If recruiting and hiring are an issue for your accountancy firm, paying agency fees may not be the best way to go. It may not even get you the best hires.
This week, we ran a webinar on how you can use social media for your recruiting purposes, and here’s how you can implement that in your firm for 2018.
1. Be honest with yourself about any internal firm issues.
Social media is not going to solve your recruiting dilemma if the firm leadership is disjointed, or the team don’t love their jobs, or if there is any dissension in the ranks.
Before you get going on social media to tell the world you’re hiring, make sure you’ve addressed any outstanding issues in the firm so that you can promote the new opportunities with enthusiasm and integrity!
How to do this: In your next board meeting, identify at least one thing you know is frustrating for your team. Fix it.
2. Know the type of person you want to hire.
The great thing about using social media for recruiting is that the principles are exactly the same as those we have been sharing with you about using social media to get new clients.
In our Content Marketer programmes, we’re always talking about knowing your potential buyer. Encouraging you to work on your “buyer persona”. Be clear about what kind of client you want (and don’t want).
The same applies to potential hires. Put together an “employee persona”. Know who you will hire, and who you won’t hire. Identify the red flags that mean this is not the right person. Conversely, be alert to the temptation to hire for skills when the attitude isn’t right.
How to do this: Write down a list of qualities the ideal employee has. Don’t only include skills – include attitude, personality, and life experience.
3. Make sure your firm is set up on all the main social media platforms.
At a minimum, you’ll need to be present on these platforms:
- Facebook business page
- Twitter (for the firm)
- LinkedIn company page
- LinkedIn for directors and team members (each to be linked to the LinkedIn company page)
- YouTube
How to do this: You can get some training from PF on how to do this (book one-on-one training here) or simply go for it using the social platforms’ support.
4. Start posting on social media daily for at least a month or two.
Being present on social is the first step – but if someone is going to work with your firm, they want to understand what it feels like to work there.
We recommend posting on a daily basis – one post per platform listed above.
You can use the 80-20 rule, like we do: 80% of what you post is what we call “non-promotional”. No salesy stuff, no links to services – simply interesting, relevant content that the right kind of employee will be excited to read about.
Often this is other people’s content – you could re-share posts or articles or content from Xero or QuickBooks or other software that your firm uses.
Ideally, you’ll share happenings from the firm, as well…see the next point below.
How to do this: Start doing it yourself, or have us do it for you with one of our monthly social media packages.
5. Encourage the team to share on social, too.
Posting from the firm is great, but if you want “social proof”, you’ll need to include the team as well. This is so that your potential employee knows that you’re not full of hot air!
If you’re worried about what your team would share about the firm, then I redirect you back to point 1.
How to do this: Arrange some social media training for the team.
6. Create (or update) your website landing page for careers with your firm.
Having a website landing page is your “central hub” for the direct social media activity you’ll be doing in relation to recruiting.
If you already have a careers page for your firm, look at it with new eyes:
- Is it fun and interesting?
- Does it give them a real insight into what it’s like to work there?
- Does it include video?
- Is there a personal connection to the owner(s)?
- Do you go into detail about what YOU do for THEM? (not merely who or what you want them to be)
- Would the most awesome accountants love it?
If the answer is no for any of these, get the page refreshed, redesigned, reworded.
How to do this: Use your PF marketing credits to get a new page written & designed, or talk to your website designers for help with this page.
7. Record a video.
This is going to help immensely with your social proof. In the same way that you want prospective buyers to feel like they know you before they ever get in touch, you also want potential employees to feel like they know the company already.
Here are some suggestions for a video you could record:
- A welcome from the owner or director(s)
- Existing team members explaining their journey (where they came from, why they wanted to work here, why they like it)
- Group video with a combination of the above
- Explanation of the firm values and principles – what you stand for and why
How to do this: Pick up your phone. Set it against something solid or use a mini tripod, and click “Record”.
8. Share personal posts on LinkedIn.
Before you get into proper social media ads, try the simple approach of writing a text-only post on LinkedIn saying that your firm is hiring this kind of accountant, and invite people to get in touch.
Share the post via personal message with a few key people you know who might be able to pass it on.
Social media strategies and campaign plans and ad creation are very helpful, but there’s nothing like the personal touch!
You can of course do this by email, on Twitter or some other platform, or simply pick up the old-fashioned telephone. But LinkedIn is definitely the careers platform.
How to do this: Write the post on LinkedIn and then click “Post”.
9. Create a social media ad campaign for the next 3-6 months.
Now that you’ve done all the prep work, you can get to the fun part. Social media ads.
This is where you craft messages on the different social platforms to direct people to your website page, your social media accounts, your individual role descriptions, your videos, and all those good things we recommended above.
I trust you can see now why skipping steps 1-7 and going straight to step 8 may not give you the results you want.
How to do this: Book a social media workshop with Ashley here.