Using Facebook for Campus Recruitment in Canada

Facebook is the most popular social networking website among members of Gen Y. It allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages, share web content and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Facebook was founded in February 2004 and, at first, users had to have an email address belonging to an educational institution to sign up.

The site currently has more than 200 million active users in total and more than 6 million Canadians who fall into the Gen Y age range. Although the fastest growing demographic today is the 35-and-older crowd, members of the Class of 2009 used Facebook throughout their post-secondary careers. The average user has a network of 120 “friends,” but many students and recent grads have hundreds more than that.

Recruiting uses

Whether a company is hiring or not, it’s a good idea to have a Facebook Page. It’s the best way to connect with people who are fans of your company’s brand and have a two-way conversation with them. Facebook Pages have a multitude of uses, including driving traffic to your website, keeping fans updated about goings-on at your company and informal market research, but it can also be a very valuable tool for recruiting. Plus it’s free.

When you post a new link, message, photo or video to your Page, users who are “fans” will instantly see it in their personal news feed. If you know you have 1,500 fans, posting links to entry-level positions at your company is an easy way to reach a huge pool of applicants.

Facebook Social Ads allow advertisers to target ads by age, location, gender, etc. and can be purchased on a cost per click or cost per thousand impressions basis. Facebook tracks who clicks on your ads so you can decide how successful your campaign is and change it accordingly.

Cons

On your Facebook Page, you can’t control who sees what type of content, so a 60-year-old retiree would see the same content – a link to your latest job posting, for example – as a 22-year-old recent university graduate if they were both fans of your company.

Also, this isn’t necessarily a con, but Pages require constant upkeep. They’re only effective if new content is posted on a regular basis because most users will not visit a Page again once they become a fan. And, due to the nature of the Internet, fan posts may require some moderation in order to maintain the integrity of your brand.

Recruiting fans can take a long time, or it can happen almost overnight if you promote your Page in the right way, such as on your website, in your email newsletters, to your clients and employees, and encourage your fan base to invite their friends to become fans as well.

Facebook Ads require much less work, but some companies are concerned about the company they keep … in the ad space that is. Your company’s ad could very well appear above or below ads which say, “Lose that belly fat now!” or “Make $2,000 per month working from home!” This could potentially damage the credibility of your ads and your company’s brand.

How to get started

Don’t have a Facebook account? Create one. Then visit the Facebook Advertising dashboard to create your company’s Page, start an Ad campaign or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, try out some of their newest features, such as Lexicon and Connect.