Private sector

How and why you should be hiring remotely right now

Yes, businesses are still hiring remotely during Coronavirus

Hiring remotely is part of the new normal.

Socially Recruited’s recent data shows that hiring has not stopped. Interestingly, demand has shifted to key industries such as healthcare, social care, and logistics. Although the pandemic has pushed many industries into crisis, there are many who have seen a huge rise in demand for key workers.

5,026 recruitment decision-makers were polled. This revealed that 52% of businesses are still recruiting. Feedback from HR professionals is that not planning ahead and having the appropriate staff in place, will have a negative impact on the business when things do return to normal.

Crucial key worker roles are currently being filled at a rapid rate. For less time-sensitive roles good candidates are being offered positions. This is after remote interviews take place, with the condition they will need to meet in person when things return to normal.

You need to engage with candidates remotely

There has been a surge in online testing software use and video interviews. Many businesses have been forced to adopt new technologies to continue working through this pandemic.

Successful businesses have been holding video interviews over different video conferencing software including Skype and Zoom. If you can, being proactive about your recruitment now will put you in an advantageous position once lockdown restrictions are removed.

Businesses are shifting to hiring remotely

Businesses are hiring remotely.

Whilst everyone is staying at home, social media usage has grown by over four times. Now more than ever, you need to be reaching candidates where they spend most of their time. On social media.

A recent Socially Recruited poll showed 46% of businesses preferred to use social media to find good quality applicants. This was followed by recruitment agencies with 26%.

Social media can provide a better-quality applicant than other traditional options such as recruitment agencies and traditional job boards. This is down to several factors including reaching passive job seekers through targeted campaigns.

Crucially, you should be engaging with your candidates on social media. In today’s fast-paced environment, to get the best talent you need to speak with them directly. You can’t afford to wait around.

You need to use paid ads

Data from a recent poll showed that of those using social media to hire, a significant percentage were not using paid advertising.

Only 34% used paid advertising, compared with 66% who used exclusively non-paid.

Despite the majority of businesses not using them, paid social media posts are the most successful in terms of the quality and quantity of applicants. Without targeting, you are casting your ad into the vast world of social media with no plan. You then have to pray that the appropriate people engage.

This is not sensible. If you want a large pool of suitable applicants to choose from then use paid advertising.

If you want to know more…

Socially Recruited has worked with thousands of different businesses across the UK and overseas. It is imperative that businesses have access to advice and support at these challenging times.

For further information or to trial the service, please contact Marc on the details below.

Marc Voigt

Social Media and Recruitment Specialist

0203 327 0304

marc@sociallyrecruited.com

Keep safe and stay home.

Feature / Capability Gaia Adzuna
AI-powered targeting ✅ Predictive targeting trained on 1 billion hiring data points 🟡 AI job matching, resume scoring and application optimisation
Omni-channel reach ✅ All 11 channels: Google Display, Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Pinterest, Snapchat 🟡 Social platforms plus job-board and partner network
Open-web display & paid search ✅ Programmatic display and paid search across Google Display, Google Search, Reddit, YouTube, X and Pinterest, beyond social ❌ Social and aggregator network only
Programmatic AI optimisation ✅ AI-powered live optimisation across channels 🟡 Campaign automation and CPA targeting
Cookie-free retargeting ✅ First-party, privacy-safe retargeting ❌ Not offered
Self-Serve & managed options ✅ GaiaSelf-Serve or GaiaComplete managed service ❌ Managed / demo-led model
Job pages & employer branding ✅ Fast-loading, branded, mobile-first job pages 🟡 Easy Apply flow
Candidate experience (CX) ✅ 45-second mobile-first apply 🟡 Easy Apply with in-app screening and SMS capture
ATS integration ✅ 50+ ATS integrations with two-way sync + XML 🟡 ATS integration and XML job feed
Analytics & insights ✅ Real-time dashboard and campaign analytics 🟡 Campaign data and industry benchmarks
Data & machine learning ✅ 8+ years of ML, 1 billion hiring data points 🟡 AI matching across core platform
Platform architecture ✅ Single platform purpose-built for performance recruitment marketing 🟡 Search core plus acquired social (Seiza) and automation layers
Legend: ✅ full / native capability · 🟡 available but narrower or different in approach · ❌ not offered


Who is Gaia best for

Gaia suits in-house recruitment teams, agencies and RPOs who want:

- To reach beyond job boards into the open web and social channels.
- Real-time campaign optimisation and data-driven decision making.
- Flexibility between self-serve and managed service.
- Seamless integration with existing ATS workflows.
- A measurable lift in quality and volume of applicants.

Adzuna works well for teams who want a large active-jobseeker search audience, now combined with social advertising and candidate automation, delivered as a managed service.

Final word: Gaia vs Adzuna

If you need broad, AI-targeted reach, multi-channel automation and real performance data, Gaia delivers a fundamentally different proposition to job board aggregators like Adzuna. Both now operate in social recruitment advertising, but Gaia is purpose-built for performance, with broader reach across the open web and paid search, real-time cross-channel optimisation, cookie-free retargeting and the choice of self-serve or managed delivery. For TA, HR and EB leaders tasked with hitting hiring targets in competitive markets, Gaia provides the tools, intelligence and flexibility to succeed.

Learn more about GaiaComplete or book a demo to see it in action.

Ready to find out how we can

help you?