As more of us return to office (RTO) or look to make a job change in 2023, it is fascinating to appreciate how social media is playing a greater role in employee recruitment as well as job seeking.
Emily Durham, Senior Recruiter at Intuit Canada
Recently, I had the opportunity to ask Emily Durham, Senior Recruiter at Intuit Canada, about her professional role, her TikTok presence as @emily.the.recruiter, and the ways recruiters and job seekers can make the most of social media.
Began Durham, “I always like to start off by saying that I’m pretty sure I have the best job in the world. I am a Senior Recruiter at Intuit Canada and have been with the company for just over three years and work out of our Toronto office. In a nutshell, my role is to find amazing people and connect them to incredible opportunities, which includes Engineering, Product, Sales and Marketing recruitment.”
Durham’s Social Media Platform
“When I first started my social media platform in January 2020, I never imagined it would eventually grow to a community of 500k+, globally,” said Durham.
“My first venture into the space was my podcast, The Straight Shooter Recruiter and later moved into TikTok, Instagram and YouTube,” explained Durham.
“My platforms exist to demystify career information and ultimately make it more accessible. It was driven by my passion to connect with online communities, not to boost my career at Intuit. But as my presence began to grow, I had more and more candidates responding to my LinkedIn outreach because they recognized me from my platforms, and it intrigued them to learn more about Intuit.”
A big tenet and aspect of Durham’s success comes down to ‘real’ content.
“The mission of my platform remains the same as it did on day one, but I also like to throw in content that highlights the day-to-day of my job, the culture at Intuit and daily vlogs,” shared Durham. “It gives authentic insight to what life is like at Intuit through the lens of someone my followers already trust, which has resulted in higher response rates from candidate outreach and positive recognition of Intuit as a brand tech talent loves to work for.”
Added Durham, “While I find myself in a pretty unique situation, there is a strong community of Canadian career influencers – I’m just one of the very few who still work a 9-to-5 job. I’m always asked why I still work full-time and it’s simply because I like my job too much. I see the value my content delivers for the company I work for, and Intuit is a company I genuinely believe in.”
TikTok
I asked Durham about sector or demographic fit for employee recruitment using TikTok to which Durham responded, “With TikTok hosting over 1 billion users globally, there is an opportunity to recruit talent across every industry.”
Durham added, “While technology and finance influencers have been active for years, the beauty of social media today is that this can (and will) work to identify talent in any market.”
“However, it’s important to consider what type of content will resonate best with these users, especially given 60% of TikTok users are Gen Z.”
An Evolved Job Market
It has become common to look across social media as well as websites when seeking information about a new employer. Equally, most of us are somewhat mindful about our own digital identity and footprint. Durham confirmed these observations.
“Using social media as one of your job-seeking methods is helpful,” remarked Durham.
“When looking for new opportunities, social media should be used as a method for research first and for job hunting second. These channels are more effective with providing insight into a company’s culture compared to a website and can help job seekers learn more about their potential team.”
Suggested Durham, “Following creators who showcase open roles is helpful to supplement your searches on platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed because unlike those sites, TikTok videos won’t share when a role has been filled. It’s also important to build your own online presence to align to your personal values and keep the deal-breakers in mind during your search.”
Intuit
Predictions Underpinning Greater Integration of Socials and Video in the Job Hunt
“From a careers and talent perspective, we are just at the beginning of the social boom,” shared Durham.
“With 40% of Gen Z researching topics on TikTok over other online platforms, we can expect to see these types of channels acting as a guide to navigate career decisions, networking and employer branding. This will lead to a rise in video job descriptions or more creative LinkedIn outreach, including organic content about the company,” Durham predicts.
Durham went on to say, “Successful businesses will lean into this new wave of talent and branding by empowering their people to share their stories online or engage with content creators to enrich the company’s overall storytelling.”
“Looking at the tech industry specifically, we know this group of early adopters and active social users are more likely to be influenced by social platforms or creators they trust –providing a relationship-building opportunity for recruiters and organizations alike.”
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