As a member of the recruiting and sourcing profession, you’re probably already aware that it’s becoming more and more challenging to find and connect with top talent in any field. 67% of respondents to a recent survey stated that a lack of highly-qualified talent is their biggest challenge. Traditional channels like job boards are no longer delivering the kind of leads that your organization or clients need—which means it’s time to look into new sources for leading candidates.
Reddit may not even be on your radar as a recruitment channel, but Reddit recruitment can help you source top candidates. This unique social network represents a great opportunity to find new talent. The self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet” is an unparalleled collection of forum-based communities (called “subreddits”) that center around every topic imaginable. Even more interesting than the site’s eclectic style is the amount of traffic Reddit receives, with nearly twenty million unique visitors each month. This popularity and Reddit’s lack of overuse as a recruitment channel make it a wealth of opportunity.
Recruitment talent acquisition professionals tuned into our “Reddit Recruitment: The Best-Kept Secret in Sourcing Top Candidates” webinar hosted by Erin Matthew, a professional talent sourcer, blogger, and speaker.
To help recap this CareerArc #talkHR webinar, we’ve highlighted three practical tips for Reddit recruitment to discover and engage with candidates in your field.
Before approaching Reddit recruitment, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the website is—and isn’t. Matthew is quick to point out that while it is home to many relatively hidden talent communities, it is not a talent or job search site by design. Keeping Reddit’s focus of discussion and shared experience in mind is essential for engaging top candidates without irritating or offending Redditors.
The following tips offer actionable ways to use Reddit as a candidate source by becoming part of the Reddit communities—as well as the relevant subreddits.
1. Take time to understand the key facets of Reddit culture.
The Reddit community values authenticity above nearly everything else, nearly as much as it reviles unsolicited advertising and spam. If you join and try to engage without understanding Reddit, your attempt is sure to backfire. Before posting anything, it’s critical to invest time in learning how to be a good Redditor. Like many real-world communities, the site has its own language and series of standard protocol that you should learn before participating on the platform.
One of the key factors to understand about Reddit is its content rating system. Posts are ranked in popularity based on the upvotes and downvotes they receive from the community. Activities like posting content and gaining upvotes are the key ways to earn Reddit “karma,” a point system that makes it obvious who is a true Redditor and who has just joined. At the same time, knowledge of terms like OP, AMA, and TLDR gives context to the content and conversations posted on the site. The Reddit Glossary can help with building this understanding.
2. Build your credibility on the platform.
The karma that you’ve earned as well as your Cake Day—the day you joined Reddit—are two of the main ways veteran Redditors identify recently-added members. As a new Redditor, you have yet to prove yourself as an authentic member of the overall community as well as the subreddits that fit within your personal and professional interests. This fact alone will make many existing members suspicious of you and your intentions with the site.
Creating credibility will take time but is well worth the effort. Start with contributing information to meaningful discussions where you have expertise in the topic. For sourcing and recruitment professionals, subreddits like r/resumes or r/careerguidance are great places to begin adding value to the community. Matthew also recommends spending time in and contributing to non-professional subreddits you find interesting to improve your Reddit karma and reputation.
3. Follow Reddit protocols in engaging with talent.
Each subreddit, including those that center around specific careers or professional interests, has its own set of general community rules that often include guidelines for content that can be posted. These can include everything from topics and content that is prohibited within the subreddit to types of posts that can only be made on specific days (like “Show Off Saturday on r/javascript) or within certain threads.
Job opportunities are often one of the content types that subreddit admins will assign to specific days or threads within the community. Check for a mega-thread that is devoted to job postings and if one isn’t available, contact an admin to ask to have one added rather than creating a post yourself. By reaching out to those who manage the communities, you show your dedication to following the protocols and being a helpful, contributing member of the subreddit.
Hiring is changing, and Reddit recruitment is just one of the unique and effective tools for finding top candidates to fill your open positions. The industry is shifting away from traditional platforms while social media offers significant value as a relatively untapped source of candidates—which is why CareerArc puts such emphasis on a hiring approach that includes these outlets. Check out our solution page on Social Recruiting to learn how CareerArc can help you build your employer brand on social and locate ideal candidates more effectively.
