By Phil Treagus-Evans
I'll start with something possibly unwise to admit on a recruitment website: I’m not a huge fan of the phrase "human resources". I know plenty of brilliant people who work under that heading, and I understand where it came from. But calling people a resource has always sat a bit oddly with me, and I only risk mentioning it because I believe that the same instinct explains why so much recruitment social media fails so miserably. It treats candidates as something to process rather than real people to talk to, who might be in a vulnerable spot looking for work.
Scroll through most recruitment agency feeds, and you'll see what I mean. Senior Accountant, Leeds, £45-50k, hybrid, apply now. Attached to the caption is the same graphic they used on Wednesday, but someone has logged into Canva and changed Manchester to Leeds. Social becomes a jobs board, and not a very good one, because the actual job boards at least let you filter by location. Social media is supposed to be just that – social. Have you ever seen someone stood in front of a physical jobs board having a chat? No. Well, I really hope not.
Meanwhile, the consultants behind those feeds answer the same handful of questions every week. What does it really pay? Is the hybrid bit genuine, or is it "hybrid" in inverted commas? How many interviews are there? Will I hear anything if I don't get it? Those answers are far more useful to a candidate than another vacancy post, but almost nobody puts them on social. The last question about hearing after the process is maybe the biggest of all. Onrec's own analysis of 800,000-plus interview reports found ghosting is the most common complaint candidates make about hiring.
Show it, don't say it
A lot of our work at Giraffe is employer brand content, helping organisations work out what would genuinely make someone want to work there and then making social content that proves it. The line we use with clients more than any other is show, don't tell. Any company can post that it has a great culture, and, in fact, most companies do. I have yet to stumble upon a company that claims to have an awful culture. Candidates are looking for evidence beyond mere words. Real photos and videos of real employees demonstrating real culture.
Recruiters have the same problem in a different shape. Plenty of agencies say they put candidates first. Very few show what that looks like. Imagine a recruitment agency's social feed that celebrated successful candidate placements with testimonials as much as it listed new job opportunities. How refreshing would that be? The simplest way to show the care you have for your candidates is to answer the questions they are already asking, in public, before they have to ask.
“The simplest way to show the care you have for your candidates is to answer the questions they are already asking, in public, before they have to ask.”
Phil Treagus-Evans, co-founder and CEO, Giraffe Social
Start with what you're asked
For one week, have each consultant note every question a candidate asks before applying or early in the process, written the way the candidate said it. By Friday you'll have a list full of questions, many repeating themselves, which is exactly what you want.
Most of it falls into five groups: the process; the practical details (pay, hours, flexibility, location) that can be shared; who the role suits; and when people will hear back. Each of those is a post, or potentially even a series of posts.
Write one answer per post, in plain language, then hand it to the consultant who answers that question on the phone and let them check it before it goes live. They'll spot the line that's true for most roles but wrong for this month's client, and the promise nobody can keep. Then put their name on it. A post from Sam, who places finance roles in the Midlands, reads very differently from one signed by the logo, and candidates can message Sam if they want more.
Be clear about where general guidance stops and a specific vacancy starts ("this is how it works for most of the roles I recruit", then a link to the live vacancy page). Anything touching employment rights or eligibility to work belongs with the client or a proper source, not in a caption.
Here's the sort of post I mean. It's illustrative rather than from a real agency:
What actually happens after you click apply?
I get asked this most weeks, so here's the honest version for the roles I recruit.
You'll hear from me within two working days, either a call to talk it through or a message to say it isn't the right fit this time.
If we get the chance to speak, I'll ask what you want from your next role, not just what's on your CV. Before I put you forward anywhere, I'll tell you who the client is and how their process works, and I won't send your details without your OK.
Timelines vary by client, so you'll get a realistic date from me rather than a hopeful one, and I'll tell you if it slips.
Role details are on the vacancy page. Questions? Message me.
Sam, Senior Consultant
There's no vacancy in it, just an honest answer and a person to ask. This sends a clear signal to potential candidates that this is an organisation that listens, cares and helps. Not because they are saying they do, but because they’re already helping me with their social content.
The transactional trap
One of my pet hates is the recruiter who dives straight in. No hello, no interest in the business, just "I've got these people, do you want them?" It's a tone, and it's surprisingly easy to spot on a feed as well as in an inbox. Candidates notice when every post is a sales pitch for a role, and none of them suggests anyone cares what happens to the person after they're placed. It feels cold and exclusively transactional.
The usual culprits are easy to fix once you look for them. "Fast-paced" and "like a family" tell a candidate nothing, and quite a few read them as warnings. Vacancy posts that stay up for weeks after the role has been filled suggest nobody's checking, and that attention to detail isn't a quality to expect from this organisation. Comments left unanswered are worse, because a question hanging in public is an answer of its own and everyone scrolling past can read it. And "we reply to every applicant" is a lovely line right up until someone who never heard back comments calling it out for what it is.
Measure it, but don't worship the numbers
It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway): you should track the usual things: link clicks to role pages, engagement on answer posts, saves, and messages that start "I saw your post about...". Keep the question log going too, because if the questions you've answered start coming up less, or come up better informed, the content is doing its job. And check how long comments wait for a reply.
But it’s important to remember that a lot of the impact you’re having won’t show up in the monthly report. Plenty of people will look at your feed before they apply and never touch a thing. No like, no comment, no click. They're checking it as a little portfolio of what dealing with you might be like. A RateMyPlacement survey of 2,000 graduates found that 42% consider a company's social media presence important when deciding where to apply, and that kind of research rarely shows up in your analytics. The easiest way to catch it is to ask. Add "did you have a look at our social channels before you got in touch?" to first calls and write down the answers. It's a crude measure, but it's honest, and it'll tell you more than an engagement rate.
So have a look at what your team got asked this week. Whatever came up most is your first post, and it'll do more for you than another "apply now".
Author Bio
Phil Treagus-Evans is co-founder and CEO of Giraffe Social, a professional services marketing agency that specialises in human-first social media. Giraffe helps brands put their people at the heart of their social media, so customers and candidates see what they're really like. Phil is also the author of the Amazon bestseller Human-First Marketing: The Art of Being Seen, Trusted and Remembered.
