Part 4: Cultivating Your Catch – How to Master the Art of the Casual Follow Up

We have spent this blog series talking about how to prepare, post to, and utilize your social profiles to attract fresh candidates to your line. If you’ve been reading along, you have all the tools you need to navigate the social waters and have started snagging those big purple basses.

Great job, Skipper! You’ve reeled in some quality placements!

Now it’s time to follow up.

Traditionally, following up is a one-time conversation that we have with our placements. We want to see how our placement is acclimating to the new company, and feel out their comfort level with the new gig.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is a very important conversation to have—But the follow up shouldn’t end there.

With the convenience of social media at your fingertips there is no excuse to stop interacting with your connections. It is important to keep your new catches engaged in your personal brand. A great way to keep their attention is the casual follow up.

Here are a few ways to master the casual follow up:

1. A quick “Hello” – Social channels give us the luxury of private messaging. After your initial phone follow up, don’t be afraid to check in on your contact occasionally. This will show your candidate that you care and will continue to cultivate that connection.
2. Social Engagement – It never hurts to throw your connection a like or a comment on a post. That is why we are on social media, to share our thoughts and start conversations. This doesn’t mean you need to be active on everything they share. A little profile interaction goes a long way!
3. Preferred Referral – It’s second nature for us to ask for referrals, or at least a point in the right direction from our candidates. If you played your cards right during the social recruitment process, your candidate will be more open to offering up their personal connections. Let them know when you have a cool opening, and tell them that you wanted to give their connections first dibs.

You are all set to start following up! That wasn’t so hard – right?

Kudos to you for making the most of your social profiles. Your social savvy recruiting is another tool you can use to give yourself a competitive edge. Now, throw on those waders and get back out there!