There are many good recruiters out there for a variety of positions – but in the world of social media, have you ever noticed how most of them sound the same?

“Great opportunity! Candidate must have X years of experience, be a self-starter…”

I get it. You have listings of jobs. And in our economy, that’s great to share. Really. But the strange thing that most recruiters don’t do via social media is guide candidates with:

• Helpful advice for their resume or portfolio (if you’re in my field)
• Good interview questions to ask
• Tough interview questions to answer
• Tools and technology related to job hunting

The opportunity to stretch from Recruiter to Career Sherpa is there for the taking. But few recruiters are taking it.

In my view, just listing an opportunity puts you in the same league as any other job site out there. Even if the job is unique. Because if you’re “all listings all the time,” you’re a commodity. On the other hand, if you have helpful career advice, I’m more apt to return to your site and subscribe to your blog.

That’s right. A blog. Of course you know what those are. And if you place a certain type of candidate in a very specific type of field (i.e. advertising and marketing, financial, CEOs, etc.), you have all the more reason to address that select group in a blog that shows you know how they think, what they’re looking for and the questions they’re likely to have. No matter what age, no matter what level of experience, they’re looking for a career coach. Not just the person with the online version of the classifieds.

How about video blog entries instead of text?

How about a Google Hangouts chat session with candidates on career advice?

How about a video interview with a hiring manager?

Writing up a job description is the easy part. I’ve done that myself in a recruitment advertising role and it didn’t take that long. Putting some real thought into your content takes work. But besides the upside of search engines finding you more often, there’s that moment when you get the referral from the person who you placed in a job and in the letter that former candidate says, “Just read her blog and you’ll see she’s the most knowledgeable recruiter in ______.”

Then you’ll be glad you gave your social media efforts that little something extra that most recruiters don’t do.