Data from a new survey reveals the majority of human resources executives are looking for ways to pump up their employer brand, and social recruiting stands out as an effective tactic.

In today’s competitive talent market, recruitment marketing, employer branding professionals and talent acquisition executives must invest in recruiting tactics that deliver an ROI. There are endless ways to get a company’s job openings out there today, from tried-and-true job boards and employee referrals to technology powering your social media presence with automation and artificial intelligence. 

To better understand what human resources executives are thinking about talent attraction, CareerArc partnered with HR Dive’s studioID to survey 150 HR executives about their current talent attraction activities and how they plan to change for 2024. This research explores the present state of talent attraction performance, including job boards and employee referrals, and considers how these tactics are influenced by the big-picture strategic initiatives related to employer branding and social recruiting. 

The survey results reveal the fascinating potential of the current hiring environment, in which traditional tactics merge with modern approaches to support a highly leveraged recruiting funnel. Key findings include: 

• The majority of HR executives (92%) believe that it is “extremely” or “very important” that candidates think of their companies as a great place to work.
• The most frequently used talent acquisition tactics include hiring events (72%), organic social media (71%) and job boards (69%).
• The top changes in talent acquisition tactics being considered to meet 2024 goals include strengthening the employer brand and utilizing social media more for recruitment.
• Almost half of HR executives (47%) use AI-based tools in their talent acquisition strategy, and another half (49%) plan to in the next two to five years.
• Two out of three HR executives (66%) report using organic social media to recruit entry-level candidates, making it the most frequently used channel to attract entry-level candidates.

“Using employer branding and showcasing a company’s culture and employee experience on social media is so important,” said Debora Roland, vice president of people operations at CareerArc. “The majority of companies don’t have a recognizable company brand on the employment market. For both passive and active job seekers, your employer brand is your chance to signal to candidates what it will be like to work with you.”

Moving forward, HR executives have an opportunity to lean into organic social media to have a bigger impact on employer brand and improve the rest of the hiring funnel.

“Employer brand is rooted in empathy,” said Brian Forrester, CEO at CareerArc. “The most successful teams are guided by empathy for the job seeker and the job seeker experience. As I see interest in employer branding continue to rise, I want to remind talent acquisition leaders that empathy can be their superpower, and it’s free.”

Survey Methodology

CareerArc partnered with HR Dive’s studioID to survey 150 HR executives about their current talent attraction activities and how they plan to change for 2024 with a selection of multiple-choice and open-response questions. Most (75%) of the respondents had roles in human resources and some in recruitment or talent acquisition (25%); survey respondents included C-Suite Executive (20%), EVP/SVP/VP (17%), Director (40%), and Manager (23%) titles. The survey respondents represented companies with 500 to 2,499 employees (67%) and 2,500 to 9,999 employees (33%).