Social Networking and Employment - Literature review Example

? Social Networking and Employment The concept of social networking through internet was an unknown topic till a couple of decades before. However, at present, it is difficult to describe the influences of social networking services upon human life. Traditional means of communication such as telephone calls, letter writing, and the advanced channel emails, have been given way for the new concept of communication through social networking. The potentials of social networking have been increasing day by day. Instead of using social networks as a mere communication channel, people started to exploit it in different ways. For example, employers are using social networks nowadays, to identify potential candidates for the vacancies in their organizations. Recruitment through social networks is the cheapest and quickest way of filling vacancies in an organization. This paper analyses various ways through which social networks can be used for the recruitment process and also the advantages and disadvantages in using social networks for the recruitment process. Definition: Social Networking “Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision. When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social sites”(What is social networking, 2011). Social sites help to build an online community in the virtual world to function like a social community in the real world. Online community can accommodate people from distant parts of the world irrespective of their cast, age, race, gender or religion. Background: Social Networking & Employment Just like alcohol or drug addiction, social media or social networking is a kind of addiction to most of the people in the current generation. Majority of the people who know something about computers and internet may have accounts in social media networks to communicate with their friends and relatives and also to express their views to the external world. The capabilities or potentials of social media networks are increasing day by day. Earlier, people used it for sharing photos, videos, music and opinions; however at present social media networks have been used for many other purposes. For example, leaders of the ongoing struggle against corruption in India have used social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook extensively to gather support for their agitations against corruption. Identification of talents or recruitment process is another area in which social networks started to show its potentials. Since people reveal their qualifications and experiences in their profile, it is easy for the employers to search through databases of social networks and identify the talents they are looking for. Since social networks provide a platform for people to express themselves or to express their views, employers can easily identify whether a person is suitable or not for their organization. Even though social networks provide immense advantages both to the employers and the job seekers, employers may face lot of disadvantages also while using social networks for recruitment purposes. It is not necessary that people always provide details about their actual qualifications and experiences in their profile in social networks. In many cases, people provide exaggerated claims about their qualifications and experiences in their social network profiles in order to attract others and the employers may not get the actual information about a person while using social networks for recruitment process. Some of the social websites like LinkedIn provides not only the facility to put the user’s resume online, but also it helps the employers the facilities to communicate effectively with the job seekers. Employers can use these facilities effectively to identify talents. According to Lindow (2011), “LinkedIn can be a good place to start, because what LinkedIn has done is given people the permission to put their resume online,” without fear of repercussions from current employers” (Lindow, 2011). Apart from giving permission to the job seekers to publish their resume online, LinkedIn helps employers to publish their job ads and the job seekers can search through these recruitment ads to find out jobs suitable to them. LinkedIn also allows employers to access the details of the job seekers and also to contact them personally. Moreover it helps employers to manage their recruitment process more effectively, by providing different types of recruitment project folders. Employers can communicate with the potential candidates with the help of the recruitment tools provided by LinkedIn. “Making use of groups on LinkedIn is a good way to attract staff, and especially useful for finding employees with specialist skills that you might otherwise have trouble finding” (Jones, 2010, p.5). Facebook and Twitter can also be used effectively by the job seekers and the employers. These social networks allow its users to publish their academic qualifications and previous employer details in their personal web pages. “By making use of Twitter, Facebook et al, companies are more likely to get their vacancy in front of passive job hunters, thereby opening up the pool of potential recruits they can draw from”(Jones, 2010, p.3). Earlier, people spent their leisure time by watching television or reading newspapers and therefore job advertisements in those advertising channels were more effective than any other mediums. However, at present majority of the people like to spend a substantial period of their leisure time in front of the computers. Social networks are the most effective relaxing channels for the current generation because of its abilities in interacting with others. “If your facebook page is open to the public, anyone can post comments or links on the page. It should be noted that print media or television media never allows people to interact with others. In other words, it enhances only one way communication. On the other hand, social networks enhance two way communications. One of the most important advantages of using social networks for recruitment purpose is the ability of these networks to send customized advertisements to its members. No other channels provide such facilities to the employers. For example, the job ads posted in newspapers or television are designed in such a way that it can reach a particular segment of people rather than an individual. On the other hand, using social networks, employers can send customized ads to the people based on their areas of interests. For example, suppose an employer identifies a job seeker who is suitable to his organization in many ways, with the help of social networks. The employer can send attractive ads or mails to that job seeker in order to persuade him to join his organization. In short, no other channels provide the employers the facilities to publish targeted ads. Current issues in using social networks for recruitment purposes It is not necessary that all the people use same social network for their communication purposes. "You might find that a graduate is more likely to be using Facebook for example and an experienced hire might be more likely to be using LinkedIn, so it's ensuring that you look at the channels for the best way to reach the people that you need"(Jones, 2010, p.4). In short employers forced to search through different social networks to identify talents while they use it as a recruitment channel. Traditional recruitment methods may not be feasible enough while using social networks for the recruitment process. Social networks are generally used by the people for relaxation and entertainment purposes. If an employer approaches a person directly with a job offer, it is not necessary that the person may take it positively. Before placing the offer, the employer should try to establish a relationship with the job seeker in order to convince him. Since internet is a place where all types of antisocial elements are hyperactive, people always treat offers from unfamiliar sources suspiciously. “Social recruiting is about getting engaged and having conversations with people before they’re even thinking about you as an employer, says Bruce Morton, CMO of Allegis Group Services, a company that provides human resources consulting” (Lindow, 2011). For many people, the basic purpose of social networking services is for entertainment and relaxation rather than for employment. So they will communicate only in a casual manner through social networks. They will never show any professionalism while using social networks. Thus the employers will never get proper ideas about the person while they select somebody from the social networks. It should be noted that even smartest people sometimes make silly comments through social networks. Assessing a person based on what he tweeted on twitter or what he wrote on facebook will never give a clear idea about him to the employer or the recruiter. Employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate. The top examples cited include: * Candidate lied about qualifications * Candidate showed poor communication skills * Candidate made discriminatory comments * Candidate posted content about them drinking or using drugs * Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information * Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients * Candidate shared confidential information from previous employer (Growth of Social Networking and Recruitment Trends, 2010) “At the simplest level, employers and potential job holders must learn about one another and word of mouth communication is one way which that happens”(Berg & Kalleberg, 2001, p.469). Social networks help employers to know more about the employees only through the verbal or written channel. Modern theories have proved that more than 60% of the information is communicated through nonverbal channels like gestures, facial expression, body language etc. “Research shows that clues in the nonverbal "channels" of communication (how something is said) are often more important than words alone (what is said)” (Exploring nonverbal communication, n. d). In short, it is difficult to understand a person from what he said or written. For en employer, it is important to know how confident a job seeker while responding to his questions. Even if the answers are wrong, the confidence level, approaches and the behaviour of the job seeker is more important to an employer. It is difficult for the employer to assess these qualities of a job seeker while he is making use of the services of social networks in the recruitment process. It is quite possible that a job seeker can ask the help of another person while talking or writing to the employer through social networks, if he possesses lack of communication skills. In a face to face meeting or direct recruitment process, the employer will get direct and reliable information from the job seeker whereas in recruitment through social networks, the employers will not get the direct experience of the candidate. “Finding candidates through social channels means you’ll be asking them to share information with you via possibly public means. For the process to work, employers need to be willing to share information as well” (Lindow, 2011). Lack of privacy is the major worrying factor in the recruitment process through social networks. Both the employer and the job seeker forced to reveal their private information through an open channel while they negotiate each other. It is quite possible that others who watch these conversations may create problems either to the employee or to the employer. For example, suppose the recruitment managers of both Microsoft and Apple are trying to persuade a person to join their organizations, through a social network. It is difficult to ensure privacy to the conversations between the person and Microsoft or Apple, while they use social network services like facebook or twitter. Solutions to overcome the issues related to the recruitment through social networks Employers should use social networks judiciously to identify talents. If the employers are looking for experienced professionals, LinkedIn could be the better choice than Facebook or Twitter. On the other hand, if the employers are in search of fresh candidates, probably facebook will be the ideal channel for them. Facebook is used by the teenagers mainly and it is intended mainly for the entertainment purposes. On the other hand, LinkedIn has more professional looks and matured or experienced people always prefer it over facebook. So the selection of the social network is important for the employers while they use it for recruitment process. In an employer’s perspective, it is better to establish good relations with a person before offering a job to him through social networks. Relationship building is the core of every business strategy according to the modern principles of scientific business management. The above principle is true in the case of recruitment through social networks also. Employers can use social networks to remove any apprehensions of the job seekers about their organization and also they can answer all the queries from the job seekers in order to boost the brand image of their organization. For example, it is not necessary that an American, who is searching for an IT employment in India, may have better ideas about an IT firm in India or about the employment climate in India. The Indian employer can clarify all the doubts and concerns of the American in order to persuade him to apply for the job in India. Recommendations The capabilities of social networks are increasing day by day and employers can use it properly if they formulate and implement suitable strategies. Social networks seem to be another future platform in which the competition between big companies going to take place. Since social networks have the ability to establish deep relations among its users or communities, organizations should find ways to exploit such relationships in future, without causing any headaches to the people. Social networks should only be used as a preliminary screening channel of the recruitment process. In other words, an employer should never appoint a person, based on the qualification and experience details provided in the social networks. Moreover, face to face meeting and physical verification of the qualification and experience details of the candidate should be done prior to the appointment of the candidate. Since privacy is a major matter of concern, employers should take necessary steps to ensure that the private information provided to them by the job seekers are kept in strict secret. Social networks are the prominent channels in which advertisements of various kinds are appearing. Millions of people surf through social networks virtually in every second. These people include job seekers, employers, employees who like to change their profession etc. Only the attractive job ads can catch the attention of job seekers and therefore employers or recruiters should take more care while placing job ads in social networking websites. Conclusions Instead of using social networks for relaxation and entertainment purposes, current generation is using it different ways. The potentials of social networks in the employment sector is well documented at present. It is useful both to the employers and the job seekers. Employers can reduce considerable amount of costs and time while they use social networks for recruitment purposes. At the same time, it is possible that the employers may make wrong selections while relying heavily on the data provided by the job seekers through social networks. If used, judiciously, social networks can be an effective mean for both employers and job seekers. References Berg I.E & Kalleberg A.L (2001). Sourcebook of labour markets: evolving structures and Processes. Springer, 2001 Growth of Social Networking and Recruitment Trends (2010). Retrieved from http://job.123oye.com/newsdisp.php?sno=427 Lindow A. (2011). HOW TO: Use Social Media for Recruiting. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/06/11/social-media-recruiting/ Jones B (2010). How to use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in recruitment. Retrieved from http://www.silicon.com/management/hr/2010/10/26/how-to-use-twitter-facebook-and-linkedin-in-recruitment-39746287 What is social networking (2011). Retrieved from http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/ Read More