Welcome back to the final part of BRS Global’s look at the effect social media has had on the internal recruitment function. Previously we’ve looked at the rising importance of video in recruitment, the upcoming star of YouTube and examined in-depth an infographic from Bullhorn Reach.

We’re looking to the future in this segment. Having previously established the value of social media tools in recruitment we’re now moving on to tips on how to get started establishing your employer brand in the online world. We’ll also consider the next big digital craze and give a glimpse into the more unusual techniques some companies are using to attract candidate attention.

So, you’ve decided that your in-house recruitment team want to look into using social media. Well, the resources are certainly readily available, as the Undercover Recruiter demonstrates. Giving practical advice on which platform might be best suited to your needs and what features they offer, this article is a great start for those looking to ‘introduce the features and benefits of various Social Networks’ to their departments.

Top tips include using LinkedIn to run group discussions, Facebook to build your brand, Twitter to create interest in your company and Google+ for candidate searches. Viadeo and Xing also make a welcome appearance to represent the wider European recruitment market if your company sources a lot of candidates from abroad.

From the opposite perspective, Tony Restell of social-hire is a big advocate of how candidates themselves can make the most of these same social tools to directly contact and impress recruitment departments. Specifically he regularly writes about being able to ‘tweet your way to a new job’ and how it is essential for job seekers to have a blog.

It makes logical sense for candidates to start thinking now about their online presence and the image they are projecting to the web, especially as a recent survey from CareerBuilder suggests that 37% of employers are researching candidates online.

However, these are only the already established online platforms. If you want to stay ahead of the competition it helps to know what is about to become popular. So what looks set to become the next big online recruitment resource? The answer, it seems, may well lie with Pinterest.

As Econsultancy informs us Pinterest recently left its closed beta stage and has become open to the public. It’s highly visual, social culture has already proven popular with its early testers and its brand value is fast becoming apparent. Current belief is that Pinterest ‘may be a far more profitable platform for brands than social networking stalwarts like Facebook and Twitter’ especially for established, visually orientated companies such as travel agents, camera companies or motor dealers.

It is perhaps appropriate then that TUR recently tweeted Pins from Pinterest including ‘What NOT to wear for an interview’ and the company already have a series of Pinboards full of great looking, highly shareable infographics. Not to mention a dedicated articles entitled ‘How to Use Pinterest for Social Recruiting’ and ‘How Pinterest Can Help Your Job Search’ for recruiters and candidates respectively.

These new tools are undeniably interesting, and recruitment remains an exciting field to be working in, despite the challenges of ever changing technology. Indeed, such is our enthusiasm for web technology that some recruitment functions have not only embraced this new digital age but have taken it one step further by seeking out rather unorthodox means in order to secure the best talent.

As we round up our mini-series we leave you with ‘Crazy Social Recruitment Techniques’. While we don’t expect you to start playing video games with your candidates or have them send you pictures, we do hope you’ve enjoyed these last few articles and will join us next week for our usual Recruitment Roundup.

Did you like this series? Do you want to add something? Do you think we missed out something vital? Let us know in the comments. On the other hand, if these articles have inspired you to get in touch and discuss how our bespoke recruitment services can benefit you, you can contact us at http://www.brsglobal.com/contact-us/ or call us directly on +44 20 7748 4393.