Social media is an essential aspect of recruiting these days, but most recruiters stick to Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. What about the dozens of other popular sites?

What about Pinterest?

Pinterest is relatively untouched by recruiters, even though it has over 100 million users. While some of the site’s features aren’t the most friendly to recruiters, it’s still an opportunity to reach untapped candidates in a field with little competition.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a bookmarking site with a bit of social. With a Pinterest account, you can “pin” anything you find online to a board, so long as there is an image on the webpage. Once the pin is created, other users can also save it to their boards. It's mostly used to create inspiration boards, such as fashion, recipes, art, design, decor, and D.I.Y. While the site is focused on visuals, you’ll find plenty of articles and text.

The communities on Pinterest are primarily connected through different tags that people search for. You can follow other users and specific boards, and your feed is also full of related material.

While it’s a great place to find visual inspiration, the site is not especially friendly to content creators. There’s little incentive to find the original pinner of the post, and there is a rash of stolen and uncredited images.

Recruiting and Pinterest

Pinterest boasts numbers that will make any recruiter consider using the site. Pinterest drives more referral traffic to publishers than Twitter, Linkedin, and Reddit combined. It is a women-dominated site, so it is particularly useful in recruiting women. Over 42% of adult women in the U.S. are on Pinterest, with 13% of adult men. 67% of Pinterest users are millennials.

Since Pinterest is not yet a popular site for recruiters, using it can make your company stand out from the crowd and reach a new audience of candidates. There are many brands on Pinterest already, and its advertisements have some purchasing power. Not many companies have used the platform to show their employer brand.

Before you search for candidates, create a few job boards to sell your employer brand. Create a board called About Us that shows off your company, mission statement, and company culture. Authenticity is key, so include real photos of your workplace and staff. Also, create boards for each open position you have, or if you have many listings, one for each category. This way, when a candidate goes to your Pinterest profile page, they can easily see your openings.

Once your profile is set up and you have pins to your job openings, it’s time to search for candidates. You might be surprised at how much you can find by searching for different job titles and professions, even accounting. Try different Pinterest searches and get a feel for what your ideal candidate posts, and reach out directly. Creative professionals are on Pinterest and often have portfolios of their work. It can be a great place to find talented freelancers, web designers, graphic designers, and people in the fashion industry.

You won’t get as much information about your candidate from their profile as you will on other sites. You also must have some visual content to succeed on Pinterest, even if it’s just text-images. With a little creativity, you may find candidates that no one else is reaching on Pinterest.