4 Ways To Conquer Your “Entrepreneurial Hiring Handicap”

As an entrepreneur, you are handicapped. Very few job seekers have heard of you (yet!); however, they have heard of the tons of employers with more popular brands.

But you know that.

Don’t fret: we’ve got some secret hiring weapons for you to unleash.

Have you ever heard of ReTargeter? Each of their job descriptions (e.g. ReTargeter’s Account Manager) is getting 900 to 1,800 visits (and one got 40 Facebook likes!) from around the web at very little cost. That level of traffic outpaces many of the largest brands in their industry (Internet advertising).

ReTargeter’s secret?

They have a clear focus on social recruiting: specifically, creating job descriptions that are super-shareable.

A shareable job has similar qualities to the other content (videos, websites, and photos) on the Web that you regularly share with your own social network. They are:

• Socially connectable
• Visually appealing
• User-friendly

Creating a shareable job allows your startup to be more strategic and competitive with those larger HR departments and armies of recruiters who have much larger budgets.

Here are five tips to conquer your hiring handicaps as a startup:

1. Make your careers website easy to access and user-friendly.

Big employers have a lot of stuff to show on their website. You, the entrepreneur, are new and have less to show. So, your job openings can stand out more.

For example, ReTargeter puts a “We’re Hiring!” message on the top of its website (above the header). Nothing is more annoying to job seekers than having to search for a company’s careers section.

You need to make it easy for candidates to show their interest in your company. To do this:

• Don’t make them fill out long forms — ‘A’ player job candidates won’t take the time to do this.
• Make it easy for them to contact you directly through email or a simple form.
• Offer to keep them updated on new careers at your company through some type of “Follow” function.

If you haven’t already, create a general “jobs” or “careers” email address that job seekers can use to contact you with general questions.

2. Make it easy to share the job on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The best job placements happen through referrals and networking, so why not add a social bar to each job description?

Adding links to share your job description on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will allow candidates to recommend the job to their network. This will increase referral rates and create a better job applicant pool.

Warning: If your job description is not well-written, it will rarely get shared!

3. Add a face to the job (photos and/or videos).

According to CareerBuilder, websites with video are 53 times more likely to show up on the first page of a Google search. After all, what ads do you know of that do not benefit from visuals? Yet large, established brands are slow to utilize video or pictures in their job descriptions.

You are more nimble and can use video and photos in your job description to show off your awesome culture! Include photos and/or videos of the hiring manager, the team, the office space (it probably looks a lot cooler than the offices of Halliburton!), and company parties.

4. Enable “Connectability”

If you’ve already completed steps one through three, this step shouldn’t be too difficult.

Entrepreneurs must leverage the social graph to help candidates map their “connectability” to you and your community. To enable connectability, utilize widgets supplied by LinkedIn, Facebook, or other third parties to do it for you.

Entrepreneurs think outside of the box, create innovative solutions to new problems, and reinvent old business models. So why wouldn’t your hiring process be conducted with the same vigor and strategy?

In this way, you will attract talent with similar spirit and drive that will serve as a solid foundation to grow your business.

What other ways can entrepreneurs attract top talent to their businesses using social media?