Recruiting: Focus on social media content that matters

Social media can be a valuable hiring tool, but it's important for practices to know where to look for information that is relevant to their screening process.

When recruiting physicians, for example, it may be more worthwhile to research candidates on sites geared specifically for physicians, Nate Gross, M.D., co-founder of the physician-only social media network Doximity, told American Medical News, adding that Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn aren't relevant to most people in the medical field.

Facebook, however, can be a good place to assess whether all types of candidates are a good match for your practice's culture; yet it's still important to ferret out the information that matters for this purpose.

For example, "someone applying for a receptionist job might have some really weird stuff out there on social media that could be harmful to the interest of the practice," said Jack Smith, president of a Milwaukee recruiting firm. "That's fair game." A picture of a candidate holding a beer of a party, on the other hand, is not as important, he said.

When it comes to using the size of a candidate's social media presence as an assessment, assumptions can be misleading. A recent study from data analytics firm Evolv, for example, found that employees who use between one and five social networks seem to be more productive, perhaps due to their technical aptitude, than those who use social media to a greater or lesser degree, Health Care Communication News reported. Social media users in this range also tended to stick with companies longer, the study noted.

To learn more:
- read the article from American Medical News
- see the post from Health Care Communication News