Recruitment agencies and corporate recruiters are all over social media, identifying and attracting the talent they (or their clients) need. Recruitment marketers spend significant resources pimping up Linkedin / Facebook Pages, producing cool Insta / Twitter streams, enabling prompt job-related online chats, etc.

Awesome!

Observing the current breadth and depth of social in recruitment might lead you to think that it is self-sufficient to place candidates (e.g. filling a temp role over Messenger) as well as build candidate loyalty in the long term. In this scenario, the recruiter’s brand experience IS the interaction over a specific channel.

I reckon this will be the case only on a number of occasions.

Rather, social apps are the spokes of a business’ online marketing; but there is still a need for a hub, a home base to stimulate a deeper, more familiar - dare I say special - connection between company and potential employee and applicant. This hub is your agency website or corporate careers site.

When I look at the recruitment marketing ecosystem for agencies and employers, I feel there is a strong risk of over-investing in social and undernourishing your website. The best way to test that for your own particular situation might be to ask:

Can you sustain and enhance the buzz generated by your social presence when your visitors reach your website?
This is how I see the risk of this imbalance of investment between social and your website.

Imagine you go to a great, glitzy bar: perfect music and lighting, sophisticated people all over, amazing atmosphere. You’re so in your element playing the part to perfection, in the company of a few friends who just add to your comfort and confidence.

Suddenly across the room, you grab someone’s attention; in an instant, they come into focus for you as well. You approach, say hi, and spend the next few hours enjoying amazing moments of conversation, laughter, connection.

It’s late now. you hear the call for a last round, but you and your soulmate don’t want to leave yet; both of you want to know more of each other. A coffee down the road to continue the chat, and then you pop the question: “Come to my place?”

At that moment (or before you say the words) you think: In which condition will this person find my apartment? When did I last vacuum? What is in the fridge other than milk?

I am hopeful you know where I am going with this…

If you engage job seekers (and clients) on social, and they are gracious to connect, and generous enough to give you their time, and finally accept your invitation to your place - your company website - What they find there? Will your site help you grow closer to them or will they be let down because it is not a shiny as you appeared at the bar?

Stills from Wong Kar-Wai's movie "In The Mood for Love" (2000)