Since Facebook was founded in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media channel has drastically evolved into a digital empire.
Boasting over 13,000 employees across more than 65 offices around the world and named as one of the best places to work in America, Facebook is a magnet for attracting top candidates.
According to Facebook’s global head of recruiting, its recruitment is based on getting to know the candidate as a person and establishing whether they genuinely believe in the company’s mission “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
Kalinowski said:
“We want to make sure that we approach recruiting in the same way that we approach the design of the product and the services that we deliver to the world”.
“And that’s with the focus on connection.
We want to connect to our candidates in the recruiting or interviewing process pretty deeply.”
To give you a better understanding of how Facebook and its subsidiaries like Instagram and Oculus VR recruit the very best, I’ve taken the time to compile three main approaches they take to succeed in the recruitment game.
(You can even use them for yourself.)
“We hire builders”
Straight from Kalinowski’s mouth, Facebook believes in hiring professionals who have a desire to build things.
Whether they’re looking for an engineer or a finance analyst, they want employees who are never satisfied with the norm and will always look for ways to improve.
Managers need people who have this drive instilled in them and are ambitious enough to want to make a splash on a mass scale.
All-in-all, Facebook considers itself as a “strengths-based organisation” – aiming to identify and nurture employees’ talents, rather than trying to find their weaknesses.
With this in mind, Facebook hirers based their interview on trying to understand a candidate’s strengths and whether they’re the right fit for the particular job.
It’s about sharing Mark Zuckerberg’s belief that it’s only the beginning, despite their current success.
“Anyone who listens to Mark will hear him say that we’ve still got 5 billion people to connect,” Kalinowski says.
“No one should be resting on their laurels. That sense of urgency and the energy around it are infectious.”
To get these types of candidates, Facebook puts a real emphasis on internal referrals, as they trust their current employees to find likeminded individuals they already trust.
In your business, this could be a cost-effective approach you can source your next employee, instead of resorting to job boards or attending events.
Diversity is key
As we mentioned before in our previous blog, acquiring a diverse workforce can:
- Give you access to a range of talents, skills and experience
- Encourage innovation
- Increase your talent pool
- Gain candidates who speak other languages = new markets
- Improve performance
Facebook believes in the power of diversity too in order to diversify the consumer base and solve complex problems.
It’s not just a matter of finding people of different races and genders, it’s also about getting the right blend of people with various backgrounds.
Facebook University is a three-year internship they’ve developed for aspiring graduates and candidates of demographics that are underrepresented at the company.
Ask yourself, what are you doing to diversify your workforce?
Internships? Graduate schemes?
A thorough experience test
Facebook doesn’t cut corners when it comes to finding the best talent and people who are a perfect cultural fit.
In fact, potential recruits have to go through four or five interviews beforehand!
This includes:
- A telephone interview to assess the candidate’s professional experience and passion for the job.
- A technical phone interview with someone who already has a similar job to the one advertised.
- An onsite interview consisting of an office tour to help open them up.
- A role/department specific interview to assess how good they are, plus a round of hypothetical interview questions and logic-based ones too.
While your business probably doesn’t have the time to conduct 4 or 5 interviews, there’s no harm in doing an extra one if you need an extra assessment to find the right person.
However, the real key point here is that you’re making an active push towards hiring a more diverse team.
This kind of coverage and exposure will attract more people, as they will position your company as a forward-thinking one.
Stick to your values
According to Business Insider, one of Facebook’s core philosophies is to find top talent that possesses five values. They must be:
- Bold
- Focused on making an impact
- Have the ability to move fast
- Open
- Be able to build social value
In your business, you should not only use these as a method of assessing candidates, but as a basis of attracting applicants too.
One of the best ways to showcase your vision is to tell candidates what you expect from them and what it takes to be considered for the role.
Map out your values and include it in the job specification, you won’t regret it!
Need more inspiration?
In order to be the best, you need to learn from the best.
That’s why we’ve created a series of posts based on how other corporate household names attract and assess candidates to ensure they only recruit the best.
Here are a few examples for you to enjoy:
