As a component of a firm’s recruitment strategy, social networks can create new pipelines of talent. In times of competitive pressure, embracing social media for recruitment without a targeted strategy is insufficient to attract top applicants. Organizations must recruit candidates in the same manner that salespeople persuade new customers to buy their product. Therefore, an organization’s reputation is more crucial than ever, and two-way communication has become a standard. Thus, firms must have a clear and targeted social media recruiting strategy to maximize their social media performance.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate how an international audit and consulting firm may integrate social media in its recruitment initiatives to strengthen its reputation within the social space and discover new opportunities for acquiring talent among its target candidates, which comprises of tech-driven professionals, in addition to their traditional target group of auditors and consultants, to drive innovation and acquire a competitive edge. The method used to gather quantitative data includes a social media competitive analysis of the international audit and consulting firm and its competitors.

The results of the competitive analysis demonstrate that social media has radically transformed the world of recruiting and thus is essential in recruitment, enabling employers and job seekers to communicate in a transparent and collaborative manner. The data analysis indicates that Instagram and LinkedIn are the most used social networks for professional purposes. In addition, based on the findings, a social media recruitment strategy was designed for an international audit and consulting firm. It incorporates a carefully selected mix of social media channels, purposes, and its recruitment efforts. This social media strategy includes hot topics, a recommendation for posting frequency, and proposed techniques for monitoring the performance of the channels. It is proposed that the case company should not primarily rely on social recruiting as an independent process, but rather use it as a creative complement to its existing recruiting strategy by attracting qualified candidates to its open positions through more targeted communities.