Posted by We all know that employers use social data to select the best job candidates. But can job seekers benefit from social data when it comes to finding the best employer?
Companies extensively use social media to find the best candidates for a job. They invest millions of dollars in what is called the employer brand – a formal definition of an employer’s online image.
Today, you can hardly find any company that is not on social media or any other online resource. And that is the reality because:
- 95% of the companies believe that their employer brand and online reputation has a great impact on the company’s revenue
- 9 of 10 job candidates are more likely to apply for a job that comes from an actively maintained employer brand
- 50% of candidates refuse to work with a company that has a bad online reputation
Companies choose social platforms to build their employer brand for a reason. Not only does social media allow them to access billions of people, but they also provide them with social data analytics, which is very important for building a strong employer brand.
This social data can be beneficial for job seekers as well.
Social Data and Its Benefits for Job Seekers
Social data support a company’s marketing strategies and tactics to improve employer brand. For a job seeker, social data can give important details when researching a potential employer.
What does social data include?
Social data encompasses a wide variety of different sources of information. Social data is raw data, which comes in big volumes, is constantly updated, and includes:
- demographics and biographical data
- feedback (comments, shares, likes) and shared links
Simply put, it’s any information that is shared by the users of social platforms. How can job seekers benefit from social data?
Today, it’s a norm to share feedback online. Former employees eagerly discuss their employers online, and if you consider a company for future employment, you can dig a lot of useful details from social data, shared online.
But that’s not all. Here are more ways how you can use social data to find the best employers.
1. A Hashtag as a Source of Social Data
Start researching your potential employers with different hashtags.
A hashtag is the fastest route that connects you with the best employers online, helping you track their activity and check their employment offers.
Companies often use hashtags to announce vacancies. This helps them reach more people and attract the attention of the best candidates. Flatfy, an international real estate company, used the combination of #realestate and #vacancy to attract the attention of job seekers in the relevant field.
There’s a particular methodology of how companies select hashtags to announce vacancies. Hashtags are chosen according to their performance (how many people they can reach). For instance, here’s the performance of Flatfy’s hashtags #realestate:
and #vacancy:
As a job seeker, you can also try different combinations of hashtags to find the best employer for you. For instance, here are the results for a combination of #Microsoft and #vacancy on Twitter:
You’ll be able to see posts from different people that use the same hashtags to share information. This social data is very helpful for job seekers, as it allows you to learn more about the employer.
2. Online Feedback Platforms and Social Data
Often, valuable social data can be found in the least obvious places.
Did you know that you can select the best employers by simply reading feedback on Google Reviews?
You can already judge a company by how they treat online reviews, which their customers leave on Google Reviews. By quickly going through these responses, you can see how the company generally treats their clients, and decide whether it corresponds with your corporate values work ethics.
If you’re looking for the experience shared by employees, take a look at a company’s profile on online feedback platforms like Glassdoor. There, former as well as current employees share their experience on what it’s like to work for a particular company:
You can compare positive and negative comments, read general information about the company, and even check out the company’s rate as an employer according to Glassdoor.
All in all, employee feedback on websites like Glassdoor and customer feedback on Google are the source of social data that can help you do extensive research on a potential employer.
3. Accessing Social Data via Online Job Markets
Online job markets provide the most relevant information about employers and their current job openings. They also share updated links through, which job seekers can use to reach employers and their social pages. Shared links are also a form of social data that can redirect you to relevant resources, where you can find out more about a potential employer.
Here’s an example, how we at Jobstore share social data about employers:
Besides relevant links that connect you with a potential employer, at online job markets you can also find out more about:
- the requirements of working at a certain company
- company overview
- perks and benefits of working for a certain company
Online job markets always share relevant social data, as they check the relevancy and credibility of the companies. Thus, we highly recommend you to include the research of online job markets when looking for the best employers.
In Conclusion
While employers use social data to create strong employer brands and attract the best candidates, job seekers can benefit from social data as well to find the best employers.
For the best search results, try using the above-mentioned tips together. Online feedback platforms and job markets will provide you with the most up-to-date business data and provide you with current and former employee experiences, while hashtags will guide you to the most relevant employment updates from an employer you are interested in.
Leave us your thoughts on the comment sections below. Head over to Jobstore.com and unveil your next job opportunity.
Ryan is a passionate writer who likes sharing his thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, he works as a digital marketing specialist, you can check his website. He likes everything related to traveling and new countries.