Now that every one is talking social , and almost every one is on Facebook, we are gradually seeing a number of corporates setting up a Careers page on Facebook. We had a look at some of these pages and have been wondering as to how these pages may be adding value to the business.
Some questions and counter arguments that surfaced as a first thought, on the case of corporate career pages on Facebook:
- Are these about corporate branding or employer branding ? (If so can’t the regular corporate presence page on Facebook serve the purpose !! Can the Career page be integrated with the main corporate page on Facebook)
- Are these about sharing information on the company culture, company’s success stories etc. ? (Related to the corporate branding and employer branding question)
- Are these about displaying job openings and soliciting interest from prospective applicants ?
- Are these a question & answer board for prospective applicants ? (How do you ensure that the quality of followers and the quality of questions that come up leads to meaningful engagement ?)
Another set of questions that come by on the need and purpose of a Facebook Career Page for your business:
- Can it help you to attract quality talent ? (Does not seem so, its just a communication platform and allows an employer to connect with and engage with potential job seekers, others who are interested in the company ? Most of the posts as seen in career pages of various companies related to promoting the job postings on career site, and hiring events like – campus visits, walk ins etc.)
- Can it help you to serve the information needs of prospective job applicants adequately ? (Ideally it should, but the information needs of prospective job applicants are at times extremely simplistic and commonsensical that possibly people maintaining the pages place a stock reply or ignore the questions entirely.)
While browsing through the corporate career pages of some business we could ascertain the following, as visible in the timeline/ wall:
- There are posts about news, updates, and stories about events , achievements related to the business. (This objective is simple to achieve, though has to be done in a planned manner.)
- Employee appreciation, achievements – allowing visitors / fans to feel that company appreciates its people. (Informs on the work environment, culture etc.)
- There are posts and stories related to Campus engagement / Internships & related announcements.
- Posts promoting Job Openings with Links to Job Portals, Career page on the corporate web site.
- Posts with Work place / and employer branding & culture promoting videos. (Well made videos and posts displaying humor / fun / and a lively workplace can be good.)
What about “building” engagement ?
Building engagement can be challenging. With regards to engagement and participation from fans / followers / Face bookers – the likes are “just Likes” and most of them are from campus graduates and random job seekers. Some of these may not even be having an idea as to why they are following a company’s career page. For the followers who are actually engaged and interested to some extent – conversation is normally about – “I want a job in you company” or “I am having a tech degree and want a job in finance “ etc. Select comments and posts relate to information request on specific career opportunities and hiring plans etc. The concept of engagement, meaningful and informative conversation mostly goes missing.
We could really not see companies answering to questions meaningfully, and we could also not trace page followers asking meaningful questions. If that’s the case , what purpose is addressed ? If some one is really interested in learning more about a company – a simple Google search, visit to the corporate web site, visit to career site of the business is adequate. Why should some one like the Facebook page of a company and follow the updates ?
What should be your expectation as an employer or a business from a Facebook Careers page ?
Two of the “purposes” we liked in our scan of the Facebook career pages of some leading brands:
The E&Y Career Page places the following statement as the purpose – “ Facebook allows us to share the EY experience with people who are interested in the firm, and creates a way for interns and employees to stay in touch with one another.The group provides a forum for people to share their questions, experiences, and comments regarding the Firm, and we can let you know when we’re coming to your campus for “Meet the Firms” nights, career fairs, on-campus interviews and other events. “
The GE India Careers page states – “ This page is meant to provide a positive, engaging community where forward-thinking individuals can join the conversation around innovation and careers in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, as well as GE and its products.”
Now, both the above purposes seem well documented and presents a purpose and objective that’s doable to a good extent. Building an “engaging community where forward-thinking individuals can join the conversation “ is however challenging.
In our search to ascertain how a business should drive engagement and some meaningful agenda around its Facebook Career page, some of these come out very clear and is easily doable:
- Posting updates related to business, branding , employer branding, employee success stories etc.
- Postings on key hiring plans , internships, people practices, culture etc.
- Possibly an App linked to the Career Postings for the business (Example: PepsiCo Facebook Page on career possibilities)
The above are easily done, and can be carried out by any one maintaining the FB Career page for the business.
Next comes the engagement side where in one would expect the businesses to address queries filed by employees. We feel this is a strong platform for the company to engage with prospective job applicants and field their questions regarding work practices, job openings etc.
Concerns: Most of the queries seem too simplistic / generic and nonsensical – For example: If some one is looking at a job and the query is – “How do I get a job in your company ? “. Of course these kind of questions cannot be answered in specific terms , and the page managers will have to place a stock reply – like – “Check out the career site for new openings and apply”.
Ideally the concept of engagement is two sided – one needs to ask meaningful and relevant questions to get meaningful and relevant answers. So if some one asks – “What’s the campus hiring plan for the next year ?” or “Do you visit xxxx Campus ..” or “Does your company have a sabbatical policy ?” etc. , these questions can be replied to and well can be informative for others browsing through as well.
We feel in either case – there has to be some response from the business side – just to ensure that some one is listening to the posts. No response form the page managers / employers side does not serve a purpose.
See if you can involve the employees:
If you can identify some engagement champions from amongst employees, who can respond to some specific queries in an informative manner , the same if executed well may ensure engagement as well as employer branding. This concept can help create a typical community where in the visitors to the page feel free to ask good questions and they have an assurance that some of these will be fielded by “real employees” and not just some one managing the page.
To build engagement, the pages also need to be able to attract mature followers, with an visible objective to just follow a page for updates and to learn about the company and its practices. Not many senior , experienced professionals would be following a career page of a company, if its about jobs postings etc. In case some of the content and post are engaging, informative there may be potentially relevant and senior professionals or other non job seekers following the page. For Example: We love the videos and posts on 247 Customer page. There are social messages, posts related to hiring events, posts about work life , work culture etc. The discussions and comments seem to have a balanced participation of employer – page manager, employees, and other followers. Seems to go well with their ever lasting need for energetic young talent who look forward to a fun culture. One of the posts on Unilever Career page talks about tips on interviewing. Another one has a mention of the pictures of their various offices. These types of posts can interest any one , they can be informative and also serve the need for normal browsing pleasure.
Now every company or business may have a different purpose for a Facebook Career page for their business. You need to take a call on your businesses needs and expectations from the same.
Meanwhile you can check out some of the Facebook career pages maintained by these corporates: 24/7 Customer, Verizon Wireless , Abbott,Shell, Capgemini ,E&Y, Dell,Hyatt,Unilever,Mircosoft,Hyundai,GE India,GSK,Aviva,HP,GE,3M,Wipro,
We welcome you to share your thoughts on the above theme. You are welcome to add to the comments or send us your message by e-mail.
Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.