Facebook may be the most underused social media recruiting method available today. But, for the home care market, it’s a valuable tool you shouldn’t overlook. Facebook has over 2.1 billion active users and it is one of the under-utilized methods of recruiting employees.
Recruitment and retention are something that all organizations sometimes struggle with- and none more than home care. The good news is Facebook is helping to evolve recruiting. They’ve upgraded tools to make it easier for recruiters and candidates to find each other.
Why you should recruit caregivers on Facebook
Currently, there are more than 46 million adults over age 65 in the United States. Census Bureau experts believe there will be over 90 million by 2050. With statistics like that, the demand for home care workers will increase dramatically.
1. Wide reach of candidates
* There are 79% of job seekers that use social media to look for jobs on Facebook.
* There are 2.19 billion monthly active users and 1.3 billion active daily users on the platform.
* Facebook users are more active than any other social media platform. People are uploading 350 million photos daily, 20 million friend requests are sent, there are 3 million messages exchanged, and over 1 million links shared with 55 million status updates daily.
2. Low recruitment expenses
* Craigslist – Not as effective as it used to be but it is still cheaper than other option ranging from $25 to $75
* Monster – A 30-day post listing costs $375
* CareerBuilder – A 30-day post listing is $419 monthly
* SimplyHired – A basic job posting starts at $99 for 30 days
In comparison posting on your business page or your personal page is free on Facebook. We will get into the costs for paid ads in the next few paragraphs but rest assured, still much more affordable than these other options.
3. High shared posts referral rates
By posting your job listing on your personal and business pages you are exposing the listing to others including employees, friends etc who share these posts to others, increasing the chance of employee recruitment. To even increase the possibilities of your post reaching candidates, you can tag employees or friends that have a high number of friends on their pages.
4. Fast sourcing: Job ads take a while to get good leads, with facebooks once you post the job listing you can instantly start getting referrals in a matter of minutes.
3 Steps to recruiting on Facebook
1. Create a Facebook business page
2. Update your Facebook page with your company culture: add pictures, company info, etc
3. Create a job post that appeals to your target audience by writing a good copyright about the job position and the benefits that will entice candidates. Include visuals and a “call to action” for example, “Apply Now,” “Learn More.”
There are 4 main ways to use Facebook as a recruiting tool for home care workers.
1. Keep an active personal Facebook page
2. Keep an active Facebook business page
3. Post open jobs on the platform
4. Get involved with Facebook groups
1. Your Facebook Page
When considering employment with your organization one of the first things potential employees do is conduct online research about your business. They’ll do much of that research on Facebook.
Ensure that you have a Facebook business page and highlight your business in the best possible light. This is an excellent place to showcase your workplace culture and get your employees involved. Through a post on your business page, you can highlight what makes you unique, the benefits you offer and why it’s a good place to work.
You should also set up a section on Frequently Asked Questions and allow company reviews to send the message about your business values and show what your clients and staff think about the organization.
This will show candidates that you listen, share information, and are proud of your culture. Those are things that will inspire candidates to learn more.
2. Post Jobs on Your Company Page
Once your business page looks great and showcases all the most essential information candidates are looking for, it’s a good idea to start creating job posts for your openings.
Once you create a job on Facebook, they’ll show it on your business page and to candidates searching for jobs on Facebook Marketplace. With that combination, your job post can reach more than 800 million people who are actively searching for jobs every month.
There are many benefits for employers and candidates with Facebook job posts.
• Candidates can apply on desktop or mobile
• They don’t need to leave the app, and it takes only a few clicks to apply
• Recruiters can track and review applications, contact applicants, and schedule interviews with Facebook Messenger
• Facebook job posts make it easy for employees and team members to share posts
Facebook Job Posting Tips
With Facebook jobs, you’re able to include job details, a job description, and a location that makes it visible to more people in your area.
In the job post, you should highlight the position and benefits. Benefits could be salary range, growth opportunities, employee perks like fitness discounts, or anything you believe will entice candidates. It’s good to keep the post text concise and lead them to a landing page on your website for all the details.
Make sure your post is actionable and includes a call-to-action asking the candidate to “apply now,” “share with friends,” or “learn more.” Find step-by-step instructions on Facebook.
3. Create a paid ad campaign for job postings
With the minimum reach of organic social media posts, meaning only 1 – 5% of your audience sees your posts, you’ll see results much faster by promoting them.
There are 3 steps to setting up an effective ad campaign:
1. Campaign details: what is the objective for the ad? Set this correctly informs Facebook algorithms exactly what goal you are trying to accomplish. Choose either reach or traffic. Reach means u you our goal is to reach as many people as possible. Traffic means your goal is to get as many people to visit your job link as possible.
2. Ad set details: This means who are you targeting? Think about the types of people who would be interested in this ad. Where are they located, how old are they? What are their interests? What are their job titles?
3. Ad details: If you have created an ad for your personal page you can use it here or you can create a whole new ad.
Ad Goals
After you have published the ad expect to wait at least 24 hours to see how well it performs. Your goals for the ad should be:
1. Low cost per click
2. High relevance score
3. High number of page views
4. Join and Share in Facebook Groups
Facebook has various home care worker groups that could be excellent places to share information about the industry, your organization, and your job posting.
Many groups have rules, so ensure you’re following them. You’ll want to avoid being over promotional in-groups, which is the most common reason group administrators ban users.
You can find groups using the Facebook search function. You can even filter by location and specific interests or specialties. Find step-by-step instructions on Facebook.
Facebook group tips:
1. Join local groups by searching for home care groups in (in your city or state), search for caregivers (in your city or state), home health aide (in your city or state)
2. Add value to the group. Do nothing only take from the group, engage and answer questions at least once a week
3. Post your job listing in the group
4. You can also search these groups for caregivers who might be looking for work
For these reasons and more, using Facebook to recruit more caregivers is a valuable option to have in your arsenal and one that you shouldn’t overlook.
