How to Recruit on TikTok, Reddit, and Alternative Platforms Without Looking Desperate
TikTok, Reddit, and ChatGPT are now legitimate recruiting channels, especially for reaching younger candidates who've abandoned traditional job boards. But most recruiters using these platforms look like corporate try-hards desperately chasing trends.
Here's how to actually recruit on alternative platforms without embarrassing yourself or your company.
TikTok: Entertainment First, Recruiting Second
The mistake most companies make: Posting corporate recruitment videos that feel like LinkedIn ads with trending audio slapped on top.
TikTok users can smell corporate content from a mile away. If your video feels like an HR department made it, it'll get scrolled past immediately.
What Actually Works on TikTok
Employee-Generated Content: Let your actual employees create content, not your marketing team.
Real people showing real work > polished corporate videos every time.
Day in the Life Videos: Not scripted, not overly produced. Just someone walking through their actual workday with authentic commentary.
"POV: You're a software engineer at [Company] and this is your Tuesday" performs better than "Join Our Amazing Team!" recruitment ads.
Behind-the-Scenes Content: Show what it's actually like working there. Team lunches, funny moments, project celebrations, office pets. Authenticity > polish.
Recruiter Personalities: Some individual recruiters have built followings by sharing recruiting tips, interview advice, and job opportunities with personality and humor.
If you're comfortable on camera, build your personal brand as a recruiter and use your audience to source. But only if you're genuinely entertaining—forced "fun" recruiter content is painful to watch.
TikTok Do's and Don'ts
✅ Do: Let employees be themselves, show authentic workplace moments, use humor ❌ Don't: Create scripted corporate content, force trending sounds that don't fit, oversell culture
✅ Do: Post consistently (3-5x per week minimum to build audience) ❌ Don't: Post once, get no views, declare "TikTok doesn't work"
✅ Do: Engage with comments, answer questions, build community ❌ Don't: Ignore engagement or respond with canned corporate speak
Expected Results
Building a TikTok presence takes 3-6 months before you see real recruiting ROI. This isn't a quick fix—it's a long-term employer brand play.
But companies doing it well are seeing inbound applications from candidates who've never heard of them before discovering them on TikTok.
Reddit: Contribute First, Recruit Second
The #1 rule of Reddit: Communities will ban you if your only activity is posting jobs.
Reddit culture is allergic to self-promotion and corporate BS. You need to add value before you take value.
How to Recruit on Reddit Without Getting Banned
Step 1: Find Relevant Subreddits
r/cscareerquestions, r/ExperiencedDevs, r/webdev, r/datascience, r/sales, r/marketing, etc. Find communities where your target candidates hang out.
Step 2: Lurk and Learn
Spend a week reading posts, understanding community norms, and learning what people care about. Every subreddit has its own culture—violate it at your own risk.
Step 3: Contribute Value
Answer questions. Share resources. Provide expertise. Be helpful without mentioning that you're recruiting.
Build credibility first. Recruit second.
Step 4: Post About Jobs Transparently
When you do post about roles, be upfront:
"Hey everyone, I'm a recruiter at [Company] and we're hiring for [role]. I know recruiting posts can be annoying, but I wanted to share because [reason this role is interesting]. Happy to answer questions."
Transparency and acknowledging that recruiting can be annoying earns goodwill. Pretending you're "just trying to help" when you're clearly recruiting gets you downvoted and banned.
Step 5: Respect Community Rules
Many subreddits have specific rules about recruiting posts. Some allow them in dedicated threads only. Some ban them entirely. Read the rules and follow them.
Reddit Do's and Don'ts
✅ Do: Contribute value 10x for every 1x you recruit ❌ Don't: Create an account just to spam job posts
✅ Do: Be transparent about being a recruiter ❌ Don't: Pretend to be a community member when you're just sourcing
✅ Do: Respond to comments and answer questions ❌ Don't: Post-and-ghost
✅ Do: Use appropriate subreddits for your roles ❌ Don't: Spam the same post across 20 subreddits
Expected Results
Reddit recruiting is slow but high quality. You might get 3-5 candidates per post, but they're usually well-qualified and genuinely interested because they opted in.
Discord: Join Communities, Don't Invade Them
Professional Discord servers exist for engineers, designers, sales professionals, and almost every specialty. These are tight-knit communities—not public job boards.
How to Recruit on Discord Respectfully
Find Relevant Servers:
- Google "[your industry/role] Discord server"
- Ask your employees if they're in professional Discord communities
- Check Reddit—many subreddits link to related Discord servers
Join and Participate: Hang out, be helpful, contribute to conversations. Don't join just to recruit—you'll get kicked immediately.
Use Designated Channels: Many professional Discord servers have #jobs or #opportunities channels where recruiting is allowed. Use those. Don't DM people unsolicited or spam general channels.
Build Relationships: The best Discord recruiting happens through relationships, not cold posts. If you're active and helpful, people will reach out when they're job searching.
Discord Do's and Don'ts
✅ Do: Participate in non-recruiting discussions authentically ❌ Don't: Join just to post jobs and never engage otherwise
✅ Do: Use designated recruiting channels when available ❌ Don't: Spam general channels or DM members without permission
✅ Do: Build relationships over time ❌ Don't: Expect immediate results from Discord recruiting
ChatGPT: Make Your Jobs AI-Discoverable
Candidates are using ChatGPT to search for jobs: "Find me remote product management roles at Series B startups."
You can't "recruit on ChatGPT" directly, but you can optimize so ChatGPT surfaces your jobs.
How to Be Discoverable by ChatGPT
Structured Job Descriptions: Clear role titles, explicit requirements, detailed company information. The better your job descriptions, the more likely ChatGPT surfaces them accurately.
Public Career Pages: ChatGPT pulls from public sources. Ensure your career page is well-structured, easily crawlable, and updated regularly.
LinkedIn Company Page: Keep it current with accurate information about your company, culture, and open roles.
Job Board Presence: Post to free job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, AngelList). ChatGPT aggregates information from multiple sources—the more places your jobs appear, the more discoverable they are.
Alternative Platforms: Quick Reference Guide
TikTok:
- Best for: Employer branding, attracting Gen Z candidates
- Time investment: High (requires consistent content creation)
- ROI timeline: 3-6 months
Reddit:
- Best for: Technical roles, niche specialties, passive sourcing
- Time investment: Medium (requires community participation)
- ROI timeline: Immediate to 3 months
Discord:
- Best for: Building long-term relationships with niche communities
- Time investment: Medium (requires ongoing participation)
- ROI timeline: 3-6 months
ChatGPT Optimization:
- Best for: Inbound discovery by job seekers using AI search
- Time investment: Low (one-time optimization)
- ROI timeline: Immediate
The Bottom Line
Alternative platforms work when you respect community norms and add value before recruiting.
The pattern across all platforms:
- Understand the culture. Every platform has norms. Learn them.
- Contribute value first. Don't show up just to recruit.
- Be transparent. Don't hide that you're recruiting.
- Be patient. These are long-game strategies, not quick fixes.
TikTok, Reddit, and Discord aren't replacements for LinkedIn and Indeed. They're additions to your toolkit that help you reach candidates who don't hang out on traditional job boards.
If you're willing to put in the effort and respect community norms, these platforms give you access to talent pools your competitors aren't reaching.
If you're just looking for a place to spam job postings, stay on Indeed. You'll save everyone time.
That's the tip. Use it wisely.
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