Can Pinterest Work for Recruiters?

Looking for fall decor ideas? Pinterest is your site. Planning a wedding? Pin away. Looking for candidates? See you later Pinterest.While extremely popular, Pinterest is often looked at as just a fun, mindless way to pass time. Sure, it's a great marketing platform for dress shops and craft stores, but most service-based businesses struggle to see Pinterest as a viable marketing channel.But don't immediately discount it. Pinterest CAN and HAS worked for both direct hire and contract staffing recruiters, and it may help you add contacts to your recruiting software as well. Here are a few ideas to get you started:A Sourcing SourceYou can find a wealth of information on Pinterest that can't be found on other social networks with just a few simple search terms. Recruiter.com recommends searching Pinterest for terms such as "resume," "cv," and "portfolio." This is especially useful if you are filling creative positions, such as graphic artists and web designers, who often share their work via Pinterest. And as Sharlyn Lauby points out in a blog recently posted on Mashable, Pinterest allows you to see what potential candidates are interested in based on what they are pinning. Plus, you can see who else shares their interests, further expanding your talent pipeline.Brand, Don't SellNiche recruiting firm PediaStaff may be the biggest recruiting success story on Pinterest. With over 63,000 followers and 22,339 pins, PediaStaff's Pinterest account has become a go-to destination for pediatric therapists, particularly in school settings. As a result, it is the biggest source of traffic to PediaStaff's website, according to Heidi Kay, the firm's Partner and resident social media expert. But if you look at their pin boards, you will find very few pins about specific jobs or about PediaStaff as a firm. Instead, they have established themselves as a resource for therapists who are searching for classroom ideas to keep kids engaged and learning. About 60% of PediaStaff's pins are from web searches Kay runs to find new material. The other 40% comes from repinning content she finds on Pinterest."On Pinterest, and in all social media, it is important that you make most of your message about your followers and not about you," Kay said. "Once you develop a loyal following, you can get good marketing opportunities to discuss your job openings, placements, etc. It's important to strike a balance so your followers don't feel like you are advertising yourself too heavily, but on the other hand, it does need to be your ultimate mission to make them think of YOU for jobs in their field. You don't want to be the guy who ran the Super Bowl ad that was hilarious but noone could remember what they were selling."Consider your audienceIf the candidates you are seeking aren't on Pinterest, it doesn't matter how good your content is. Pinterest users in the United States are still 83% female, according to Recruiter.com So if you are courting a predominately male workforce, Pinterest may not be for you. Twenty-five percent of Pinterest users have a bachelors or graduate degree, so it may not be the best medium for executive roles. But it is a good place to source candidates for positions in education, sales, healthcare support, and management."Pinterest works when there is regular content to be found on the internet that would interest a candidate or hiring authority," Kay said. "Candidates that work for companies that sell mass market consumable goods, specific lifestyles or services would be a good fit. Teachers, Marketing and Sales Reps and Health Care professionals love Pinterest. Manufacturing Engineers - probably not so much."So Pinterest may not be for everyone. But don't assume it's not for you. Look at your candidate pool. Consider what they are interested in and what tools they need to do their job. Can you help provide those tools? If you can establish yourself as a resource for candidates, guess who they will think of next time they are looking for a job?