Senior recruiters can probably recall their pre-internet days when headhunting was done primarily by phone. One can only imagine all of the rolodexes, phonebooks, and paper spreadsheets involved! Nowadays, it’s much easier for candidates to get in touch with a company online, and, conversely, for employers to recruit candidates over social media platforms. It’s easy to guess which platform usually comes to mind when thinking about where best to attract candidates, but one social media site is sometimes overlooked: Pinterest.
Pinterest is known as the site where people create moodboards and explore hobbies, but it is so much more. It is the third biggest social media platform, and should be considered a useful tool that employers can use to advertise job openings and communicate their company culture.
Some facts about Pinterest:
- Last year, 250 million people used Pinterest each month.
- 83% of American women aged 25 to 54 interact with Pinterest.
- High-income and educated US households are twice as likely to use Pinterest as low-income and less educated US households.
- 78% of users say content from brands on Pinterest is useful.
- Pinterest drives 33% more traffic than Facebook, proportionately.
Pinterest is clearly a great way to access consumers, but what about candidates? In the same way companies use social media to advertise their products to their audience, an employer can use Pinterest to promote their company as an attractive place to work. Here are a few best practices:
Use Pinterest to enhance your company’s digital presence
Employers have a fantastic opportunity to give both consumers and possible future-employees an impactful first impression by having robust digital presence. It wasn’t more than a decade ago that companies in certain industries ignored social media because they didn’t perceive Facebook and other social platforms to be of any value to them, and thought having a social media presence might be “off brand”. Today, even the most conservative B2B companies use social media, including Pinterest, to reinforce their brand image – just take a look at pharma giant, Novartis! They use Pinterest to communicate the impact their research has on our health, as well as their various non-profit initiatives.
More specifically, use Pinterest to showcase your company culture
Candidates might have a good idea of the role they are applying for, and what salary they want, but they can also be concerned about something else: what it’s like to work at the company. Essentially, company culture refers to a company’s internal personality – it’s the atmosphere, the physical space, the energy, and how people work together that create the culture. It is the cumulation of shared beliefs, values, standards, and behaviours of every employee and executive.
To help communicate a company’s culture with Pinterest, consider creating an “About Us” board and pin images that depict the culture. These can include the mission statement and other statements about the company’s values. You may choose to include quotes from leadership, images of the office space, photos of people working together or eating together at events, and more. Pinterest is a great way to give someone a glimpse of what life is like at the office – from a polished and professional atmosphere where things are expected to run like a Swiss clock, to a more relaxed environment, where people collaborate while sitting on beanbag chairs.
They say a picture can speak a thousand words – here’s a great opportunity to sell your culture without saying a thing.
Need some visual inspiration? See how L’Oréal cosmetics has created boards dedicated to offices in each country.
Use different boards to feature different job openings or categories
While your “About s” board might successfully depict your company culture in general, you can also create boards for jobs openings specifically for various departments. For instance, you can create boards for R&D, Creative, Executive Team, etc etc. Build up each board with pins that depict what the department is all about – from examples of the company’s work, to infographics, statistics and lifestyle images. You may also consider starting a board called “Careers”, dedicated exclusively to promoting job openings.
Salesforce, a widely-used CRM software solution, has a board called “I love working at Salesforce b/c”. It shows real employees and the reasons they love working for the company – a smart recruiting tool indeed! Similarly, Sodexo USA, a service company, has a Pinterest board called “Careers Blog” that gives job-seekers useful career advice and links to job openings.
Drive traffic by pinning lifestyle content that relates to your company
What does a bank have to do with kitchen renovations? At first thought, not much. But explore TD Bank America’s Pinterest page, and the link is suddenly more clear. TD’s customers likely use loans to help finance their home renovations, including kitchens. Banks typically sell the dream of building a happy life, and so should their digital marketing. TD does a good job of using Pinterest to show that they support people’s dreams of building a happy home by pinning attractive images of home decor and pets – some of the most popular searches on the platform. Companies can take note, and do something similar.
For example, if your company has an office in Los Angeles, try creating an “LA Style” board and pin images of popular destinations around the city. Since millions of people use the platform for vacation inspiration, there’s a good chance they’ll stumble upon your page.
Before you get started, a few rules:
- Always use attractive, high quality images.
- Prepare your bank of images beforehand to ensure that everything is on brand.
- Always include a detailed written description.
- Make all of the images shareable by including the “Pin it” button.
- If you post original content, make sure your logo is on it.
- ALWAYS include a link to your website or job posting (where applicable).
Pinterest is easy to learn, but it does take a bit of time and practice to get the hang of it, and to learn the site’s full capabilities. Don’t have an in-house marketing team that are experts at every social media platform? No problem. Familiarize yourself by watching tutorial videos to get started, followed by online walk-throughs that are geared towards marketers. Once you get the hang of it, consider using some of your marketing budget to pay to promote pins to reach your audience more effectively.Attracting top talent should be a multi-faceted approach. You might still find the most success by calling up your trusted contacts, hosting meetups, attending industry events, and using job sites – just keep in mind that there is power in a pin!
Author
Michael Overell
Michael Overell is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in building companies, products, and teams in both startup and hyper-growth environments. Currently, he serves as a key executive at ClassDojo, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth and helping children around the world access quality education. Michael is also actively involved in investing and providing support to promising foreign founders looking to break into the US market through his work with Antipodes.
