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“The use of Social networking sites and blogs in recruiting processes”

Blogs, networks & Recruitment.

Social Networking Sites (SNS). In Business success is about who you know. In recruiting its
about who knows You (or can find you), in order to build a large pipeline of candidates.
Recruiter's biggest strength lies as a Relationship builder with candidates. Blogging and
Networking Sites help in this. Trend of Blogging and SNS (Social Networking sites) is catching
up. Dozens of networking sites have popped up in recent years. Searching the right person for a
job is always a challenge. Recruitment agencies are using Social Networking Sites to look for
the right person. After doing enough of sifting and sorting through millions of resumes. by
scanning Blogs and Social-Networking tools recruiters sometimes strike gold. Blogs are
becoming Professional gathering places as well as forums where Recruiters can seek out talent,
Companies can position themselves as great places to work, and Job candidates can hawk their
mental wares.

Recruiters may not be able to specify how many new hires resulted from Blogs and Networking
Sites but the efforts are definitely not wasted. Websites like Orkut, Facebook and other social
media websites are the new hunting places for HR teams these days to scout for talents.
Specialized professional networks like Linkedln and Ryze which cater to the needs of
professionals only. Linkedin is the most popular. Other websites catching up steam are Reliance
Entertainment's website Bigadda, Orkut, Facebook etc.

Social Network Recruitment is based on the premise that a person can develop a network of
professional buddies and colleagues who can be a source of help throughout his/her career.
Professionals register on these sites in order to keep in touch with their past as well as present
colleagues. Sites can be a catalyst in helping professionals establish their identity based on
their background, achievements, abilities and network of friends and colleagues. Professionals
generally use to enhance their professional life. Job seekers get detailed information about the
hiring companies, their work environment, culture and projects. Recruiters can see candidates
current work and interests and exchange a lot of crucial notes and information. Effective
Corporate Communications tool. Powerful way of attracting like minded and knowledgeable
talent that understands your business and can connect and participate in the conversation with
you. New age managers believe that it helps in bonding better. “If you have a good recognition
online, your credibility increases in the eyes of the recruiter.” Naukri caters to the needs of
passive jobseekers, has realized the importance of Networking and now gone ahead and launched
Brijj.com. Naukri is starting to realize that jobs/recruiting space would rapidly be moving
towards networking. The tagline of Brijj.com site says "Build a trusted online network and
power your professional relationships for life," which in simple terms means Business
networking.

INTRODUCTION
My Paper took up the task of exploring the current state of social media in qualitative recruiting,
its advantages, potential pitfalls and ideas concerning best practices.
Two online bulletin boards were conducted in the field of few companies of
Telecommunications industry, Tata Motors, Infosys and few companies of IT Sector specially
the ones mentioned in my Abstract , with a total of 30 participants in the discussions. Nineteen
were HR managers with experience using SM and 11 were senior executives. I thanks them for
their help in the study (their names are listed at the end of this paper). The discussions took
place in November and December, 2012.
Social media was defined for the study as including various online technology tools that enable
people to communicate, share information and resources via the Internet and mobile devices.
These tools include text, audio, video, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communications.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn were given as examples of SM sites.
It is important to emphasize that this study is qualitative, based on a small sample and semi-
structured questioning, so the hypotheses discussed here should be viewed as tentative. Some
comments by participants have been edited for conciseness, clarity and punctuation.
My study suggests that the use of SM in recruiting for qualitative research is on the rise and
expected to continue growing. SM is employed across methodologies, not just online but also for
in-person and telephone studies. Recruiting through SM websites and discussion forums is seen
as having several key advantages: most notably, for locating hard-to-find/ low incidence
respondents and verifying some respondent information. The study, conducted also identifies
several issues, such as less trustworthy SM sites and protection of respondent privacy.
OBJECTIVES
Our goal was to understand how both individuals and companies were currently using social
networking sites in their job search and/or recruiting efforts, and specifically which sites they were
finding the most useful.
Research questions included:
• Which of the social networking sites do you use?
• Please rate these sites in terms of their usefulness in your professional
life/job search.
• Have you ever searched for a job via a social networking site?
• Have you ever actually found a job via a social networking site?
• Have you ever tried to recruit via a social networking site?
• Have you ever actually hired someone you recruited via a social networking site?
• How would you describe your view of the importance of social networking sites and
technologies?
SURVEY DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Our surveys were conducted online in the last months of 2012(November and December) and
more than 30 senior executive participated. The majority of them were from telecommunications
industry and also a few are from Tata Group and Infosys.
Current usage of social networking sites
Almost all sites showed an increase in popularity and usage among the executives surveyed,
reflecting increasing adoption of social networking generally. In 2012, LinkedIn increased its
lead in popularity and use over other social networking sites, with 87% of respondents reporting
using it, up from 61% last year. Facebook was the second most popular choice among executives
surveyed, with 45% indicating they used the site, up from 33% a year ago. Twitter and Xing also
doubled in usage, with new sites we asked about for the first time used by less than 5% of those
surveyed.
When we specified “in your professional life”, usage remained similar for LinkedIn. Some
respondents found the use of social networking sites to be a phenomenon more relevant in the
personal realm than in the professional realm. As one respondent commented, “It's mixing social
and professional lives, typically areas kept separate for most people.”
I would also add a few data from Kelly Global Workforce Index Survey. The survey revealed.
One-in-five job aspirants surveyed in India access social networking sites to hunt for the right
job. 35% of respondents are scouring social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn(Linked India)
and Twitter, seeking Job openings or Promotions. Small percentage of people actually secured
their most recent job through one of these sites. Of all the social networks LinkedIn is the most
popular social media site among all generation of job seekers like 69% of Gen X (aged 30-47);
56% of Baby Boomers (aged 48-65), and 46% of Gen Y (aged 18-29) utilizes it. 27% of
respondents are worried that their social networking sites could adversely impact their careers.
Thus, more than a quarter of respondents admitted to deliberately editing content on their social
networking pages to avoid career problems. 59% of respondents said that it is essential to be
active on social media in order to advance their careers; and 40% of respondents said their
Employers have social networking policies that regulate use at work. Although a positive
sentiment around the use of Social Networking sites, a vast majority of about 75% spend an hour
or less per day on these sites, while 14% spend an hour or more each day and 11% spend no
time at all. All the findings are obtained from the views of approximately 97,000 people in 30
countries, including almost 2,000 in India in the period of October 2010 through January 2011.
Usefulness Rating of Social networking sites
When respondents were asked to rate the usefulness of the various social networking sites,
LinkedIn once again garnered the highest ratings for “usefulness.” For sites like Facebook,
Twitter, and Xing, even active users were far more likely to rate those sites as “useless.” In 2012,
more executives are finding Twitter useful, although the percentage who find it “highly
valuable” still trails LinkedIn by several orders of magnitude.
More detailed survey questions sought to assess how useful the social networking sites were to
the recruitment process itself. More than half of respondents indicated that they had searched for
a job using social networking sites, up from a third in 2012.
In 2012, 14% report having found a job via social networking, double the prior year’s
percentage. From an employer perspective, 17% of respondents had tried using social
networking sites to recruit someone, and 7% had actually hired a candidate they’d found this
way.
Outlook on the Value of Social Networking Sites in Recruitment
Interestingly, despite the relatively low usage and success rates of social networking sites in the
recruitment process to date, survey respondents were positive overall about their eventual role,
with fully half believing “they will grow in importance and will someday be how everyone hires
and finds work.” Some saw the use of social networking sites as a way that companies could
save on recruitment costs, but even more saw the benefit of social networking sites as creating
more open access to information for everyone.
Useful source of information, advice and comment on business issues rather than a direct source
of job opportunities or candidates. Use as a recruitment aid to check background of
interviewers, interviewees and other stakeholders
The market is imperfect, so anything that rounds the square will help.
The evidence is now overwhelming that recruiters refer to LinkedIn especially as a research
and screening tool. Both LinkedIn and Xing are excellent for sales leads for interims and I am
currently pursuing possible assignments as a result of using both sites.
I think it's still early days yet. Users haven’t yet developed a workable recruitment model that
everyone can buy into or feel comfortable with. As a sector and function-specific notice board
it has its merits but not enough people are using it. I'm sure it will evolve with time.
I thought LinkedIn was fantastic, in my 4 month search for a job I had more interviews for
roles from contact on LinkedIn than agencies or other approaches. In the end I had 5 offers for
jobs at the same time, 3 through LinkedIn.
One caveat that found some consensus is at which “levels” the value of social networking sites
will be most critical. Over a third saw social networking sites as “fine for more junior jobseekers
and roles but not for executive recruitment.”
Despite the majority positive outlook, some respondents had a very negative view of social
networking sites in the recruitment realm, fearing potential dishonesty and unsavoury business
practices among both candidates and recruiters.
They are becoming trawling ground for shady recruiters. Had a number of bizarre
communications on LinkedIn lately, and have blocked the view of my contacts and am not
accepting any mail from people I don't know. Sad, but that's how it is.
Social networking sites are potentially dangerous because they allow anyone from criminals to
the security services to learn an enormous amount about us to the point where as individuals we
will have no privacy and where many people will lose the art and skill of conversation and
relationship building.
Credibility is doubtful; I have seen recommendations being engineered.
The “time consumption” factor was another fear:
[Social networking sites] can absorbcolossal amounts of time and theireffectiveness is
questionable.
Despite the increased popularity of LinkedIn and other sites, many executive surveyed do not
find them effective, or sufficiently intuitive such that they can be learned on one’s own:
I have never seen any benefit whatsoever from my membership of LinkedIn. Indeed, I am
struggling to work out what I am supposed to be doing with it and considering removing my
details from it.
Please excuse my ignorance but I don't understand how to effectively use these sites for job
searching and networking so whilst I am a member I am actually only reactive to others
requests. Maybe a tutorial or instructions to use these mediums effectively would be helpful.
Ultimately, though, while a majority of respondents concurred that social networking sites would
have some role in recruitment, many noted that they would never fully replace more traditional
recruitment methods, or become the “exclusive channel.” Several mentioned that social
networking sites will become a tool of the recruitment industry, rather than used by hiring
managers themselves. As one respondent wrote, social networking sites will become part of “a
toolbox of methods of hiring or researching business opportunities.”
Several respondents cited the generational aspects of adoption of these new platforms and their
impact on senior executive recruitment.
I have not heard of any mature professional finding a job using Linked-In or any other social
networking site. The sites have value for contacting individuals but for anybody over 50 I doubt
whether social networking sites will be the place to find a new role.
Social networking sites have their place .
. . they should be considered part of a balanced approach to job hunting, just another
advertising medium.
I think they will be useful to keep an online CV, profile and networking contacts. I don't think
they will replace agencies completely. Everyone talks a lot on these sites but not sure how much
is accurate and how much they deliver. I see my LinkedIn page as advertising space for my
professional career.
I don't think they'll ever replace the need to meet people. Culture, fit and values can't be assessed
from a site.
Respondents were quick to point out that the value of social networking sites was much like
many things in life: “what you get out of them reflects the effort you put in.” Noting the parallels
between one’s “real” social/professional network in the world and the one “online,” one
respondent pointed out that the same considerations would apply:
I think they are useful for professional headhunters, but for people such as myself looking to find
a candidate to fill a spot in the organisation it is not as useful, as it is very time consuming.
Finally, it’s important to note that most respondents considered LinkedIn to have far greater
value in the recruitment realm than any of the other social networking sites. One respondent
commented rather pointedly on the topic: “some like Twitter and Bebo are flash in the pans, but
LinkedIn will become increasingly useful and survive.
APPROACH ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
SM use in qualitative research recruiting seems to be on the rise and is likely to continue
growing, although it is not expected to replace regular recruiting in most cases.
Advantages of SM recruiting cited by participants center on the method’s use in locating
normally difficult (if not impossible) to find respondents and for verifying some respondent
information. SM recruiting can save field services – and as a result, clients – time and effort in
recruiting; further, in some cases it may be the only realistic way of finding relevant respondents.
Issues and concerns were also pointed out by participants: SM does not reach everyone; it should
not be used alone without regular phone follow-up screening and confirmations; it can be time-
consuming; some sites are less trustworthy.
The question of whether clients should be informed or asked permission about recruiters using
SM evoked divided reactions. Field services who do tell their clients that they plan to employ SM
recruiting may need to provide education on its benefits and steps taken to maintain quality.
Best practices suggested by participants combine pragmatic and ethical considerations:
• Use the more reputable SM sites, avoiding ones that recruiters have found to attract people
who are more likely to lie about their qualifications.
• Use SM recruiting only as a pre-screening tool, following up with detailed screening by
phone.
• Word initial messages and pre-screens carefully, not providing too much information about
the study specifications or using non-professional, hyped-up language since this can attract
“professional” respondents. (Note: similar guidelines have been recommended for e-mail
blasts and other recruiting methods.)
• Respect respondent privacy. While SM sites can be useful for recruiting and for verifying
screen answers, recruiters should not pass along respondents’ “personally identifiable
information” to clients.
• Consider a special non-disclosure agreement with a provision stating that respondents will
not divulge proprietary information from the study on blogs or online forums.
• Follow SM proper etiquette on online forums and community sites. For example, recruiters
should not intrude on discussions without regard for participants’ feelings and desire for
privacy.
Be as transparent with respondents as possible, telling them about who the recruiter is, the
reasons for contacting them and the general topic of the research without revealing so much
about the study in advance as to jeopardize the research.
Discussion
SM recruitment supplements other recruitment methods. These sites are (and should be) the first
– not the last – step in recruiting, several participants emphasized. SM can help to locate
potential respondents by identifying people who appear to be the types needed for a study.
Invitations can be sent out with a general description of the study. People who express interest in
participating can easily be moved to an online platform for more specific screening. (The initial
contact may simply say the field service is recruiting for a study concerning a certain product
category; the screener then asks about frequency of use, brands bought recently, demographics,
etc.) Telephone contact for screening and/or confirmation also follows the online methods in
most cases.
SM is just a way to find people who MAY qualify – a screening and invitation process is still
necessary.
An enormously valuable platform for building knowledge-based relationships in a very dynamic,
real-time and comprehensive environment.
When recruiting for in-person or telephone projects, SM recruiting is viewed as a good way to
quickly raise awareness and project interest among database respondents. Field services can then
cull through large numbers of people to start pinpointing the appropriate ones to call for
screening.
Prospective respondents on blogs and discussion forums initially located by recruiters are
generally receptive to research study invitations, participants said. Some are “upset” when first
approached, feeling the field service has intruded on a private discussion, but recruiters can
overcome this resistance, according to one participant:
• Verifying respondent information. SM sites (including blogs and public profiles) are also used
to check on respondents’ statements in screening, to see that people are indeed who they say
they are. A great deal of information is available online, much of which is voluntarily posted and
publicly available. As an example, LinkedIn was mentioned by several participants as an
excellent resource for checking the work experience and positions potential respondents claim to
have.
• Better for respondents. SM recruiting helps to reduce the time and frustration respondents in
field service databases experience, since they are screened for studies in which they are most
likely to be qualified to participate. (Respondents can become discouraged by being repeatedly
put through screens only to terminate.)
• Better recruitment. Because screener questions are initially asked online, one participant
contended that “quality of recruiting has improved too. We’re finding fewer misrecruits, in part
because people are seeing questions in addition to hearing them.” (Again, telephone
screening/confirmation follows the online phase.)
Issues/Pitfalls
With all its practical and quality benefits, SM recruiting also raises some serious concerns about
the way it is and should be used. And, of course, this isn’t yet a way to recruit everyone. “Don’t
forget,” one participant noted, “some people (though a small number) are still not online, or more
importantly, not engaged in social media.”
• Reputable sites. Not all sites are reliably trustworthy. On the positive side, LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook and topic-specific sites/forums are seen as quite credible since members are
representing themselves and usually providing personal content. However, several participants
cautioned that Craigslist, a popular site, should be avoided because it is more likely to attract
deceptive people.
• Less efficient. Although a number of field services credit SM recruiting with reducing
recruiting work, some said that locating the right sites can demand a good deal of time.
• Less respondent involvement. Contacted through SM, respondents may be less committed to
the research process and less likely to show up for a scheduled interview. Providing
confirmations via telephone helps create project tangibility and can further encourage
participation.
• Quality control. Field services’ carefully developed databases provide more information and
barriers to “professional respondents” than SM sites, some participants believe.
We use it only for very low incidence studies or for generating new respondents in general. I
would say about 10% for our company. We would rather work within our own database by e-
mail blasting because we have more control over who is reached and more information about
the person responding.
I am supportive of using SM to a point, but it’s important to recognize the limitations. I think it
can be a great tool for reaching certain audiences via message boards and forums, or new
potential respondents through our Facebook fans sharing our page with friends, but we are
definitely aware that it can attract a type of respondent that we try to avoid. It’s a good
resource but needs to be used very carefully.
Screening for articulate respondents who will contribute fully in the research is also difficult if
recruiting is conducted through SM without a telephone follow-up, one participant observed.

I think [recruiting for articulation] may be compromised. Many are eloquent with a pen but are
either shy/reserved, uncomfortable in front of others, or ramble. This is more difficult to gauge
without a conversation.
Doing It Right
When using SM for qualitative project recruitment, participants suggested the following best
practices:
• Stick with the more reputable SM sites, avoiding ones that recruiters have found to attract
people who are more likely to lie about their qualifications. As mentioned, several study
participants find the public information on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook helpful but cautioned
against recruiting through Craigslist.
Use SM only as a pre-screening tool. Telephone contact is still needed for more detailed
screening, to make sure respondents are articulate, and to assure respondents that the research is
both legitimate and important.
I think the same guidelines and protocols still apply when using SM as using phone recruiting.
Every respondent still needs to be screened using the client screener – SM is really more of a
pre-screen. All respondents still need to be validated and confirmed by a manager as well.
SM should be the way to find people but not necessarily to qualify them. Qualifying procedures
are still necessary.
• Word initial messages carefully. Invitations and pre -screens should not reveal too much about
the exact study specifications, participants warned, since this makes it easy for people to lie their
way into a study. Similarly, “huckster” language should be avoided (e.g., “cash for your
opinions!”). Both approaches are more likely to attract “professional” respondents.
We typically avoid giving too much away about the subject matter. We never say exactly what
we’re looking for; instead we indicate that if people are interested in participating, to call our
office to be pre-screened, and offer a generic project subject matter. We always let them know
they must speak to a company representative before we can confirm their participation.
There really is no one appropriate way to utilize SM. It depends on the project, but there always
needs to be an element of “blindness” to SM recruiting. Can’t reveal too much in a [Facebook]
or Craigslist posting.
• Respect respondent privacy. Crucial in all recruiting, this can be especially tricky when SM
recruiting is used. It may be hard to distinguish which information found online is private versus
public. Recruiters, for example, may verify respondent answers through SM sites, but they
should not pass along “personally identifiable information” about respondents to clients (e.g.,
their names, jobs, addresses).
I think it is critical to maintain anonymity. I think it is OK to use SM to verify a person’s
background but probably not OK to gather information that is outside the scope of the study. It is
best to ask the participant directly vs. gathering intelligence via their postings on SM.
I believe respondent privacy is critical. We as an industry should employ the same measures to
ensure respondent confidentiality as we do in traditional measures.
• Use a special non-disclosure agreement. Confidentiality concerning the client’s identity and
study information are often important in studies. There was some discussion about possibly
expanding the typical qualitative research agreement. Respondents found online may have a
natural inclination to share the details of their lives; as a result, it may be prudent to add
provisions stating that study participants should not divulge any proprietary information in the
study on blogs or online forums.
• Follow SM proper etiquette. Many forums and other community sites have stated and unstated
rules of how to engage with one another.
A research recruiter barging in can alienate members – once a rule is broken it will be difficult to
rebuild rapport and attract respondents.
In the SM space it is often good to observe and participate in conversations with others before
just jumping in and saying you are recruiting for a [market research] study. It is less annoying
and you get much better responses.
• Be transparent. Trust is always important when conducting qualitative research, of course. In
SM recruiting, recruiters should tell potential respondents as much as possible about who they
are and their reasons for making the contact – they are interested in understanding community
members better, without posing as one of them. At the same time, recruiters need to be careful
about not revealing so much about the study that they jeopardize the research.
The Future
Now part of the qualitative research landscape, SM recruiting will continue to grow, several
participants said. It “just seems like the obvious path of the future,” according to one who
expects use to increase a great deal.
The ability to reach people in a more relevant, timely and effective manner is attractive and, let’s
face it, profitable. As people move more of their digital profiles to the available SM space, more
clients will be interested in reaching them in that environment. Field service companies will
become more comfortable (so will the moderators/researchers) and incidence will rise!
It will continue to grow as we all get more comfortable with it and understand how to utilize it
better. SM provides access to targeted respondents; therefore it is valuable for recruiting,
especially low incidence [populations]. The issue that could change all this are the development
of privacy [regulations] that limit SM use.
On the other side, some participants believe SM recruiting’s use may remain relatively limited.
It will serve as a tool for finding low incidence respondents rather than as a routine method.
I believe that it will grow, although by how much is difficult to answer. I think that as technology
evolves, recruiters will constantly be utilizing that as a method of reaching out to people. The
problem with how much it will grow is how much more people want to be connected – will SM
eventually taper off because there is a need for more privacy or for more face-to-face/verbal
interaction? Have we become too connected to each other? Or is it the opposite? Because SM is
relatively new, it’s hard to say what the ramifications will be.
It works well for the rare respondent type but probably won’t be a mainstream recruiting
technique in the near future because it is not as efficient as other methods. With call lists,
whether phone, fax or email, you know who you need to contact and how. With social media, you
can leave postings or network, but in reality you can do that with Craigslist and in many cases
reach a far larger population (but deal with lots of verification issues). This is why it is typically
only effective for rare populations where you don’t have many other sources.
Conclusion
Trend of recruiting from social media sites is here to stay and will grow eventually as targeted
hiring can take place for free and that too with a background check on all social media sites like
Linkedln, Orkut, etc. Unfortunately very few Indian companies have exercised the blogging
option to hire prospective employees. Though the trend of recruiting through the websites is
catching up fast yet many industry experts still feel that the method of recruiting through these
sites is at a very nascent stage in India and the traditional method of recruitment still dominates.
They would take few years to mature and get accepted by major Indian business houses. Still
many firms are following the traditional method of recruitment and using various modes like job
portals, campuses and other mediums. Social media sites though have a long way to go yet seem
to get going as one of the coolest way to recruiting talent.

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