While the job market is in a dire state at the moment, many job seekers are still cautious of positions they accept. Competitive job candidates can afford to be wary of working with a company that has not established itself in the local and related industry community. To attract the best candidates to positions for which you are hiring, you as a business or brand will want to build a solid reputation through conversation in your communities.

When building a reputation that attracts the highest caliber of job candidates, keep in mind that potential job applicants will research you as a company on any social network to which they belong. If you have established a Twitter account but have not finished developing the profile, or don’t engage with your followers, this could be viewed negatively by a potential candidate — especially if the position relates to technology or new media. Consider how polished your brand’s profiles are across all social networks, as this could impact how many — and the caliber of — candidates you attract for an open position.

Additionally, consider how you publicly engage with fans, followers, and customers of your brand. Potential job candidates will be turned off if they see you as a brand reacting rudely to your clients, as this is indicative of how you might treat employees, too. Before advertising for an open position, be sure that your public presence matches the way you not only want to be viewed by your paying customers, but those you pay to help bring in more customers, too.

Once you have solidified your online reputation, take the time to continue to build your reputation both online and offline through conversations to find talent. You can easily post a job ad on sites like LinkedIn and Craigslist, but networking with others in your communities who respect your brand can lead to candidates who may be interested in working with you. By creating conversations in your community — with people who already respect your reputation — to network with potential candidates may produce a stronger pool of job applicants than other methods of recruiting.