5 ways to use Pinterest for recruiting great talent

Many companies are often looking for ways to recruit new talent. But finding the right person to not only suit the position, but suit the company and its corporate culture can prove to be trickier than you would imagine.

As an employee, a company might look fabulous in the interview process but do you know what working for that business is really like?

Pinterest can be a great tool for companies to use for recruitment, but also great for potential candidates to get a better idea of the company and what they’re getting themselves into. As Pinterest is fairly new, it might give you a competitive edge in being able to reach talent first, as other recruiters have yet to make optimal use of this platform.

As the third most popular social network, Pinterest is where your future employee (or employer) is likely to be, and it’s a great platform for recruiters to advertise job openings. Pinterest also allows you the opportunity to show off your company and give your prospective employee an idea of the kind of environment they will be working in.

The quality of the potential candidate on this platform is also likely to be much higher, because as a new social media platform this is the playground for early adopters and innovators who are often leaders within their respective fields.

Here are some tips on how you can use Pinterest to find the next great member of your team:

1. Create a board for each job

Create different boards for each department (For example Finance, IT, Engineering, Design, Marketing), making it easier for potential candidates to easily find the job, and department, they are interested in.

Personalise each board with keywords, targeted images, and hashtags when it makes sense.

A good way to visually show the job spec is to either create a visually appealing PDF or if stuck for time you could simply upload a screen shot of job descriptions.

Make sure to always redirect potential candidates back to your website by providing a link to where the job is posted. Also be sure to include a short description of what they need to do next.

2. Pin more than photos

Don’t limit your talent pool by only pinning images. Pinterest is a multimedia channel. A nice way to integrate video onto this platform is to link to your company’s YouTube channel to pin videos of employees in action, or ‘A day in the life of’ clips.

Make sure the content you upload to each board is specific and appealing to your desired candidate. So if your aim is to attract candidates within the engineering or CSI fields you may want to consider uploading a video detailing your company’s green efforts or social responsibility. Uploading videos on innovation or the latest technology within the business will be more appealing to marketing or IT candidates.

QR codes are another good example of integrating multimedia onto the Pinterest platform. By using QR codes you are able to provide quick access to job applications, making it even easier for potential candidates to apply.

3. Promote your organisation’s culture and values

Essentially you’re looking for the right person for the job, but also the right person for your company. To make sure you get what you’re looking for, use Pinterest to visually display your company culture and values by by pinning images with personality.

So if, for example, you’re looking for a candidate that cares about networking, you should pin images of your team at recent industry trade shows or events.

If you’re looking for team players, try pinning pictures from your last staff function or team building event.

4. Cater to popular interests

Bearing in mind that the majority of Pinterest users are women, their interests are likely to include travel, clothes, DIY, or home décor.

Use this insight to your advantage by pinning similar content but relating it back to the workplace. A good way to do this would be by pinning images of an interview-savvy work outfit, or the latest trendy laptop or ipad case, and then linking those images back to relevant content, departments, or job specs.

As travel is a big theme on Pinterest you could consider pinning images of your different office locations, as well as including nearby places of interest, such as restaurants, sports venues, local parks or recreational venues.

5. Connect

The key thing on any social media platform is to really engage and connect and it all comes down to relationships.

Although Pinterest doesn’t yet allow for direct contact a good way to get around that is to redirect conversations to networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn that have a better conversation functionality.

Another thing to ensure is that you provide a number of different ways for potential candidates to get in touch with you. On that note it’s also important that you have the correct people and systems in place to respond to potential candidates. Your first impression is lasting and you certainly don’t want to miss out on your next best employee due to poor admin skills.