How to Use Instagram for Social Media Recruiting

Social media recruiting for businesses isn’t a new thing. You would be hard pressed to find a recruiter who doesn’t maintain a social presence on various social platforms these days. While LinkedIn may seem like the most obvious choice for social media recruiting, alternative networks like Instagram can be useful to find talent, facilitate interactions with potential candidates, and sell yourself as an employer.

For the unfamiliar, Instagram is an image-based social network that lets users upload, edit, and share photos and videos with their followers. Like Twitter and Facebook, users can follow other accounts and search for images using hashtags. Users can also interact with one another by liking or commenting on posts. Instagram is a great platform for building brand awareness and can complement your other social networks, especially Facebook.


Instagram is one of the leading social networking platforms, so it’s no wonder some job seekers are starting to use Instagram to find out more about companies that interest them. Roughly 32% of adult internet users use Instagram, and while the majority of users are between 18-29, Instagram can be a great platform for social media recruiting, especially if you are looking to hire Millennials. People who follow your Instagram account are likely to be interested in your company, so using Instagram as part of your recruitment strategy can help you connect with tech savvy Millennials who are already considering applying to your company.

If you're considering adding Instagram to your recruitment strategy to attract younger and more technically minded candidates, here are some tips for the best ways to use Instagram for social media recruiting.

1. Build Out Your Branding to Attract the Right Candidates

These days, job seekers are not only interested in a position that matches their talents but want to be part of a company culture that suits them as an individual, especially Millennials. Instagram allows businesses to show their brand to a large audience. Now, potential candidates don’t want to see stock images or old photos from last year's holiday party; they want a behind the scenes glimpse of what it’s like to be an employee at a particular company.

For example, Starbucks uses Instagram as the platform for their default image-sharing and image-enhancing platform for all their social media campaigns. With over 12.6 million followers, Starbucks uses their global reach to share images of corporate sponsored promotions, coffee, stores, happy customers, and pictures of baristas who work at Starbucks.

The Instagram photos have helped Starbuck boost their social media recruiting. The posts have made the company look more appealing and turned a previously considered uncool job, like a barista, into a fun occupation that people want to have. If you demonstrate a positive work environment online, potential employees are more likely to apply for a role.

2. Use Hashtags to Reach Your Audience

Similar to other social networks, Instagram allows you to use hashtags to expand the reach of your uploads by letting them appear in searches with related posts. By exploring your industry on Instagram, you can discover what hashtags are popular and begin to target your ideal candidates. There are a number of frequently used hashtags on Instagram. Adding trending tags to your posts is a great way to have them seen by users, especially Millennials who are using Instagram for job searching.

You can also create your own unique tag to showcase your brand. Utilize your unique hashtag across your social networks so your content can be easily found by people interested in your company or an event you are hosting. For example, Microsoft has a separate Instagram account for careers, and they use the tag #microsoftlife to promote images that show what it’s like to work at Microsoft. Smaller companies can also use this social media recruiting strategy to help potential employees easily find images of employee life and get a feel for the company’s culture.

3. Respond Quickly to Potential Employees

Like most social media platforms, Instagram allows you to quickly respond to inquiries and comments. A big frustration job seekers, particularly millennials,  have today is the lack of responsiveness they get from employers.Considering that online jobs openings can get over 100 applicants, it’s not hard to see how candidates can feel like they are sending applications into the void.

To keep your potential employees engaged, you can interact with them directly on Instagram. Adding real-time responsiveness to your social media recruitment strategy can help surprise, delight, and attract talent. Check out how Salesforce responds back to a job inquiries below. A simple, friendly response directing candidates where to apply can help you effectively use social media for recruiting.

4. Visually Advertise Jobs and Share Links

Posting a few job ads on Instagram can be a great way to attract attention and fill job openings. Try sharing a simple job opening announcement with an image that visually portrays the role along with a few hashtags. This can help your job ad be seen by a lot of potential candidates.

If you are considering using Instagram to attract job seekers, you should try to keep the information about the position to a minimum in the initial post, but be sure to let candidates know where they can apply and learn more. Although links won’t work in Instagram captions, you should still include them.  While most Instagram users won’t copy paste links they see in posts, those who are genuinely interested in your job posting will. To get around the non-clickable link, you can always put a link in your Instagram account bio section and direct followers to it.

If you are looking to expand your social media recruitment strategy, you should explore what Instagram has to offer to help you attract the right talent for your business. This can be a very effective strategy for finding and interacting with Millennial candidates. Like all social media, the best way to use Instagram is to be active and interact with your audience on a regular basis. If you believe your audience is using Instagram, creating an account might be a great addition to your social media recruiting strategy.

If your organization would like a little assistance with finding talent, we can help. J&J Staffing has been helping companies find quality employees for over 20 years. Contact us today to find out how we can help you attract the talent your company need.