7 Ways Workplace Transparency Helps You Hire

People are sharing a lot of information these days. They share their daily activities with their friends on Facebook, post photos of their latest vacation on TripAdvisor, rate their latest dining experience on Yelp and now, they’re reviewing their jobs and companies on Glassdoor. Workplace transparency is quickly becoming the new normal as information-hungry job seekers expect to know more than ever about a job before joining a company.

But what can employers do with all this information that’s been shared about their company? How can recruiters and HR use workplace transparency to make quality hires?

 7 Steps to Use Workplace Transparency That Will Help You Hire:

1. Know Everything That Is Being Said About You—Good, Bad & Ugly

You must be the master of your own brand, and in the age of technology that means researching online what is being said about you. You never want to be caught by surprise when someone knows something about your company that you do not. Check online news sites as well as websites like Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Glassdoor and any relevant blogs or forums. What do people often say about your company? Are there any consistent themes? Do the messages change with the audience? What are the good things being said about your company and the not so good things?

2. Know Who Sees Your Message

Once you get a sense of how you are perceived, figure out who you are perceived by. What is your follower base like on social networks? Who is visiting your company’s careers site, your Facebook page, your Glassdoor company profile and so on? There are many free tools (e.g. Google analytics or the Glassdoor Employer Center) which help you assess your audience in different channels and knowing your audience helps you refine your message.

3. Assess What Parts of Your Brand’s Job Seekers Are Receptive To

Of the messages out there and the audience receiving them, determine what is working well, and what could be improved. Where are there disconnects? Do you have activity among your target job seekers? Where is engagement strongest and what about that message is so compelling? Measure your audience, activity and messages to assess your current state of transparency.

4. Develop a social recruiting plan

Now that you know what is working, do more of it. Develop a social recruiting plan that outlines who you need to hire, when you need to hire, where you need to hire, and insert that message in the proper channels and tone you’ve seen success with elsewhere. If you know the message that works, what gets attention and where it gets attention, you can bet on a higher level of engagement.

6. Track and measure ongoing performance

Are your new messages working better in the same channels? Are they working better elsewhere? Is your audience engaging any differently and are there ways you could be capitalizing further? The more analytics-based you become in your assessment of your own performance, the more proof points you have to show for what is working and what isn’t. Do more of what works then assess and keep refining.

7. Enable Transparency among Employees

Enable your employees, stakeholders and others to share the messages you’ve worked hard to evaluate and create and breed transparency within your organization.

Taking time to evaluate, understand and tap into workplace transparency can be your greatest opportunity for pushing your recruiting efforts to the next level. Remember job seekers want information from employers, employees and all those in the know about what it’s like to work at a company before they make a career decision. Feed that hunger for information and you’re more likely to be first in line for the informed, savvy candidates you seek.

Lisa Holden, Glassdoor employer engagement manager, has spent the better part of a decade helping companies manage their public brand and reputation, and has extensive experience working in the technology and employment industries. Follow her on Twitter @L_Holden. 

SmartRecruiters is the hiring platform with everything you need to source talent, manage candidates, and make the right hires. Photo Credit AMagill.