offer Less Recruiter Competition?

In today’s competitive tech market, less is more when it comes to the presence of other recruiters. That makes Linkedin a tough site to crack — 98% of recruiters pursue candidates there. For less competition, try Facebook and Google+. Meetup, About.Me, GitHub and Stack Overflow also offer great opportunities (and contact information) to reach candidates, while enduring less recruiter competition. Twitter is getting more popular as a way to reach tech candidates, but it’s still far less populated by recruiters than other sites.

4. What Are the Outreach Pros and Cons of Various Sites?

There are pluses and minuses to all social sites, so carefully plan which you want to rely on when engaging your top prospects. For instance, Zapar recommends leveraging Twitter’s fantastic conversational format to make a personable introduction. Some recruiters have success approaching candidates using Facebook, but beware of the “other inbox.” If your message lands there, amongst a lot of spam, the candidate may never see it. Google+ boasts higher response rates and if you already have the candidate in your circle, why not? While all these social sites are great, at the end of the day, your ultimate goal is to get the person on the phone. So if you have a tech pro’s phone number Zapar recommends minimizing your time to fill by simply picking up the phone.

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To download Stacy Zapar’s slides on “How to Increase Response Rates with Social data”, click here or view the presentation below.