The CV is now a very old fashioned way of understanding what personality and talents a candidate has – nowadays it’s all about Twitter feeds, Instagram photos and Pinterest boards. Pinterest boasts over 12 million users and (according to RJMetrics) is retaining and engaging users as much as 2 to 3 times as efficiently as Twitter was at a similar time in its history. The site is also responsible for sending more referral traffic to websites and blogs than Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn all combined – so could be a great source for initially attracting talent to your job spots.

New Position? New Board!

Pinterest users can create boards to organise their photos into different themes and events, so when you have a new job to fill – create a new board! Fill it up with ‘pins’ (which can be photos or videos) that explain your job in interesting ways – a good example is when Work Club were looking for a new Creative Director:

They used images and graphics from popular films (such as Jaws and Saving Private Ryan) as well as some of their own branding to tell a story of the job, instead of just one simple graphic full of words. You want a user to stumble across the board and have a something to follow – something that is interesting, amusing and trendy (trendy is what Pinterest is all about).

However, boards don’t have to just be used for jobs. You could create boards that show the perfect elements of an employee at your company (or the perfect elements that you want to see from a candidate), or a board that gives a photographic tour of your office, introduces the members of your team (or recruitment team – especially if people are going to be engaging with them during the process) – the possibilities are endless! Why not promote your company’s culture and values through Pinterest?

Be Creative, Trendy and Social

When pinning to Pinterest, use both types of media available – photos and video – and make sure that they are different to each other. Pinterest is all about getting repins (the same as retweets on Twitter) and being trendy. The biggest demographic of users is woman aged 25-34, so post the job boards, but also make yourself relevant to Pinterest – make some boards about fashion trends, travel trends etc.

As with all social platforms – you need to be social! As well as creating boards and posting jobs, make sure you comment, like and re-pin other users content. That way you may even catch the attention of a possible candidate, who will check out your boards and maybe follow you.

Links and Description

One of the best features of Pinterest is the linking feature – and use it to your best ability. Above every pin, there is a ‘from’ link (seen right), which will link to an outer website. In the example to the left, it links to the workshop page that the video promotes (Pinterest shortens all web addresses to just the first part). Ensure everything on your board is linked back to your website – make every pin link to the job application/description if on a job board, and back to your general website if on any other board. These links can be edited properly by clicking ‘Edit Pin’ on any of your pins. You want users to click the link to see more, and possibly stumble across your website – it’s free advertising! In addition, add a description that holds all the keywords for your job, pin or photo – and this way your pins are more likely to turn up in search results if someone is looking for that certain job!

Conclusions

With over 10 million users (according to AppData), Pinterest is a whole another place where possible candidates could find your job positions. By using these tips – and creating boards, pinning interesting and relevant media, and linking and describing properly – you could catch the eye of the perfect candidate that may never have seen your position in the first place. Have you used Pinterest to recruit? Any success? Let us know in the comments below!

RELATED: How To Use Pinterest for Social Recruiting [Cool Example]

Laurence Hebberd

Laurence Hebberd is Community Manager for Link Humans in London. He also runs the Link Humans Twitter feed - @LinkHumans.

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