IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ON RECRUITMENT AND ITS USES

Mr. S. Akhil Vamshi**& Ms. K.Mounika**

**PGDM student’s Vishwa vishwani Institute of systems and Management

ABSTRACT:

Purpose: This research investigates the impact of social media on the recruitment process.

Main findings: The article outlines best practice when it comes to social recruiting,highlighting how
one major global retail brand has successfully integrated social media tools into its recruitment
strategy.

Research Design: This is the best practice guide based on job partners experience of providing a
recruitment solutions.

Value: The research will be of interest to HR professionals of organisation interested in how the
impact of social media in recruitment process.

Literature Review:
Recruitment is an essential part of talent management and can be defined as ‘the process of
searching the right talent and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization’ . Recruiting the
wrong individual is costly. Even for low-level positions, a failed hire may cost a company double the
person’s annual salary, rising to around six times the annual salary at higher levels. Employers are
thus making an effort to address issues related to the attraction, recruitment and selection of
talent.Recruitment is not an isolated organisational function. Rather, identifying, attracting and
recruiting the right talent is a key success factor of any talent management strategy . Talent can be
defined as the entirety of an employee’s ability, including attributes such as skills, knowledge,
experience, intelligence and character.

The main purpose of recruitment is to draw important resources into an organisation –Like, human
capital. Recruitment will identify, attract and secure the most qualified and competent employees
for an organisation’s current and future talent needs. Recruitment is the process of finding the right
person who is interested in working for an organisation, influencing these individuals to apply for the
job and convincing them to accept the position.

The candidates changing rapidly and new sourcing tools are continuously being developed. There is
a clear shift towards sourcing channels such as quality, cost, availability and time.Internet and social
media have been key drivers in the development of new sourcing tools and the effective use of Page
Original Research Open Access appropriate technology is becoming the dominant driver for sourcing
candidates.

Introduction:
Social media tools and social networking sites have revolutionized communication methods, both
privately and increasingly, at work.

Communication through social media involves the use of an online platform or website (a social
networking site) that enables people to communicate, usually for a social purpose, through services
like web-based and offer opportunities for people to interact over the internet, e.g. via e-mail and
‘instant messaging’ (a form of real-time, direct text-based communication between two or more
people using personal computers or other devices).Social media targets the specific candidates with
less time effectively. It can provide a useful additional source of information on potential job
candidates, especially since some data (at the personal as well as the professional level) may not be
generated for the purpose of recruitment, and therefore may provide candid supplementary
information on the applicant. For candidates it potentially offers multiple sources of information
about the employer and the possibility of contact with existing employees to gain a more realistic job
preview. However, there are a number of issues that need to be considered.

Firstly, there are ethical questions of privacy and the extent to which it is appropriate and relevant
for employers to seek information about workers’ private lives.

Secondly, employers may leave themselves open to charges of discrimination; using social media to
alert potential candidates to vacancies could potentially discriminate against those who do not have
access to social media or indirectly discriminate against groups which are under-represented in a
targeted campaign strategy. By vetting candidates online, employers are likely to gain a range of
information about candidates, including sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, marital status, age and
political views, making it easier for rejected candidates to claim unfair discrimination, although it is
at present unusual for cases of discrimination at the point of recruitment to be brought to
employment tribunals.

Research questions:
which looked at the overall implications of social media for employment relations, this small-scale
research project aimed to answer the following research questions:

● How and why do employers use social media tools for recruitment, and at what points in the
recruitment and selection process? Which tools do they choose and why?

● What do they perceive as the costs and benefits of using social media in the recruitment
process?

● What policies and strategies do employers put in place to manage legal and reputational risks?

The growth of e-recruitment:

E-recruitment, has more advantages when compared to traditional form of recruitment.

E-recruitment gives employers the opportunity to hire staff both locally and globally, significantly
extending the reach of more traditional staff recruitment. E-recruiting also offers companies and
prospective employees a number of important features and specific abilities such as:

● "The ability to initiate interview requests and order background checks.

● Unlimited cost information tracking for all activities associated with the hiring process.

● Customized e-mail notification of recruiters for both active and passive candidates.

● Improved integration of recruiter-specific communications activities.

● Dynamic creation of an employer’s job page.

● Extensive ability to personalize the candidate experience by allowing employers to tailor the
candidate and recruiter interfaces
Types of Recruitment through Social Media:
Recruitment through social media can occur in a number of ways. The first is by companies or
recruiters sourcing potential employees themselves, by searching personal profiles of those which
have a certain talent, education or skill. This process is typically (but not always) carried out through
LinkedIn. Developing this further, it can be stated that during traditional recruitment and selection
processes, companies normally select new employees from the candidates who have applied for
the vacancy. With the help of social media as a recruitment tool, for companies it has become easy
to search for and discover desired candidates before even advertising a job vacancy and without
those selected as desirable by the company, even being aware of a job vacancy existing. Companies
can engage a candidate in a way you never could with a recruiter because of social media's
scalability and the ability to have a two-way dialog. The second method is by the candidates
themselves applying for a job vacancy which has been advertised by companies on social media
platforms. Employers “can showcase the company with pictures and videos and give candidates an
idea of what it feels like to work there" (Hunt, 2010, p. 37). While many companies advertise
vacancies on social media, it is important to note that there still exists companies that only use
more traditional methods of recruitment. However, it can be reasoned that organisations which do
not use social media to recruit employees, can still make use of social media during the screening
process. A company may place job advertisements in newspapers, and then check the social media
profiles of those who apply, in order to screen them based on the information that they display on
their profiles. Thisargues that social-media tools and techniques currently used are not a direct
replacement for traditional hiring processes, but rather are a supplement to them. The use of social
media as a platform to screening candidates can be a supplement to traditional recruitment in this
case. Using social media to screen employees.

Successful social media recruiting requires a strategy – not just knowledge of how the various sites
work. While creating a social media strategy may not seem clear, it is necessary to be able to
measure the success and engagement of the actions a company takes online so that future
decisions can be made. While the strategy a company decides on is based on the direction the
company is taking, it is important that companies implement their strategy within their social media
recruitment processes in order to align all objectives and goals. Without clear objectives, companies
are reluctant to invest resources mainly time and money and expect too much too fast in terms of
financial returns. These ingredients create a fertile soil for boom-and-bust scenarios in which
managers expect too much from a technology that contributes to their disappointment if the
technology does not bring the expected results or financial gains
Benefits of Recruitment through Social Media:
Recruitment through social media can offer many benefits to companies. In comparison to more
traditional methods of recruitment, advertising job vacancies through social media allows
companies to access a larger, diverse pool of potential candidates. Similarly, advertising jobs on
social media platforms can also allow the post to be seen by a large number of people and
therefore, may attract a greater interest in the job itself compared to advertising the vacancy
through more traditional forms of recruitment. Gunnigle et al state that “web-based recruitment
and earlystage pre-screening of applicants are now common across the world due to the fact online
recruitment allows access to a wider range of candidates and is more convenient and considerably
cheaper than traditional methods”. Unlike traditional forms of recruitment, which typically come
with a fee, companies can post job vacancies on Facebook and Twitter free of charge. Facebook “is
a simple, free way to communicate”. However, if companies want their profile to be viewed by a
great number of Facebook users, they can select a payment plan to “create several adverts targets-
based on location, demographics and interests and also to promote posts to engage audiences”.
According to Facebook, “Most online advertisements reach only 27% of their intended audiences.
Facebook’s average is 91%”. Therefore, job advertisements on Facebook may get more views than
advertisements on other social media. Similarly, Twitter is free to sign up for, and like Facebook,
users can post job advertisements for free. Like Facebook, if companies want to increase the target
audience of their posts they can pay to promote their Tweets or company profile. Doing so “reaches
a wider group of users and can spark engagement from their existing followers”. “Promoted Tweets
and accounts are clearly labelled as promoted when an advertiser is paying for their placement on
Twitter. In every other respect, promoted Tweets act just like regular Tweets and can be retweeted,
replied to, favourite and more”. Like both Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is free to create a profile
on. However, unlike Facebook and Twitter and more similar to traditional methods of recruitment,
posting job vacancies on LinkedIn incurs a fee. LinkedIn state “the price of the job posting varying
by geographical location” with user able to choose from different pricing plans for 30 days or more.
However, unlike traditional methods of recruitment which offer no certainty that candidates will
apply for the job, LinkedIn “guarantees ten applicants”. This is an important factor which may
influence the use of LinkedIn over traditional methods of recruitment.

As previously mentioned on page 9, another factor which benefits companies by recruiting through
social media, is the increase in the speed of response and hire times. With traditional methods of
recruitment a company may have to wait a number of days until the advertisement is published or
released to the public. However, with social media the advertisement of the job vacancy is
instantaneous. Recruiting through social media, as opposed to traditional methods, also allows for a
much shorter response time for both the candidates applying for a job vacancy and for the
company when receiving the applications. Furthermore, another benefit of social media
recruitment is that the screening of candidates is made much simpler. Roberts argues that “there
are two main methods of screening: those who approach it as a means of screening out and those
who approach it as a means of screening in. This can be adapted for recruitment though social
media, particularly on LinkedIn, where companies can easily screen candidates through searching
for particular desired skills, educations or qualities before even placing a job vacancy advertisement
or receiving any CVs. It can also be argued that doing so is both a method of screening in and
screening out candidates, as the search results given will only show those desirable, thus screening
them in and screening out those lacking the desired skills or qualities. However, if a company were
to place a job advertisement on a social media platform and screen all the candidates once their
applications had been received, it can be reasoned that due to the large amount of social media
users, the job vacancy would receive more applicants than traditional recruitment methods, and
therefore, the screening period would be considerably longer.

A third benefit of recruiting through social media platforms allows companies to view aspects of a
candidate’s personality which can be gleaned from one’s digital footprint - their social media
profile- which may not be observed from a CV. By being able to view one’s life from the information
available on their social media profile, companies can see first-hand what type of person the
candidate is, and how they spend their time. “Applicant screening through social media can have an
obvious benefit—to discover information about a candidate that would otherwise be impossible to
discover. This may be beneficial as people with an average CV may be deemed more suitable or
interesting based on their social media portrayal of their lives. However, this is not without its
negatives. If a company advertises a job vacancy on LinkedIn, they may be inclined to view
candidates’ Facebook and Twitter accounts as well to gain extra information about the candidates.
For companies, the temptation of using sites like Facebook to take a peek at what job-seekers say
and do when they're off the clock is its accessibility and the sense that it offers a real-life window
into someone's unguarded thoughts. While it gives companies a more in-depth insight into
thecandidate, nonetheless, doing so mayalsohaveethicaldilemmas.Furthermore, the information
companies find on a candidate’s social media profile may not represent the person they truly are.
The information may be picked as it is suitable for prospective employers to view, or to impress
them. Therefore, screening candidates on the information available on their profile may not always
be a reliable method.

Research Methodology:
The purpose of research methodology is to demonstrate “that the process of conducting the study
is justified and fully disclosed in an accurate and detailed description.Use the design of the Onion to
discuss the research design of the dissertation through the research philosophy, approach and
strategy which have been taken. This will then detail the data collection instruments and the
respondents chosen and why. Following this, the methodology will then discuss the research ethics
which needed to be adhered to. Finally,this will discuss what the limitations to the methodology are
before finishing with an overall conclusion. The methodology of this dissertation played an
important part in the research surrounding the role social media plays in recruitment and the
impact it has had on diversity in services companies.Therefore, each part of the methodology, such
as the research design and data collection methods, were specifically chosen for their suitability in
aiding and advancing this research.

Research Approach:
This research takesboth deductive and inductive approach.Which is known as a mixed or combined
approach. A deductive approach is “a research approach involving the testing of a theoretical
proposition by the employment of a research strategy specifically designed for the purpose of its
testing”. A deductive approach involves testing a theory, “and the gathering of data in order to test
the hypothesis which was previously formulated. A deductive approach is taken in this dissertation
as the research began by first formulating the hypothesis that recruitment through social media
does increase diversity in the workplace in services companies.The hypothesis will then be tested
by the gathering of data relevant to the research in order to prove whether the theory is correct. An
inductive approach involves carrying out research in order to form a theory. This involves
researching the role that social media plays in recruitment today and forming conclusions based on
the findings. This dissertation aimed to research the role social media plays in the recruitment
purpose, of which a theory will be created after the research is carried out, which is inductive.

USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY JOB SEEKERS TO

RESEARCH PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS:
Professional job seekers are already making use of social media to research companies they may
wish to work for. Employers must take this into account to position company profiles and news to
reach those they most want to hire. The same sites also provide a useful space for showcasing key
messages about the brand.

In the next part of our survey, we asked candidates to tell us about the information they typically
look for when reviewing employer’s social media sites.

The responses reveal that many candidates want corporate social media profiles to provide a range
of insights. While 76% of candidates look to discover generic information on the company and its
operations, over twothirds (67%) also look for pointers on cultural values and around half expect
details of future strategy. Just over 50% of surveyed job seekers like to view profiles of existing staff
members while 54% hope to discover more about the opportunities for career progression.

Partnering with an established recruitment consultancy with a good understanding of professional

networks can provide vital intelligence on attracting the job seekers you want. Above all, a well
informed professional networking profile projects and reinforces core values and builds awareness
of the brand among key audiences.

NETWORKING GROUPS ON PROFESSIONAL

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Some social media sites offer users the ability to sign up to networks or groups devoted to
particular business sectors. Of interest to employers is our finding that over two-thirds (68%) of job
seekers feel that signing up to these groups is important to progression in their career

While the most common reason for registering with these groups, cited by 55% of respondents, is
to gain intelligence on the market, they are also seen as the ideal platform for discussing trends,
interacting with like-minded professionals, job-hunting and ascertaining the identities of key players
in the market.

These groups provide the ideal platform for thought leadership and an opportunity to raise
awareness of the company and its operations. With membership of these groups increasing all the
time, taking the time to properly engage can make all the difference to securing the best candidates

EMPLOYER SCREENING OF JOB SEEKER SOCIAL

MEDIA PROFILES:
A number of checks are now conducted during the recruitment process to ensure that candidates
are suitable for hire. With such a vast amount of data available through social media websites,
employers may be tempted to use some of the information available as part of the screening
process. Our survey quizzed employers and job seekers on using social media when making new
hires.

What is immediately clear is that some employers have proven their willingness to use at least one
form of social media in the recruitment process. Although 39% of hiring managers do not, as a rule,
make use of any of these sites when looking to bring in new staff, 64% say they have viewed a job
seeker’s professional social network profile at some point for this purpose.
Use of personal social media by employers in this context is much rarer, with only one in ten saying
they review these profiles as a matter of course during the recruitment process. As mentioned
earlier in this whitepaper, 70% of employers also say that Facebook and Twitter are generally the
preserve of an individual’s personal life, and therefore not a particularly helpful tool in the
recruitment process.

However, half of all businesses surveyed admit that they would be willing to run the names of
candidates through personal social media websites if they felt it helpful 11.4% We routinely check
candidates out on personal social networking sites 50.4% We don’t routinely use these sites but
would if we thought they would provide us with useful information about the candidate 38.2%
We do not and would not check social networking sites during the recruitment process

The percentage of employers prepared to research candidates using social media if they thought it
useful 50%

Furthermore, among all employers surveyed, 27% admit to having used Facebook to evaluate a
prospective employee at some point in time, whilst 15% have used Twitter. Yet employers need to
carefully consider the purpose of reviewing personal social media profiles in this way.

Earlier in the whitepaper, we saw that job seekers actively use professional social media to market
their personal achievements to prospective employers and peers. Conversely 63% of professionals
say it would be inappropriate for a potential employer to use personal social media profiles in the
recruitment process.

DRAWBACKS OF USING PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA

PROFILES IN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS:
Most individuals draw a very clear distinction between their professional capabilities and their
personal lives. The likes of Facebook and Twitter may not give an accurate indication of how well an
individual may perform in a role.

Employers must ensure that information from individual social media profiles does not detract from
securing top talent. As over half of candidates report editing their own profiles to appeal to a
potential employer – such as altering visibility settings and removing photos or other information –
investing in the research may prove to be a fruitless exercise.

Job seekers expect to be considered for a role according to established processes, and it is within
these parameters that businesses should address concerns about values or attitudes that may be
held by a prospective employee. Assessment centres, psychometric testing and other interactive
exercises are often better placed to answer these questions than personal social media profiles.

Businesses should also be careful to manage the risk associated with violating data protection laws
or other legislation when using personal social media in the recruitment process.

APPLICATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA

TO THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS:
Among employers who view professional social media profiles during the recruitment process, 35%
are most likely to do this at the application stage. This suggests it is important for a prospective
candidate to have an informative profile as well as a strong CV and covering letter.

A further 25% of employers say they access professional social networks at the interview stage,
indicating they are interested in employment information not gained from speaking directly with
the individual concerned, including testimonials or further details of individual achievements. This
provides a useful illustration of where professional social media can be of real assistance in the
recruitment process.

Similarly, professional social media remains a key research tool among job seekers that have
secured an interview, with 80% preferring this method over any personal networking sites.
Companies must bear this in mind as a way of informing job seekers about the benefits and
opportunities open to company employees.

An experienced recruitment consultant with experience of working with high quality candidates can
often provide a good steer on making the most effective use of professional social media.

KEY FINDINGS:
Our research suggests that the recruitment process is increasingly affected by the use of social
media, from job seekers researching a role to hiring managers seeking information to inform their
screening processes. Feedback from our survey underpins the key findings below.

Online social media websites have become popular for different reasons:
Social media has become an ingrained phenomenon with mass appeal. Facebook, where 74% of
professionals maintain a profile, is seen as an indispensable method for connecting with friends and
family. Twitter is also hugely popular, with recently conceived networks such as Google+ and
Instagram taking a smaller share of the market. Sites such as LinkedIn have become a key resource
for professional networking, as evidenced by an 85% take-up rate among job seekers. 69% of
employers also have a corporate professional social media profile. And although 43% of employers
have a Twitter feed, and 42% a Facebook account, these are used principally for marketing and
promotional activities rather than to appeal to prospective employees. The key message to take
away is that both candidates and employers see a clear distinction between personal and
professional networks, with most social media sites falling into one category or the other.

Some social media channels are widely perceived as an acceptable

recruitment channel:
Although penetration of social media has reached an impressively high level, it is not seen as the
most obvious space in which to search for or post vacancies. In the first instance, recruitment
consultants remain the leading option for both job seekers (43%) and hiring companies (49%),
followed by job boards and company websites. Among both job seekers (77%) and employers
(51%), professional networks lead in searching for jobs compared to other social media sites. For
instance, over nine in ten candidates are happy to be solicited for jobs via LinkedIn – and over 80%
would apply for a relevant job that appears in their profile feed. Employers need to be careful to
advertise vacancies using channels and platforms that will attract the best job seekers.

Social media is increasingly important to candidates as a method for

researching the market:
Our survey indicates that professional social media has a significant impact on job seekers in
shaping impressions of a potential employer. Of all social media sources used as a research tool,
professional networks beat other sites by a margin of four to one. Using professional networks
simply to post vacancies is not enough. Employers must ensure they maintain high quality, engaging
levels of content that relate to questions on company culture, employee opportunities and an
indication of future plans. Active participation in online groups specific to a particular sector or
industry – now used by nearly 70% of job seekers – is also vital to gaining an advantage over your
competitors.

Changing the role of HR:

Because social media tools tend to encourage fast and direct communication between individuals
one might reasonably question whether their use signals a step-change for the recruitment
practices within organisations. Specifically, if job applications are being advertised via social media
sites and potential applicants have the opportunity to communicate directly with an organisation
use of social media, primarily because they manage the whole recruitment process themselves;
social media is another tool for them to use, rather than an alternative recruitment channel.
Similarly, at Monmouthshire County Council, the HR department was reported to be very open to
new ways of doing things, and had been keen to embrace social media in recruitment. HR also
realised that social media is a good way of raising their profile and encouraging feedback.

Overall, it is clear that the use of social media for recruitment purposes is increasing, as companies
experiment with new tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the rest. There is a wide variety of
practice in the use of social media tools for recruitment. Use depends on factors such as company
size and sector as well as the type of employee whom the employer is trying to reach. Many
organisations are experimenting with these tools, which, being relatively new, are moving forward
on a trial and error basis.

Triggers for using social media for recruitment include: operating within an environment in which
competitors are using these tools (e.g. retail); wanting to target particular groups of people,
particularly in the case of senior jobs; and linking the use of social media to brand and awareness-
building. Social media tools are usually used in combination with more traditional recruitment
strategies rather than substituting for these.

There are a range of benefits available to employers using social media for recruitment purposes,
centring on cost and time savings. Organisations that use tools such as LinkedIn for recruiting to
senior and strategic positions instead of using agencies or head-hunters are finding that this results
in significant cost savings. Furthermore, social media can help organisations to target their
recruitment more accurately, present a realistic picture of their workplace, and reach a wider range
of potential candidates. This combination of reach that is at the same time wider and more targeted
is very interesting for recruiting organisations.

Social media can also help companies to increase brand-awareness and two-way communication
with potential candidates, fostering realistic expectations on the part of potential candidates. It can
also mean that some individuals can be deterred from applying at an earlier stage, as they are able
to gain a realistic impression of an organisation before starting the application process. This saves
time and money for both the individual and the company.

There are also, however, a number of potential risks and costs associated with the use of social
media for recruitment. There is the actual cost of dedicating resources to social media sites, as
traffic can be significant and unpredictable. There are also issues surrounding the accuracy of the
information gained by the use of social media tools – there is no guarantee that the information
that individuals, or others, post on their SNSs is accurate. There are also issues around the depth of
the applicant pool that social media tools can access, giving rise to potential problems around
diversity and discrimination, particularly in terms of reaching older candidates and those who are
not as comfortable with using computers. This means that there are a number of legal aspects that
employers should consider when thinking about using social media tools for recruitment. These
include difficulties arising from HR decisions based on inaccurate information, issues related to
employee privacy, equality and diversity and the use of standardised information about candidates.
Furthermore, given the diversity of information about individuals available on social networking
sites, it is difficult to see how this can be fairly compared.

Conclusions and future trends:

Perhaps the defining characteristic of social media is the speed at which they develop. It is
therefore difficult to predict the future of any given tool – in five years’ time, the sites which are
currently household names may have been supplanted by media that have yet to be invented. The
recruitment team at Pets at Home acknowledges this trend:

One thing that seems likely, however, is that an increasing amount of social media traffic will go
through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. For this reason, the recruitment team at
Pets at Home is looking at making sure that its careers page is mobile-friendly, including the use of
Quick Response (QR) codes1, in order to make access easier. Given the growth of this type of
mobile technology, organisations should consider ensuring that their SNSs are accessible on these
platforms.

When asked about future use of social media in recruitment, a majority of respondents to the 2013
Acas online panel survey of HR decision makers (42 per cent) said that they would make greater use
of these types of tools in the future. A further 32 per cent said that they would continue with
around the same amount of use, while only one per cent said that they would decrease their use of
social media tools in recruitment. Around a quarter of respondents, however, were undecided
regarding their future use of these types of tools in the recruitment process.

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