A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS IN RECRUITMENT

PROCESS

Introduction:

The internet and mobile technology revolution have made significant impact on almost all the
sphere of one’s personal life as well as on corporate world. Smart phone gives on opportunity to
its users stay connected with others through Social Media Networks (SMNs) such as Facebook,
LinkedIn, twitter etc. Millions of potential job seekers have posted their profiles on social media
sites and their number is increasing every day. Social media sites provides significant
opportunities for corporate those who want to select potential employees. Nowadays the human
resource professionals using social media networks for getting the online information of
prospective employees is increasing.

Social media Network:

According to Boyd and Ellison (2007), social media are web based services that allow users to
create a personal profile, connect with other user (friends or colleagues) and view other profiles
and connecting in the network. The social media network is classified in to Professional Social
Media Networks (PSMNs) and Non-Professional Social Media Networks (NPSMNs) on the
basis of organizational requirements. LinkedIn is professional social media networks which
attract talents from all over the world whereas Facebook is non-professional social media
networks which focus mainly on social interaction. There is a key distinction between
Professional and Non-professional social media networks. The users of Non-Professional social
media sites usually post personal information such as personal events and photos. On the other
hand, the users of Professional Media sites post information about their current and past
positions. The corporate are using both professional and Non-professional social media networks
for recruiting candidates

Impact of Social Media Networks in Recruitment:

Recruitment is a process of attracting, screening and selecting the potential candidates. In

traditional recruitment method all the process are done through face to face contact and through
postal communications. After the information technology revolution, the process has been
improved by e-mail and mobile communication. Now it is developed in the form of online
recruitment. Online recruitment means the hiring organizations are performing the recruitment
process with the help of internet. Initially the social Medias are used for the purpose of
interacting with friends, family members and colleagues but now the hiring managers are using
the social Medias for recruiting people for their organizations. Similarly job seekers are also
using the social media for the recruitment purpose. They post their profiles in the social media
sites. Therefore the social media sites are the common platform the job seekers and recruiters.
Nowadays more and more companies are entering into the social media sites for selecting the
right fit for their organization. Social media have the both positive and negative impact on the
recruitment practices of the organizations.

Positive impacts:

Social media are offering the following benefits to the organizations. They are:

 Social media provides wide pool of potential employees to the recruiters.

 The companies can access the talent from any location.

 Vacancies published through Social media can reach large number of potential
candidates.

 It is easier for hiring manager to collect data about potential candidates through social
media

 Social media provides an opportunity to the HR professionals for checking a candidates

credentials through the his or her profile on social media sites

 Social media recruitment is a less time consuming and low cost process.

 Social Medias are enhancing the visibility of the company among its competitors.

Negative impact:

Though the social media has many positive impacts on recruitment, it has some negative impacts
on the recruitment process. They are:
  The recruiter cannot depend the social Medias alone for the recruitment. It should be
supported by any of the traditional recruitment method.

 The profile posted by job seekers in social media networks may be inaccurate due to
privacy issues.

 Basically, the social media are used for personal communication. The people who post his
profile in social media site want to be found rather than actually want to apply for post.
This makes the hiring the process more critical. The hiring consultant or manager has to
identify the right candidates.

 Job seekers consider that job boards are more effective than social media sites. Majority
of the talent consider professional social media is better for getting jobs rather than non-
professional social media networks.

Conclusion:

The users of social media are increasing day by day. Likewise the companies use social media
for recruitment also increasing. With the help of social media, the recruiters can reach the large
number of talent pool from all over the location. They also access and verify the information
posted by the job seekers. For getting the good result, the recruitment through social media
should be supported by any other traditional method of recruitment practices. Similarly the job
seekers can reach the companies where they want to be getting hired. Social media has both
positive and negative impact on recruitment practices. However, social media has improved the
recruitment process with its mass reachability and low cost features.
Reference:

1. Boyd, D. M. and Ellison, N. B. (2007) ‘Social network sites: Definition, history and
scholarship’, Journal of Computer Mediated Education, Vol.13, Issue 1: pp.210-230

2. Nigel Wright Recruitment: “the impact of social media on recruitment”, Report 2011.

3. Marcos Hideyuki Yokoyama, “How social network sites (SNS) have changed the
employer–employee relationship and what are the next challenges for human resource
(HR)?”, REGE - Revista de Gestão, Volume.23, Issue-1, Jan-March, 2016, PP. 2-9.