Disadvantages and Drawbacks of Using Social Media in Recruiting Process

Social media is a fascination to populace. There would rarely be a person who is not using
any social media channel in their day to day life. Social media has made life much easier. A lot of
things are happening through social media. Excluding the personal and social use of social media,
it is now cast-off as marketing on social media, way of increasing brand awareness, used in selling
relevant content and blogs, etc. These multiple roles of social media is now been used as tool by
recruiters as cost-effective way to hire employees not being eloquent of what would be its ploys
in the recruiting process.

Applicants
Experts advice great caution if using prospective candidates’ social profile pages during
the screening process. The reason is that recruiters may open their company to a lawsuit when
looking at photos or reading potential applicants’ posts. When you check out their Facebook or
LinkedIn ( top social media recruiting site) profile pages, you may indirectly make assertions into
the race, national origin, age, sexual orientations and other things subjected to the Employment
Non- Discrimination Act. This is why it is extremely important to properly navigate when sourcing
odd social media. It might be the favorite channel for recruitment, but there are misdoings you can
commit that can lead to potential lawsuits. Also, using social media for employee recruitment
exposes legal risk and protected information such as age, gender, religion, and even political view.
Although such information could be obtained accidentally, it does affect manager’s perspective in
selecting certain candidates which leads to discrimination.
Social media gives out an impression. On sites like Facebook, which is a tool to reach out
to friends, online and offline, you are at your informal best. You might post your funny, vulgar or
offensive post on your wall can be a detrimental in landing your dream job. In fact, survey
conducted by the portal CareerBuilder in 2004, found that many candidates were passed on by
recruiters because employers found their social media profiles to be unsuitable, around 51% of
employers thought so.
You can’t be your normal self. You may have strong views on many topic, be it
homophobia, racism, nepotism, politics and so on. But when you are using social media as tools
for generating employment, you won’t be able to be you and you will have to be very careful in
posting or reacting because your prospective employers may find it offending or unnecessary. That
means you will have to restrain yourself, which really is a disadvantage.
Social media is an open platform. When you apply for jobs, it is there for everyone to see.
Thus, it can happen that employers get to see where all places you have applied and it may send
an impression that you applied at so many places, so you might not take up the offer and you may
lose out on good opportunities.
Rival rides. Even in professional account like LinkedIn, it is possible to see who your
contacts are. It can happen that you have an executive from a rival company of a firm you have
applied for, as your connection. This too can send a wrong signal and dent your chances.
 Holding on to your current job can be difficult. That is if you going to try for another job
while having one right now, using social media, then your current employer can easily find when
you are applying for jobs through social media. That means, you are in real danger, you can lose
your current job and you may not even get a new one that easily, even if it is through social media.
Not all employers use social media. You may not able to reach those employers who do
not use social media accounts for recruitment. That means, even if you use social media for your
job search, you will also have to use traditional means for job search. That means double the
efforts.
You can’t be unique all the time. Since there are scores of candidates out there trying out
their luck through social media, you will be just one of them. It is very difficult to stand out and
that can be a hindering factor. It can be quite challenging as you will have to think of innovative
ways to stand out, some of which can even backfire too.
You will have to invest lot of time. If you are keen on searching for jobs using social media,
then be ready to invest a good amount of time. At the same time, you also have to be committed
to it. You will never know when you are getting replies or queries, so you have to be on it almost
all the time. It can be quite distracting too.
Connectivity is the key. When you depend on social media for searching jobs, you have to
ensure that you are connected all the time to internet, be it on your phone or computer. If there is
an error in connection or your phone is not working for certain period of time, you will lose out
on important posts and replies. That definitely is an disadvantage.
Discrepancies can be harmful. If you have your profile on different social media sites, you
have to be extra careful. Any inconsistencies can work against you and present you as a dishonest
candidate. So, make sure that your details are the same in all the accounts.
Limitations of social media do not help much. Facebook is more of a social site and it has
many privacy settings which can prevent you from reaching many employees and vice versa.
LinkedIn works only domestically.
Incomplete profiles work against you. The hazard of maintaining multiple social media
accounts is that you may at times forget about completing the details. This sends a wrong
impressions that you are being careless and that you do not tend to finish what you have started.
Too much info and too much confusion. Unlike in a job search portal, in social media, you
tend to get hundreds of job posts and information, based on your key word and many of these will
be not of much use to you. So, it becomes quite frustrating to pick out the things that you need and
so on. This can lead to a disinterest sooner.
Even small mistakes and grammatical errors will be noted on social media, even if you
have written them casually. Your preferences or even the posts that you like can be misinterpreted.
For example, if you have liked posts about jokes on gender bias or women, just because you could
laugh at them, that will be seen you as being disrespectful towards women, even if you are not.
Hence you will have to be extra careful if you wish to use social media to help you in job search.
Hackers and scams. You may fall prey to a hacker or a scam during your job search. Since,
these days, hacking and scams are just happening on a regular basis, you too can be a victim. Many
people use phones foe checking and updating their social media, and many of them don’t even
sign out after using. If the phone gets stolen or somebody else gets to access it, you are in real
danger. Then there are many job scams out there and seemingly potential employers can cheat you
and get all your information and you can be duped. One has to be very careful on social media
sites.
Finally, these sites can hamper your productivity. Since you will be spending much time
on the social media sites checking about jobs, applying and replying, you are spending much time
which can hinder your productivity. And at the same, it can also hamper your work-life balance.
One can be an addict always replying and checking messages, which san really mess your life and
profession, unless you tend to choose a disciplined way of doing it. Every medium has its own
pros and cons and even social media comes with its own disadvantages. On one side, these
platforms can give you great visibility and help you network, a simple mistake and overlook can
even ruin your chances of getting a job. Hence, before you choose to click that “send” button,
pause and recheck and think. The above points can help you tide over the disadvantages and try to
make these media work for you.

Company
Social networks like Twitter give you 140 characters to publish your job opening. Given
that a typical job post highlights the basic duties and educational qualifications and skills, it is
impossible to provide all the information about a job in a single tweet. When you minimize the
information you post on social media, you risk deleting crucial details that might entice job seekers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, job seekers find it challenging to format their CVs in 140
characters, making it hard for employees to scrutinize qualifications of potential candidates.
Because social networks are not technically recruitment platforms, employers have to do
more to catch the attention of Internet users who are focused on chatting with friends and family.
Besides, according to Convince and Convert, a social media consulting firm, around 67 percent of
social media users in the U.S. don’t follow any brands. For your job postings to gain more exposure
and reach interested candidates, you may have to spend money in advertising, an idea that may
discourage companies working on small budgets and those with little web presence.
Initiating direct contact with potential recruits on social media can be difficult. Most social
networks, including Twitter and LinkedIn, don’t allow you to send private messages to users
you’re not already connected with. For instance, you can only send a direct message to a user
through Twitter if he follows you. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, some job seekers
fear social networks reveal unnecessary information to potential employers and end up tightening
privacy settings, leaving employers with no chance of initiating contact.
Some companies may face challenges striking the right balance between conducting a
successful recruitment exercise on social media and protecting the brand image. For example,
when a firm posts a job opening on social media, it may receive numerous applications and choose
to contact one or two prospective candidates. Applicants who aren't contacted could react angrily
and post damaging information about the firm on numerous social networks. Talented job seekers
may also ignore job openings posted by companies with poor social media profiles. Such firms
can, however, hire reputation management specialists to help build a positive image.
Social Media in Recruiting Applicants: Way to Hire Smarter or a Lawsuit waiting to
happen?
Social media are not only a social platform used to stay in touch with our social network
but it has also become a vital tool for sourcing and recruiting the best candidates. In fact, more
than 90% of recruiters use social networking platforms to find, recruit and retain ideal employees.
Smart recruiters also use social media to conduct background checks among potential hires and
confirm their qualifications for a position.
Having a social recruiting strategy is valuable for companies and it can bring in significant ROI
when done correctly. Here are some more reasons why social media should be an essential part of
your recruitment.
First, you can get higher quality candidates. Candidates who have social media presence
tend to be more tech savvy and knowledgeable about current business trends. They also tend to be
more productive as an employee and stay longer at a company. Additionally, social media allows
employers to identify and reach passive candidates who have the right qualifications but are not
thinking about changing their current jobs. Social media activity makes passive candidates aware
of new job openings that may motivate them to consider leaving their current job for another, better
paid one. Second, It’s cost-effective. Using social media sites for finding and recruiting candidates
is significantly less expensive than traditional search methods, such as job fairs or newspaper
advertisements. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are free to set up, and if you want to
run recruitment ads, it’s relatively affordable.
Traditional recruitment and branding methods such as running an advertisement through TV,
billboard, newspaper or magazine can reach a large number of candidates, but it will cost the
company an arm and a leg. A Jobvite survey showed that 60 percent of companies estimate the
annual return on investment for recruiting a single hire via social media to be $20,000 per year
while 20 percent report an ROI of $90,000. Third, it shortens hiring time. With social recruiting
techniques, you can shorten the time-to-hire. First, you can communicate with potential candidates
faster through direct messaging, and candidates can respond immediately. Second, acceptance
rates are higher among applicants who share common interests, values or work styles with a
company or hiring manager, which means the vacancy will be filled more quickly. Fourth, it gives
you the competitive advantage. Social media can provide immediate insight into potential
candidates, in real time. If candidates and hiring managers are connected in some way, it may
result in greater candidate-to-employee conversion rates. It’s also easier for current employees to
refer people based on shared interests, former colleagues, volunteer organizations, academic
backgrounds, personality traits and online social groups. Employment referral software like
Firstbird allows employees to easily share your company’s jobs on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
and Xing. They can also share their personalized link privately over email and Whatsapp. You can
sign up for a free trial here.
Social media has paved the way for a more efficient and cost-effective means of conducting
the 21st century hiring process. It’s easy, reliable and very useful in this day and age.
 Ernst & Young’s Page

Ernst & Young Global Limited, commonly known as Ernst & Young or simply EY as
a multinational professional services firm and one of the largest professional services firms in the
world is in my contention a big help in Marketing industry. It is along
with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers and also considered one of the Big
Four accounting firms.
I found it a big help for it primarily provides assurance (which includes financial
audit), tax, consulting and advisory services to its clients. Like many of the larger accounting firms
in recent years, EY has expanded into markets adjacent to accounting, including strategy,
operations, HR, technology, and financial services consulting.
EY operates as a network of member firms which are structured as separate legal entities
in a partnership, which has over 270,000 employees in over 700 offices in 150 countries around
the world. The firm's current partnership was formed in 1989 by a merger of two accounting firms;
Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co..[9] It was aptly named Ernst & Young until a rebranding
campaign officially changed its name to EY in 2013[10], although this initialism was already used
informally prior to its sanctioning adoption.
In their latest development, Ernst & Young announced plans to merge its global practices
with professional services network KPMG, to create the largest professional services organization
in the world. The announcement came on the heels of an announced merger between Price
Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand only a month earlier. These plans were soon abandoned in
February 1998, due to several factors ranging from client opposition, antitrust issues, cost
problems, and the anticipated difficulty of merging the two diverse firms and cultures. The merger
between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, however, went ahead as planned,
creating PricewatehouseCoopers.
Ernst & Young expanded its consulting practice. During this time, the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, and various members of the investment community, began to raise
concerns about a potential conflict of interests. This conflict would be brought about by firms
offering both consulting and auditing services simultaneously to overlapping clients, a common
practice among the "Big Five". Ernst & Young was the first of those firms to fully separate its
consulting practices via a sale to the French IT services company Capgemini for $11 billion,
creating the new company Capgemini Ernst & Young, which was later renamed back
to Capgemini.
Over the course of its operations, EY has transformed its business model and diversified
its pool of offered services. Over the course of the last decade EY has substantially altered its
business approach to offer a more comprehensive scope of services. This is mainly attributed to
an intensified competition in the existing market of professional services, and competition in new
markets: investment banking and strategic consultancy. According to the latest published data, the
company has the following four main service line. Assurance: comprising
Financial Audit, Financial Accounting Advisory Services, and Forensic & Integrity Services..
Tax, Transfer Pricing, International Tax Services, Business Tax Compliance, People Advisory,
Global Trade, Indirect Tax, Tax Accounting & Risk Advisory Services, Tax Technology and
Transformation, Transaction Tax. Advisory: consisting of four sub-service lines: Risk, IT Risk and
Assurance, Performance Improvement, and Actuarial. Transaction Advisory Services or TAS:
deals with companies' capital transformation – including Business Valuation and Economics, Due
Diligence, Real Estate Advisory Services, Project Finance and Infrastructure,
M&A, Restructuring (financial and operational), Corporate Finance Strategy.
Also in 2019, EY was the seventh largest privately owned organization in the United
States. EY has continuously been ranked on Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to
Work For for the past 21 years, longer than any other accounting firm which only proves its
effectivity and usefulness not only to applicants but also for companies.
EY provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard
to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin,
protected veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with
applicable law.
EY is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities.
If you are a qualified individual with a disability and either need assistance applying online or need
to request an accommodation during the interview process, they have hotlines which will route
you to EY’s Talent Shared Services Team or email SSC Customer Support. This implies that EY
is a blessing in disguise to help people achieve their prospective goals. It’s negativity depends in
our hands so we must use it prudently.