BANASTHALI VIDYAPITH

Role of Social Media in

Recruitment Process
Advance readings in HRD & HQD

Submitted To:

Submitted By :

Ms. Kanika Gupta

Neha Srivastava

Faculty Member of Wisodm

MBA 2nd Year

ID: WBMBA13191
Roll No.: 10180

The Role of Social Media in the HR

Recruitment Process:
Human capital is the most treasured and valued asset of any organization, and is primarily
responsible for adding value to all other assets of an organization. The very word recruitment is a
logistics nightmare for the HR of many organizations. It has been seen, in this rapid changing
world, that various sourcing recruitment channels, such as social media (LinkedIn, Facebook,
etc.) have been developed and used, in addition to the traditional ones (advertisements, employee
referrals, recruitment agencies, etc).
Traditional ways of recruiting typically involve advertisements, paper applications and CVs, or
face-to-face networking, including phone calls . these tools largely rely on the so-called 'spray
and pray' method where large numbers of advertisements or applications are sent out (sprayed)
while both employers and job seekers wait (pray) for feedback.
With the emergence of the internet and social media more specifically, new approaches have
entered the sphere of employment and recruitment. Social-media tools and techniques as
currently used are not a direct replacement for traditional hiring processes, but rather a
supplement to them
Between 2011 & 2013, the percentage of employers who use social networks to recruit
candidates jumped from 29% to 42% (ERE.net) .Social media now stands as the second most
prevalent source of quality hires that showed the greatest increase in the three years in which
LinkedIn has conducted its recruiting trends study. Other origins of hires such as Internet job
boards, online resume databases and college recruiting programs actually decreased between
2011 & 2013.Accordingly, more than one-third of U.S. employers now view social media as a
long lasting trend in talent acquisition.
Social networking sites allow users to create web based profiles where individuals can interact,
using social media tools. Social Media matters for recruiting top talents. With over 1.5 Billion
users on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Social Media provides the vastest candidate pool
possible for growth directed companies looking to hire top talent. Today, most companies use
Social media to tap into their customer market; many companies are now using Social Media to
recruit top talent.
If used effectively, a Social Media Recruiting Strategy can help us to cultivate an online
community of potential employees; allow us to access a larger pool of passive candidates; help
us identity a better quality hire; and reduce time to hire.
Social Media allows us to increase the candidate pool to hire the best candidate to grow business,
implementing an effective social media recruiting strategy is fundamental to continued revenue
growth.
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In the past, sourcing candidates with the right qualifications, experience and cultural fit was a
complicated and time consuming process, which is why employers generally turned to
independent recruitment agencies for professional help.
It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin.
The recruitment landscape is changing and this change is driven by technology. The change itself
is how the communication channels have evolved and the way organizations are adopting them.
Social Media (SM) is not only dominating the personal lives of individuals but now also plays a
key role in business. Organizations that adopt SM expect to achieve a range of benefits through
its use, including employer branding, ability to reach passive candidates, referrals for vacancies,
service feedback, cost reduction in advertising and the speed at which information can
potentially travel at. Organizations should be aware that SM is not a strategy in itself but rather a
communication tool that plugs into the business which must be firmly rooted in the business
objectives to attain success.
Shifting hiring processes from the paper and time-intensive manual method to an automated
one saves time and money and boosts productivity by leaving positions vacant for shorter
periods of time. In addition, the cost associated with posting on a job board compares favorably
with placing job ads in newspapers, and, in some cases, may be more cost-effective. (Smith and
Rupp, 2004)
More recently we have seen a shift towards in-house recruiters who, with the rise of social
media can tap into a global pool of potential candidates with just a few clicks of their mouse.
Social networks are viewed by corporations as a means to recruit both passive and active
candidates in a personal yet professional way. Companies such as Ernst & Young and Sodexo are
building employer brands on social networks to position themselves as the best place to work
and to interact with potential candidates. Aside from passively marketing their companies,
recruiters are messaging prospects directly, getting introduced through connections and posting
jobs in groups. They are using these networks to fish where the fish are.
Moreover, it gives employers the opportunity to hire staff both locally and globally, significantly
extending the reach of more traditional staff recruitment-recruiting 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 employers job page.
Multiple language support with candidate accessibility for US and global partners.

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Social networking sites serve two main purposes. The first is as a marketing tool; jobseekers can
use SNSs to market themselves to potential employers and vice versa.
The second is as a screening mechanism; employers can use information available via SNSs to
cheaply and easily gain a broader image of a potential employee than that available through
traditional recruitment methods.
Social media is becoming more data-driven Adapting social media tools from the business
coupled with strong analytics will allow a more focused approach that harnesses and directs the
effort of all employees on social media. Talent Leaders understand the play - Talent leaders are
increasingly seeing the value of a combination of internal and external social media approaches
for managing and developing talent. Employee referrals are coupled with social media - Talent
managers are beginning to realize that the real strength of social media is relationship-building
by employees. With proper coordination, employee relationships can easily be turned into
employee referrals.
Some of social networking sites and tools can be Blog a discussion or informational site
published on the internet that consists of entries ('posts') typically displayed in reverse
chronological order, i.e. the most recent post appears first.
Facebook a social networking service where users create personal profiles, add other users as
friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their own
profile. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by common
characteristics (e.g. workplace). Users can instant message each other through the website.
Employers use company Facebook pages to promote company brand and image, get people to
follow company page my making interesting conversations. Sometimes post jobs, links to career
sites, monitor whats being said about them, and search for potential talent and check out
candidates. Facebook is now the most visited place on the web. Facebook is a relatively closed
network it can make direct sourcing a challenge. Depending on the users security settings,
visitors are allowed certain access making sourcing on this platform somewhat difficult
Google an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services; most
famously its core search engine, but also a large chain of products including Google+, the second
largest social networking site in the world
LinkedIn a business-related social networking site mainly used for professional networking.
Users maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of
relationship, called connections. This list of connections can then be used to build up a contact
network, follow different companies and find jobs, people and business opportunities.
Employers use company profile to promote brand& image, post jobs, connect job boards and
databases to LinkedIn. Linked In is used to search for candidates, Size up candidates who have
applied, delve in conversations to find talent who share interests or are talking about topics
critical to their company

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YouTube- Employers use YouTube to create fun video featuring issues around job search, and

how Career Builder can help. A fun interview session with typical questions, leading people to
dig in career builder for the right set of answers; video highlighting the way recruitment process
has evolved in India; push videos on Facebook and Twitter for virality.
Twitter a popular micro blogging service enabling its users to send and read publicly visible
messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the
users profile page. Users may subscribe to other users tweets.
Yahoo an American multinational internet corporation widely known for its social networking
services and user-generated content including online discussion boards (Yahoo! Groups),
community-driven Q&A site
Incidence of using social media tools for recruitment
A relatively large number of surveys on the practice known as social recruitment have been
conducted in the United States, where the use of SNSs is becoming widespread in recruitment. In
2008, for example, a survey for the US Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
found that the number of organizations that reported using SNSs as an HR tool had grown from
21 per cent in 2006 to 44 per cent in 2008. Thirty four per cent were using these sites as a
marketing tool to recruit or contact applicants and 13 per cent were using them as a screening
tool (Davison, Maraist and Bing, 2011).
The internet lends itself well to finding and attracting college graduates, skilled workers,
managers, and executives. These groups tend to be computer-literate, and technology use is an
integral part of their daily routines, helping them develop and maintain connections at work
as well as in their personal lives.
In current digital world, networks flourish spontaneously and their impact on different facets on
life is increasing day by day. As the economic slowdown continues, millions of job seekers
gripped by the job jittersare rushing to join online social networks in a scramble to build their
social capital
Social networks offer a powerful tool for recruiters to reach a pool of qualified candidates that
they might not otherwise be able to reach. Social media is here to stay and employers can gain a
significant advantage by adopting hiring methods that have a social media element. There is no
doubt that social media has improved the recruitment process by making it more open and
democratic; increasing the visible talent pool from which to engage and recruit. Having an
intimate knowledge of someones capabilities or knowing who the best person for a role is,
however, can only be gained through personal knowledge of an individual and of a particular
industry sector. The social media sites also recognize this, and new tools are becoming available
all of the time that allow recruiters and employers to work together to take advantage of social
media hiring. It is changing the way we do business today. Additional benefits include the ability
to enhance our public image, improve interactions with customers, and promote employee
engagement. But it is not without internal and external risk
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RECRUITMEN THROUGH FACEBOOK

Facebook is now the most visited place on the web. Facebook is a relatively closed network it can make direct
sourcing a challenge. Depending on the users security settings, visitors are allowed certain access making sourcing
on this platform somewhat difficult. Even still, there are ways to grow candidate pool, source, and fill positions
recruiting on Facebook. Facebooks ad network offers recruiters a unique opportunity to target job advertisements
to Facebook users by keyword, education, location, and even age. Facebook users are providing detailed information
and news about their own interests, hobbies, education, and activities throughout the day and at staggering rates. The
average Facebook user now spends 15 hours and 33 minutes per month on Facebook. Facebooks ads capitalize on
their members and the information that is voluntarily submitted by offering advertisers very small and specific areas
in which to target for not a lot of money. To keep up with the competition for top talent, companies must recruit with
Facebook ads

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Employers Can Use Social Media as Part of

the Recruitment Process

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Social media is buzzing.It is what people of all ages have turned to as a means for
general communication.The days of picking up the phone to make a phone call are
slowly diminishing, and everything is becoming computer oriented.As an employer
you can really useLinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter as 3 key social media ports to
really take advantage of this form of recruitment, and it can all be cost-free.
LinkedIn is generally a site for professionals, and while posting typically costs some
money to put on there, they dont have to truly cost you a penny.With the proper
procedure you can generate a pool of applicants, and all it will cost you is your
time.On LinkedIn you can browse through it, join various networks and groups, and
once you have enough of a generated audience, you can post exactly what you are
looking for.This takes away the expense, and maximizes your potential of finding a
prime candidate.It is a win-win situation, done on the site most likely to land you a
business
professional.
Twitter and Facebook are almost directly relevant to one another.They are heavily
based on networking, at no expense.Once again it is a matterof getting involved
with groups that are going to grant a pool of access to individuals you are trying to
reach out to.With little to no effort given the current job market an employer can get
several responses by posting the need to hire x amount of people, but generating
the interest of the RIGHT candidate is what needs to essentially be done.

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