Nestle (or Nestle S.A.), a Swiss-based (with headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland) multinational nutritional and health-related consumer goods company, have started to use social media for recruitment in the United Kingdom and the United States. When measured by revenues, it is the largest food company in the world, so using the most modern technology to recruit new employees is necessary in this changing world.
The Nestle Strategy
Nestle has a UK job site (seen above), with the slogan ‘Nestlé & You’, which is linked to the respective Facebook and Twitter feeds, and where people can search and apply for jobs. Nestle in the USA has a ‘Jobs’ sub-section of their website – split up into ‘Professional Jobs’ and ‘Campus Opportunities’, with a section for users to search and apply for jobs. This website links to their Facebook page, LinkedIn page and YouTube account. There are websites for other countries – all including jobs pages too, however the UK and USA careers departments are the only ones to have embraced social media.
Nestle has two Facebook careers pages – a UK careers page (facebook.com/NestleCareersUK) with over 700 likes, and a USA careers page (facebook.com/NestleUSACareers) with less likes – around 150.
The Nestlé Careers – UK Facebook page posts out ‘Job Of The Week’ as well as open-ended questions and news articles concerning the industry. It gets some likes and comments on its posts but isn’t too popular. It has a ‘Welcome’ tab and a ‘Careers’ tab which lists all available positions and allows users to apply via the Nestlé website. There are also ‘Business Areas’ and ‘Nestlé Culture’ tabs which list the different job areas at Nestle and the culture of working at the company. The page has a uniform design and is well updated with easy to use links.
The Nestle USA Careers Facebook page only has 150 likes and does not post as regularly as the UK page. The US Careers part of Nestle post the same content on their Facebook page and Twitter feed (see below), only with hashtags on the Twitter page – something which they could change to offer some variety.
Nestle has two careers/jobs based Twitter accounts – one for the UK (@NestleCareersUK) with 1,000 followers, and one for the USA (@NestleUSCareers) with almost 1,900 followers.
The UK Careers Twitter feed (@NestleCareersUK) posts job opportunities, as well as thanking other accounts for mentions and retweets. It posts once or twice a day, covering the United Kingdom and Ireland and has the same branding as the website and Facebook page. With over 1,000 followers, it could post more frequently and be more interactive to gain a wider following base.
The USA Careers Twitter feed (@NestleUSCareers) concentrates on careers in ”engineering, HR, manufacturing operations, marketing, product development and supply chain”, but actually promotes the careers side of Nestle USA rather than posting job opportunities. It does not tweet regularly either, with some posts being days apart, however it does have more followers than the UK account – around 1,800. As mentioned above, it mirrors the Facebook page – posting the same content, just containing searchable hashtags. This is something that they could probably change, to make each social media experience different.
The ‘Nestlé UK & I’(reland) LinkedIn page has a ‘Careers’ tab which lists the latest job opportunities, however with 230 followers and not much detail, the page could be vastly improved and promoted.
The ‘Nestlé USA’ LinkedIn page has a similar ‘Careers’ tab with no branding, that lists current jobs (including one for Yorkshire, UK). However with over 14,000 followers, it’s a shame that they have not branded the tab or brought any extras in – it is a missed opportunity for another platform of social recruiting.
A good example of Nestle using branding well on their LinkedIn ‘Careers’ tab can be found on the ‘Nestlé S.A.’ LinkedIn page. The page has a banner, a ‘Meet our people’ YouTube box as well as a ‘Careers’ introduction-style box and ‘Graduates and entry level’ box. It gives all the necessary information but keeps it simple and looks professional. Nestle UK and USA need to do the same for their pages, as LinkedIn is one of the most useful social media platforms for recruitment.
YouTube
There is a ‘NestleCareersUK’ YouTube channel, however it only hosts four videos (each interviewing a different employee at the UK branch of the company), but the channel shows up as unavailable (videos are only viewable via searching) and the videos were all uploaded on the same day over a year ago – 1st March 2011. It seems that the channel was an idea Nestle had, that they discontinued for some reason. YouTube can be a different way of interacting with possible employees, so Nestle UK should definitely reinstate their channel and create more good content.
Nestle USA have a YouTube account (nestleusa) which is not updated regularly (every few months), but does hold some good content – the ‘Real People’ series (a set of interview videos with current Nestle USA employees) and a ‘Campus Careers’ playlist (videos showing the potential opportunities for students – linked to the section on their website). However, the content quantity is good – but the quality could be improved and could be more consistent.
Takeaways & Conclusions
- Nestle have some positive points in their use of social media for recruitment, but there is still room for improvement.
- The consistent branding across the websites, Facebook and Twitter is good, and allows users to know that all the different platforms are for the same purpose.
- Updates are regular on some platforms, but not on others – this could be changed so that the pages are more consistent with their posts.
- More branding is needed on the LinkedIn pages – the UK and USA pages should follow the example of SA page.
- YouTube needs to be used more – it is an extremely interactive medium, especially in recruitment terms and could be used in a variety of ways.
It is still early for social media in recruitment for Nestle, and although there are some positive points, there are still some improvements that can be made.
For more great examples, see How Sodexo Does Recruitment and Employer Branding on Social Media [Case Study].