TikTok as a Recruitment Tool? Here’s What You Need to Know!

If someone told you that a trendy social media platform for uploading dance snippets would become the most downloaded application in the world, you probably would have shrugged it off as a far-fetched idea.  But then, TikTok happened.

Initially dominated by Gen Z, TikTok now boasts more than one billion monthly active users from all age groups exploring its app, including businesses looking for new talent. 

If you want to jump onto the wagon of using TikTok as a test tool for reaching out to new job candidates, keep reading.

All You Need to Know About TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing application with the highest social media rates  that allows users to create up to three-minute clips on topics of their choice. It is the seventh  most widely used platform globally, with its customer age demographics ranging between 16 and 49 years. More than 40% of users are under the age of 25. 

What makes it different from other social media platforms is its focus on creating a shared experience that is not overly professional, which is also why recruiters have become increasingly popular. 

But that’s not all.

• TikTok is highly collaborative and lets you convene circles of creators with similar talents. 
• You get to see all the new and exciting ways of creating good content, what skills are topping the charts, and where you want to invest your time and effort as a recruiter. 
• It helps humanize your organization, making it more grounded and approachable, which most people look for today.
• It helps you optimize your brand’s digital presence by telling you about trending discussion topics, creating brand awareness, and giving you new content and social media contest ideas to help you build constant engagement on your page.
• It lets you understand the candidate personally, beyond just some words on a piece of paper.

While all this sounds great, none of these points will be successful if, as a recruiter, you don’t know where to start or how to catch the attention of the world’s largest demographic. 

Using TikTok as a Recruiting Tool

TikTok is overflowing with tech-savvy, creative, energetic, and focused candidates. 

As a broadcasting tool, it comes in handy if you are looking at hiring people who want to launch their careers in the social media space  or existing artists and creators looking to showcase their talents. 

However, there’s more to cracking the code of getting you started using the platform as your partner in recruitment. 

1. Plug It into Your Hiring Strategy Goals

Your hiring strategy defines your pathway to reaching the right candidates for your company, and TikTok offers you that chance by giving you a fresh pool of talent to choose from. 

What you need to do as your first step is define your end goals. For instance, if you’re a fintech company trying to hire a developer, your hiring strategy should revolve around three factors:

• Showing the fun side of being a developer
• Talking more about how finance and technology are shaping the future 
• Telling people more about how your company is at the center of these innovations

These points will help you create a hiring strategy that will bring you focused results and candidates that fit your bill perfectly. 

2. Keep an Eye on Your Competition

You might be new to the club, but companies like Target, Shopify, and WWE have been using TikTok as an active recruiting platform for years now. TikTok users like short and engaging human resource videos, which work effectively on this platform. You can also send such videos to other potential applicants on LinkedIn and Facebook or email them because an average user reads 63 emails daily .

Chipotle became one of the first restaurants to start its recruitment by posting its hiring video on TikTok. Similarly, Contra came up with TikTok jumps, a new-age way of showcasing professional resumes, a significant brand booster for this remote-work platform. 

Map out these companies as your competitors and understand how they’ve utilized the platform to their advantage. Take hints from what worked out for them and what didn’t go as planned, and then take it from there.

3. Target the Right Audience

In today’s age, you need to come across as an organization that offers a great work culture and an easy-going environment, especially if you wish to tap talent from a platform like TikTok. 

That being said, with more options comes to the added responsibility of choosing wisely. You need a thorough understanding of the kind of person you’re looking for. 

Follow the correct hashtags and use them while posting your content. Say you’re posting a new job. Your hashtags, in this case, would be #opentowork, #worklife, #jobtips, and so on. You can use a hashtag generator tool to expand your reach.

Pro-tip: Research the hashtags trending in your niche and create a database to save time. Keep this sheet updated and add new hashtags as required.  

Another trick that might come in handy is the For You feature, which allows you to track new users in your niche. It is an incredible way to monitor emerging trends and creators that saves time and effort. 

4. Increase Your Reach 

Now that you know your goals and have your market landscape planned out, it is time to involve finances and take your strategy to the next level. 

While nothing beats the importance of creating valuable content, you need a few promotional tools to fall back on to gain attention on the platform. TikTok advertising lets you reach a broader audience genuinely interested in following your content.

Use the feature to achieve a loyal follower base and build on that by providing authentic content. The aim is to keep the engagement going and give your customers something new to look forward to. 

End Thoughts

Swamped with great talent and unique skills, as spontaneous as TikTok might look, it requires meticulous planning to catch the nerve of the platform. 

Work through an understanding of its users and your requirements, learn more about initiatives like TikTok resumes, and watch the market closely to become successful at recruiting talent from TikTok.

Once you get the hang of things, you’ll be surprised by how much the platform has to offer. 

Roman Shvydun is the content marketer at Mailbird.

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