5 Ways to Use Facebook for Pharma Recruitment

Facebook is the largest social media network, with around 3 billion active users as of 2022. Although it’s not as focused on career development as platforms like LinkedIn, with this huge audience comes a vast talent pool of passive as well as active talent. 

Although not the most obvious channel for social recruiting, there are key benefits of using Facebook to locate Pharma and Life Science talent. In this article, we look at 5 ways of using Facebook as part of your social recruitment strategy, with insights into how Pharma and Life Science jobseekers may be using the platform as part of their job search…

Target a Wide Demographic

Facebook is popular amongst both younger and older age groups, making it a great space for attracting jobseekers across a wide demographic. In January 2022, the age group with the highest number of Facebook users was the 25-34 group, followed by the 18-24 group and then by the 35-44 group.

If you’re a Pharmaceutical Recruitment Agency hiring a variety of roles across all levels of an organisation, Facebook may be a great channel to support your hiring activities.

Post Jobs for Free with Jobs on Facebook

If you’re hiring within the United States and Canada, you’ll have access to the Jobs on Facebook product which will allow you to create job postings from your business page for free. Whilst this feature was previously available to those outside the United States and Canada, this access was unfortunately removed in February 2022.

For those with access, some of the key features of this product include being able to:

• Post jobs and manage applications all in one place
• Communicate directly with qualified candidates
• Implement integration with HR solution providers (e.g., an applicant tracking system)

The platform has reportedly already helped people find over 1,000,000 jobs, with roles being advertised in the Jobs bookmark, Marketplace, and Facebook news feed.

Build Your Own Community

If you don’t have access to the Jobs on Facebook feature, posting job updates on your business page can still be an effective way of reaching your target audience of jobseekers. You can also create a separate careers page or even a private group where users must answer a set of filtering questions to ensure they meet your candidate criteria.

Don’t just use groups and pages as another place to post your job adverts. Try to build a network of qualified jobseekers through posting news, emphasising your employer brand, and encouraging conversation. For example, you could host Q&As with current employees, go Live to showcase company events, and more.

Create Opportunities for Mentoring

To open up networking in your Facebook groups, your group admin can add the mentorship feature to the group which will then allow members to share knowledge one-on-one with other members. Mentorship can last up to ten weeks, and anyone over the age of 18 can offer or request mentorship.

As a recruiter or hiring manager, you can make the most of this feature by encouraging your employees to join your groups and offer mentorship to jobseekers. Whilst it could take a while to build up a group with large numbers of relevant jobseekers, you can advertise this opportunity on other platforms to drive traffic to your group.

Make the Most of Paid Advertising

Facebook’s Ad Manager offers numerous, flexible advertising options for you to make the most of in your hiring. After setting specific targeting parameters based on your target audience of jobseekers, you can advertise in numerous places on the platform, as well as on Instagram.

Facebook Audience Insights will also give you information about those connected to your page and those using the platform to allow you to create relevant and engaging content for your audience. You’ll have access to a more in-depth demographics overview, information on what people like and insight into users’ lifestyles, all helping you to understand your audience and make your advertising more effective.

A complete guide on creating Ads on Facebook can be found here.  

Choose the Right Platform for your Audience…

Before you invest your resources into hiring on Facebook, check that your target audience of jobseekers is actively using the platform. You can do this by searching and joining relevant groups and monitoring recent activity, searching the platform for keywords, and looking at activity on other platforms to identify which ones to prioritise.

Remember that it’s not about hiring on every social media platform available to you, but rather about understanding your audience and pushing your brand and current roles right where your ideal candidates already are.