Social media has really changed the way things are being done, that is for sure. In the article I read, it said that 92% of companies use social media for recruiting. Social media is a powerful tool because the average internet user has over five social media accounts (I am behind the curve it seems). All the major social media sites have billions of active users. Companies would be foolish not to take advantage of this trend.
Social media has a few good benefits when it comes to recruiting.
Faster recruitment: everything today requires an instant answer or result, recruiting is no different. Instead of relying on mail or job boards to get their message out, companies can post a job online and get almost instant responses.
Employee branding: the company can sometimes live and die by how well they brand themselves. The more favorable the brand, the more recruits. The more the company puts themselves out there, the more intrigue by the public.
Passive candidates: this goes along with #2, the more the company is out there the more people they will attract. People who are passive are far more likely to apply for a job than ever before.
Source of information: background checks are a necessity nowadays, social media can be used in this area. There are programs that can scan accounts and obtain relevant information about a candidate.
Two disadvantages that present themselves with social media;
Inaccurate or incomplete information: the recruiter is kind of dependent on the candidates profile being up to date and accurate. Another issue is the profiles may be updated but the candidate may get looked over just by having the same name as someone else.
Bias: there is a potential for conscious or unconscious discrimination when viewing profiles. The recruiter may reject someone because of gender, race, age, etc.
I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I would like to think that for every issue that arises, there are many more positive experiences.
Frank
Social media platforms help employers to recruit passive job seekers. Especially those that don’t have a well-built resume. In today’s “microwave” society, the faster you can reach someone the better. Most unemployed are looking for the easiest job with the most amount of money. Information that seems too much to read or take in is a huge turn off to most people today. If anyone has social media, they are constantly on it for a good portion of the day. So why not reach them on a platform they are consistently using. Employers should consider using this tool efficiently and effectively in terms of recruitment process tool. This does not contribute to the cons/disadvantages of using social media as tool to recruitment process, it should provide the job seekers with a safe usage of the platform and maintain the privacy of the job seekers when they send their respective resumes.
The benefits of social media:
Social media helps employers to reach possible candidates faster at a lower cost.
Employers can work with some social media platforms whom their brand is known by many, or possible passive job seekers example is LinkedIn or monster.
Social media platforms spread the information of job vacancies about the company faster and to a larger audience than typical platforms like LinkedIn that you have to pay for.
The disadvantages of social media:
Privacy concerns, although the social media is basically a public realm, some people feel uncomfortable with people having access to their information. A lot of “skeletons” could show up via social media that could hurt your chances in being hired and compliance issues, an employer can be biased toward people with good social media presence. Finally, missing and/or inaccurate information, risk of looking at the wrong person’s account. Many fake accounts are out there and could jeopardize your ability to be hired.
V/R
Ronny