While TikTok was the topic recently in Congress regarding data privacy concerns, the social media platform keeps booming. It has more than 1 billion monthly active users, with reportedly solid reach to users in the U.S. from ages 18 and up.

That audience has been embraced by recruiters, who are using TikTok to find job candidates. For the right roles, a solid TikTok campaign can get workers “in the apply funnel,” said Alexandra Anema, director of social media at Bayard Advertising. All kinds of companies are using TikTok for recruiting, she added, from giants like Target “all the way down to mom and pop places that are getting a ton of visibility.”

But the key to leveraging a TikTok audience is the right campaign for the right kind of job. Recruiters most often need to work within the confines of TikTok’s paid promotion platform, which can be more limiting than on other platforms.

Here’s what you need to know.

Working with the algorithm to drive organic engagement

Like most social media networks, TikTok users can garner attention organically, or through paid promotions. Organic can be effective, but “it’s a real commitment and you have to post regularly because that is how the algorithm works. You have to keep feeding it,” Anema said. Smaller businesses that find success on TikTok are still often putting work into creating videos, and a lot of them. “Not every company has the time to do that.”

One workaround — or strategy to work with TikTok’s algorithm — is to partner with influencers, said William Stonehouse, co-founder and president of Crawford Thomas Recruiting. Companies can leverage that built-in audience by working with influencers who will “promote content about what It’s like to work with a certain company,” he said.

Companies can also work with employees who have TikTok followings already. Emily Durham, for example, is a TikTok creator with more than 200,000 followers who also happens to be a senior recruiter for Intuit. She posts all kinds of videos, from dating advice to info on job interviews. She’s not exactly pushing content about working for Intuit, but her presence still lifts the company’s profile.

“Having a social presence has been a game changer for me from a professional perspective,” Durham told CNBC in January. “Probably half of the candidates that I reach out to have responded with, ‘Oh my god, I follow you on TikTok,’ especially with early career talent or when I’m recruiting for other HR roles at Intuit.”

Making the most of paid promotions

For paid promotions, TikTok only allows users to choose one interest, which can be limiting, Anema said. “If you’re looking to hire a veterinarian, you might be able to choose ‘animals’ but not ‘veterinary.’”

That doesn’t mean paid promotions can’t work. They can be especially effective in hiring for entry-level roles, to grab attention and lead someone into the recruiting process.

For example, Bayard Advertising is currently working with a fast food chain by creating short narrative videos about what it’s like to work there. It’s “putting the message out and really talking about things that they do as an organization that sets them apart from their competitors,” she said. They’re also doing videos showcasing how the company’s educational programs have impacted employees.

Like with any social media platform, what works for each company is going to depend on who they are trying to hire, and in what role. While their fast food campaign has been highly effective, the same approach may not work for executive search, for example, she said.

TikTok can be “supplemental to a very strong social strategy, but don’t put all of your eggs into one basket,” she added. “Examine where you want to put your dollars and where your audience is spending their time.”

Companies should also be aware that potential job candidates are going to be looking at a brand’s social media platforms when doing their own research — including TikTok, especially with Gen Z candidates — so it can benefit an enterprise to have TikTok videos about work culture, said Stonehouse. When recruiting for an office job, a candidate might look for videos about a day in the life of that office. These videos “can be a good way for companies to project their culture and values.”

When a local government fellowship program asked more than 100 applicants about their interest in the job, they overwhelmingly cited the opportunity for “meaningful work.”

Applicants ranked mission above pay, location, professional development and more, according to the Jan. 12 results. And more than half said the coronavirus pandemic only increased their interest in public service employment.

In light of the results, the research firm analyzing the findings urged employers to emphasize mission over tasks. “With meaningful work and personal satisfaction so highly rated, a job advertisement that leans more heavily on the results that can be achieved may be more likely to net interested recruits than one that focuses more on formal roles and responsibilities,” it said in a report.

Other research suggests private and for-profit employers may want to take a note from this government playbook: Employees are seeking higher purpose from their work and choosing to work for employers that have purpose baked into their ethos, an Alight executive said in September, analyzing survey results.

Executives say they know this is true — especially younger workers — but a 2022 report from consulting firm Deloitte revealed that many fail to properly integrate it throughout a business.

Those efforts can start at a high level with executives infusing purpose into a business plan and a company’s core values. But purpose also should permeate the aspects of work with which employees interact every day. Managers can be trained to connect daily work to purpose, making clear how individual contributors have meaningful responsibilities and how they’re part of a company’s mission, whether that’s serving a client or advancing an ESG initiative.

Hilton’s CHRO, for example, said at a December event the company strives to connect its massive workforce and inspire them to do great things for their guests and in service of their communities.

Employers with a more obvious social mission may have a somewhat easier path. Those in green technologies, for example, previously told HR Dive they focus directly on candidates with a passion for sustainability. What those businesses lack in name recognition, they make up for in meaningful work, one VP shared.

These findings, however, don’t give employers license to neglect other offerings, the report analyzing the local government fellowship survey results cautioned.

The next generation of talent will demand meaningful work, and those employers that can offer purpose alongside competitive pay, benefits, flexibility and more will be well positioned in the competition for that talent.

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By FedEx Office

Challenge No. 1: Recruiting

In this article, we’ll explore marketing tactics that may enhance a company’s ability to recruit candidates. Future articles will explore using marketing approaches to more effectively onboard and engage employees. Together, these strategies may help create a stronger and more competitive workforce.  

Recruiting conundrum

HR departments and recruiting teams are working hard, using a variety of tactics to attract applicants. They’re reviewing job descriptions to determine what skills and requirements are necessary, hosting job fairs and national hiring days, recruiting at trade schools and community colleges in addition to traditional colleges, offering signing bonuses and higher hourly wages and making it easy to apply online.

According to a September 2021 FedEx Office and HR Dive survey, HR executives reported that most recruiting was done on online job sites. That makes sense, particularly because many companies are not yet back on-site full time and applying digitally means candidates can quickly apply from their phones.

However, getting candidates to apply is the second step. Getting them interested in applying is the first and this is where marketing strategies can come in.

Marketing to your candidates — even before they’re looking

When marketers advertise, they extend their reach beyond those who are already loyal customers. They cast the net wide, with their target demographics, placing signs on streets near the business for passersby to see and posting flyers in stores.

Marketers also recognize that it takes a multi-pronged approach to get their audience’s attention. More than that, the message should be repeated. The marketing Rule of 7 suggests that an audience needs to hear a message seven times before they act.1 Not every business can afford a billboard or radio spot, but they may be able to work print messages in the budget. Signs in parking lots and on store doors, table tents and bag stuffers can be spun up and changed out quickly and customized to fit a location’s needs.

While people looking for specific jobs may come to job boards, with companies having an immediate need for talent, they must also attract people who aren’t actively looking. These potential candidates won’t be on the job sites. Instead, it is critical to market to them where they are. Just as when brands showcase a product, signage in expected and unexpected locations can stir interest.

Nationwide quick service restaurants are always hiring, pandemic or not. They can place “Now Hiring” signage outside their restaurants and every customer coming in or going through the drive-thru sees it.

When customers walk into a department store, they’re likely to see a now-hiring sign. And who better to market to than the people in your store? They’re already familiar with your brand and presumably like it, so they are ideally already ambassadors for your brand.

Just as marketers go beyond their current customers to promote opportunities, companies can widen their recruiting message by hanging “Now Hiring” signs on distribution warehouses or other company buildings in high traffic areas, such as expressways.

Physical signage also gives companies an opportunity to stand apart from competitors by highlighting aspects such as immediate interviews, higher hourly rates, hiring bonuses or tuition benefits. Personalizing the recruiting sign from the first glance can make the difference between a candidate applying at one franchise location and another. The sign can also be used long term for times when businesses need to staff up, such as summers or the holidays.

Once the candidate sees the physical signage, it needs to be easy for them to take the next step of going to the company website. Be sure the signs include a QR code and a URL that takes the candidate seamlessly to the application page of the website.

As companies look to attract more candidates, adding marketing approaches to current recruiting tactics, they can extend their recruiting reach and have better success hiring employees.

FedEx Office is experienced in working with businesses to develop their marketing and recruiting material. Our strength is helping develop tailored solutions that help solve our customers’ business needs. Learn more about FedEx Office solutions today.

Despite recession concerns and news of layoffs, recruiters say their team can “claim a seat at the proverbial table,” according to LinkedIn’s Future of Recruiting 2023 report — and it may even go beyond that, some experts said.

“You’re going to truly change the table itself,” Brett Baumoel, VP of global talent acquisition, engineering, at Microsoft told LinkedIn.

Close to 90% of recruiting pros also said talent acquisition has become a more strategic function over the past year, particularly since talent still holds power in the market, according to the report.

Due to the nature of that market, however, funding will be funneled toward employer branding and value proposition rather than the recruiting budget, LinkedIn said. Just over half of recruiters surveyed said their recruiting budget will likely decrease or stay flat this year, while 60% said their employer branding investments will increase. To that end, companies are focused on what candidates want — including better compensation, flexible work, opportunities for advancement and skills development.

LinkedIn’s report pointed out that recruiter pitches to candidates may need re-tuning to fit shifting employee needs. Recruiters may overvalue the importance of flexible work and advancement opportunities to applicants, for example, while undervaluing employee happiness and opportunities to develop skills.

“Recruiting pros tend to get tunnel vision on the most important priorities, to the detriment of other still-important factors,” the report said. “In reality, candidates’ preferences are more diffuse and less top-heavy than a simple list might suggest.”

Skill development may be especially top of mind for recruiters; 81% of recruiters surveyed said they need to work more closely with L&D in the future to identify skill needs and place people in the right positions.

To adjust to becoming more strategic, recruiters may need to bolster their own soft skills, too, LinkedIn said — particularly adaptability, problem-solving and business acumen.

To thank veterans for their service and to recognize the honed skills service members bring to the workforce, many private employers have committed to hire and retain veterans.

Through military service, veterans gain in-demand skills for workplace success in the private sector, including mental fortitude, flexibility, leadership and management experience, teamwork and collaboration, professionalism and discipline. Private employers need those skills and realize the value of military service in sharpening those vital capabilities.

Recruiting approaches

As an initial step in attracting job-seeking veterans, many employers, regardless of size, have demonstrated a commitment to hire veterans by offering veteran-specific opportunities or outreach. Some companies have committed to hiring a specific number of veterans within a stated timeframe. Many companies have dedicated human-resource and talent-management teams, often lead by an executive, focusing on recruiting veterans.

Members of those teams are knowledgeable about military roles and duties. They are also trained on translating military experiences into private sector skills and identifying positions particularly suited for military experience. A dedicated office or team for recruiting military talent, however, may not make sense depending on company size and resources. In those circumstances, here are four practices companies can consider implementing to recruit veterans.  

Train HR on what to do

Companies should train HR representatives to understand how to translate military jobs and duties into private sector roles and responsibilities. The SHRM Foundation, in conjunction with its corporate partners, provides HR professionals a free certificate program offering critical insights for recruiting, onboarding and retaining veterans and military members.  

Have solid position descriptions

HR staff, along with hiring managers, should identify positions well-suited for military talent and tailor job descriptions accordingly. Where appropriate, job descriptions may be edited to state relevant military experience qualifies.

Create a veterans website

To attract veteran talent, companies can create a separate link on their corporate websites for job-seeking veterans. Webpages targeted to recruit veterans can highlight open positions that are well-suited for military talent, identify key HR professionals in the veteran space and describe internal company resources focused on developing and retaining veterans.  

Find military recruiting sources and job fairs

HR representatives should attend hiring fairs at military installations and Veterans Affairs facilities, and other veteran-focused employer hiring groups, like the Veterans Jobs Mission, to recruit military talent. Potentially, HR professionals may want to partner with veteran employees or local Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve representatives to brainstorm additional ways to attract veteran talent.  

Retention Initiatives

The transition from a military work environment to the civilian sector poses unique challenges to military members, including uncertainty about promotion processes and performance evaluations, communication-style differences and cultural changes. Companies that want to retain military talent frequently implement veteran-specific practices and programs to help veterans acclimate to corporate culture. While the size of a company and its resources may dictate the availability of veteran-specific retention tools, three retention initiatives and programs are highlighted below.

Provide promotion and career path transparency

In the military, service members receive clear guidance on requirements to achieve their next promotion, including the dates of upcoming promotion boards, their eligibility for promotion and steps they can take to increase their chances for promotion. The same transparency often does not exist in the private sector and the absence of clear career development guidance is a common reason veterans leave companies.  

To retain military talent, companies should provide career progression training throughout a veteran’s employment, and particularly, at milestones, like new-hire training and annual performance reviews. If possible, career path training should also identify resources and personnel available to discuss career paths, promotions and opportunities within the company.      

Establish mentorship programs

Many companies allow veterans to participate in mentorship programs to ease the transition from the military to the private sector. These programs pair new veteran hires with senior employees who can answer cultural assimilation questions, assist veterans in building their business networks outside the military, help them establish professional goals and steer their career progression.

Companies should formally advertise mentorship programs during new hire training and encourage new hires to participation at the onset of their employment to increase program participation and maximize retention. HR professionals should also highlight the existence of these programs on company websites and in recruiting materials to serve as a selling point to job-seeking military members.

Form affinity groups

Veteran-focused affinity groups and mentorship programs help military members transition to the private sector by introducing new hires to a network of peers with shared employment and life experiences. These groups also aid established veteran employees in maintaining a connection to the military and the sense of purpose that military service offered. Advertising these programs can also boost a company’s reputation as military-friendly, which may attract new business and help recruit military talent. 

The efforts and recommendations discussed above represent some of the many ways that employers can recruit and retain military talent in today’s challenging job market. Employers should partner with employment counsel to identify and discuss legal considerations in developing targeted efforts to recruit and retain veteran employees.   

Despite turmoil at Twitter, social media isn’t going away anytime soon. Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook can be powerful ways for HR professionals to recruit new talent and find candidates they wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

Using social media for recruitment is “a constant strategy around marketing the organization and what we stand for, not just the business value but the social and cultural impact that we have,” said Steven Kramer, CEO at Workjam, a digital front-line workforce platform.

While social media doesn’t replace traditional recruitment methods, recruiting on such apps and websites can enhance hiring methods — with some caveats, including treating social media as a way to funnel candidates into the hiring process, not a way to completely replace it.

Use social media to tell a story

Workjam’s approach to recruiting on social media goes far beyond just posting links to open jobs. The company primarily uses LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook to “tell our story,” said Kramer. It’s not just about paying to advertise open jobs on social media (which the company does), but using social media to market what it’s like to work at Workjam.

Workjam also makes it easy for employees to share these posts internally, and on their own social media networks with the ability to “personalize it based on what they want to say,” he said. The company has a referral program, which incentivizes employees to share posts and recruit someone from their own network.

The company continuously reevaluates which platforms it uses for recruitment and focuses on where potential employees are most likely to be. It doesn’t use Twitter that much, and it doesn’t use Snapchat, because that’s not “really our demographic we’re going after,” Kramer said.

Posting jobs on social media can also be used to create buzz around a company. In June 2022, Casper posted a job listing for professional sleepers. The idea stemmed from from TikTok, and the firm received thousands of applications. Those who got the job created social media campaigns for the mattress company. CPO Robert Lepere told HR Dive he aimed imbue his company’s work culture with thoughtfulness through this process.

Beware potential pitfalls

While social media is often treated like an informal communication platform, it shouldn’t be when used for recruitment, said Ayesha Whyte, employment attorney and chief people officer at Dixon Whyte.

“When you are speaking to someone through social media about a job, always tell them to apply formally,” she said. That ensures that every job candidate goes through the same hiring process. “Anything you say, even if it’s through social media, can come up later in an employment lawsuit,” she added.

She also advised that any photos or videos representing a company’s workforce be of actual employees, not stand-ins or models. “It would be horrible if a person of color or a person with disabilities saw a panoply of people in your ads about the workplace and then the workplace is homogenous,” she said. It may not lead to a lawsuit, but a company could lose that worker if they feel they were tricked.

On the flip side, employers should also take any social media presence of potential employees with a grain of salt. “That’s not giving the entire picture of who someone is,” she said. “That’s a filtered persona and you’re looking for an actual person who’s going to look at your job.”

While looking at someone’s social media presence isn’t a bad idea, it shouldn’t take the place of interviews, reference checks and background checks if that’s part of the regular recruitment process, she said. And relying too heavily on social media might mean missing candidates who aren’t social media savvy, she added; “You might be missing out on some wonderful candidates.”

Human resources professionals should also make sure they’re compliant with any pay transparency laws when posting job listings on social media. “If you are broadcasting on social media, that is going to be global. You have no idea where this candidate is looking from,” Whyte said. “If you’re advertising an actual job on LinkedIn or Instagram or anything, it should absolutely [include a] salary or salary range for that position.”

Employers working to address retention may be overlooking a key driver of turnover: employees’ desire to be part of a more inclusive culture. Nearly 40% of 1,000 employees surveyed nationally said they would switch jobs to be part of a more inclusive culture; 45% of Black workers and 54% of managers said they would do so, according to the QuestionPro and EQ Community survey results, released Jan. 17.

Nine out of 10 workers reported having a positive experience working with and learning from colleagues of different backgrounds and perspectives, the survey revealed. But 43% felt their employer should be doing more to foster inclusivity, including having more diverse leadership and discussing the importance of diversity more frequently.

Although each organization has its own culture and is in a different stage of its DEI journey, executives should focus DEI efforts on a few common areas, such as: preparing a strong onboarding experience with frequent check-ins; trying different initiatives tied to the organization’s goals; really understanding why employees leave, for example by including a question about inclusivity in their exit interviews; and leading by example, the report recommended.

During times of economic uncertainty, DEI efforts are often the first to be cut, according to recent research by multiple HR consulting firms. They predict DEI positions will be at risk in 2023 as the U.S. totters on the edge of a recession.

But there’s an important caveat, cautioning employers against acting too quickly: “More than ever,” workers expect to learn about a potential employer’s DEI efforts, about 40% of recruiters told Monster, according to its January 2023 future of work report. Similarly, Workhuman’s 2023 Human Workplace Index advised that prioritizing inclusion and belonging can set employers apart in the recruitment process.

Just under half (49%) of employees were more likely to report feeling undervalued; about 48% of women felt undervalued, the Workhuman index found. The QuestionPro results back up these findings: Half of Black and African-American worker respondents expressed dissatisfaction with how inclusive their organization is; 45% of women and 42% of Latino workers said the same. The fact that so many employees are ready to act on their dissatisfaction “should give pause,” QuestionPro noted in its report.

Dissatisfaction is strongly tied to employee engagement, the report suggested. That is, an inclusive workplace doesn’t just come about because of organization-wide initiatives or culture projects driven by HR, it explained. Rather, employee engagement can be traced to managers, providing them with a great opportunity to impact how inclusive their teams are and, in turn, how inclusive the organization is as a whole, the report said.

Lack of connection and mentorship, as well as ongoing experiences of bias in the workplace, can lead to disengagement, a chief DEI officer pointed out in a November op-ed to HR Dive. To prevent this from happening, organizations should help managers support their teams and recognize that managers face unique challenges in the workplace, she recommended. They can learn where more support is needed by taking a hard look at attrition, retention and leadership pipelines, she added.

As businesses shift their focus to mitigating risks to revenue growth and profitability, it’s important for them to do so with an equitable lens — to ensure they don’t compromise their efforts to attract, retain and grow a more diverse employee base, a global DEI head previously told HR Dive. Data shows that workers are more likely to join and remain at companies where DEI goals, including mental health, are openly discussed, prioritized and embedded into company operations, she said.

About half of job seekers (45%) wouldn’t accept a job that didn’t offer accommodating hours, according to Randstad’s 2023 Workmonitor report. Additionally, about half of workers (48%) said they’d quit a job if it “prevented them from enjoying their life.”

These findings and more are unpacked in the research firm’s report, which paints a picture of worker priorities in markets across the North and South Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia: Employees want stability in their career overall, but flexibility in their day-to-day lives.

Sufficient income is top of mind

The rising cost of living has notably influenced the way people are approaching work. Across the globe, about 1 in 4 workers are seeking more hours to help with their rising living expenses. A similar number of workers worldwide are shouldering a second job — or are seeking one — to address their increased cost of living. Notably, 32% of workers in Eastern Europe and 34% of Latin Americans talent told Randstad they’re working or plan to work a side hustle. 

Likewise, employees are worried about the impact of economic instability on their job security. “A possible global recession is weighing on the minds of people around the world, and this may have repercussions on employers,” Randstad researchers said, noting the increased appetite for work.

Workers want to get a life

At the same time, employees say they would be inclined to leave a job if it prevented them from enjoying life. Diving further into Randstad’s findings, it appears that work-life imbalance will come back to bite employers in the end. “Employee engagement is also impacted as dissatisfaction with work has led to 31% having ‘quiet quit,’ a recent phenomenon in which workers perform only the bare minimum in their jobs,” researchers said. Notably, millennials and Gen Zers were most likely to report quitting and the inclination to quit a job that prevented them from enjoying life.

An integral part of life enjoyment, recruiters and people operations professionals are finding, is flexibility. Accommodating hours are a priority for talent globally, with workers in Latin America and Southern Europe expressing particular interest. More than when they work, people want flexibility in where they work. Again, workers in Latin America and Southern Europe expressed the greatest interest in geographic flexibility. These markets were also more likely to report more rigidity in job hours and working location.

Employers involved in the recruiting process are focused on onboarding, candidate experience and DEI in 2023, according to new research from Talent Board, a research organization focused on candidate experience. 

Time will tell if those efforts help decrease resentment among candidates and new hires. The Jan. 11 Talent Board 2022 North American Candidate Experience Benchmark Research Report found that job seekers had negative experiences globally for the second consecutive year. In North America, the only region where candidate resentment didn’t climb in 2022, candidates still reported a historically high resentment rate of 12%, the report said. 

"Although candidate resentment lessened during and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, it's higher than ever globally," Talent Board President Kevin W. Grossman said in a news release. "Employers need to keep in mind that resentment has major repercussions to their brands and the bottom lines such as whether or not candidates will apply to their jobs again, whether they'll refer colleagues and friends, whether they’ll be brand advocates and whether they’ll buy a company’s products and services.”

Ron Machamer, Talent Board director of global programs, said it is “very telling” that onboarding is the top priority for talent acquisition teams in 2023. 

"Too many employers lost new hires in 2022 before they even started or shortly after day one; that’s how competitive the talent market has gotten, and that’s how important it is to get onboarding right,” Machamer said. 

The report, which analyzed anonymous feedback from more than 150 companies and nearly 200,000 candidates, found that 34% of candidates had to wait at least one to two months after submitting an application to find out about next steps in the hiring process. That was 48% higher than in 2021. 

To try to improve the recruiting process, talent acquisition teams are turning to AI tech, the report found: 79% intend to purchase tech that removes bias from the application and screening processes; 72% want to buy tech that predicts employee job-changing behavior; and 57% plan to buy tech that predicts job performance.