Social Media as an essential recruitment tool
The current economic and social-cultural setup heavily relies on the internet to power its major tenets. The implications of the adoption and the viral reach that the internet has attained has forced all business models to become attuned to an inherently different landscape. The internet harbours the most successful enterprises of the 21st century. As such, all the vital components of operating a competitive business in any field requires the evaluation of the company compared to the pervading utilization of the internet resource. Social websites stand out in the number of users that they command, making them attractive to business owners and corporation for myriad benefits they could benefit from. Social media, such as websites which allow individuals to create and join communities, are referred to have expanded its repertoire of benefits offered to its users. Notably, social media websites were initially created for people to connect and post updates on their day to day activities and thoughts. Still, the variety of benefits reaped from such platforms greatly surpass the intentions for which they were used. The most popular social website is Facebook, followed by Twitter and Youtube, Linkedin and Fiverr are some of the other populous forums. Social website platforms demand from its users who use it for business purposes to forge a public image that is attractive to social media users and promises to provide a solution to one of their needs.
It is a prerogative for every business to have an online presence to remain competitive in the current domain. With over 80% of the global population being on social media and each user spending 4 hours on average every day in those sites, many crucial benefits can be extracted from such engagement. Companies that have relied continuously on social media to forge a corporate image, form partnerships and also hiring from the various online forums have had a competitive edge over other enterprises who primarily rely on traditional operational methods. The main reason why online platforms stand out in the promotion of an enterprise is that social media websites offer its users the ability to simulate real-life interaction. By leveraging such an opportunity of the freedom to mimic any attractive and valuable enterprise, the leverage provided by these platforms is indefatigable. Companies that have been able to adapt to leveraging the impact that websites have to attract enterprising employees have been able to yield numerous benefits from such strategic positioning.
Social Media as an essential recruitment tool
Change has been the heart of globalization and industrialization. Therefore global economic players have learnt to be on the lookout for emerging changes that could impact the businesses positively and set it on a successful trajectory. Although plenty of traditional recruitment practices still get retained with the incorporation of the avenue of social media, all the essentials of the HRM processes have radically been affected. Remote recruitment has been a common phenomenon in recent years since technology currently offers services such as video conferencing is pretty inexpensive and mobile ways. Other range of activities for both the administration of businesses and their workforce that have radically been affected promptly for new models of management as explored later in the sections. Portable devices such as smartphones and laptops are essential tools in carrying out of remote recruitment. As such, all recruiters and potential employees are obliged to be in possession of any of these devices, and with the widespread availability of the technological tools, the odds are likely that the number of people in possession of these gadgets are the same individuals who frequent the social media space.
Linkedin stands out as the social media site mainly designed to provide a portfolio for job seekers. The Linkedin interface stands out to Human Resource Management in that all sorts of potential employees are provided with a template that resembles a curriculum vitae. Through this template, any individual with a skill can fill in the relevant sections with their skills and experience. The contribution of referees has also been incorporated into the model. Whereas it would have been challenging to verify the legitimacy of the information included by potential employees as part of their portfolio, the referee’s section and a person’s network are critical elements of the social site which aimed to improve the quality of submissions being made. Indicators of a credible profile would include a system of people who are reputable in their respective fields. Linkedin also allows for the recommendation for the various skill levels of an individual by their connects. For instance, when someone indicates on their profile that they are proficient in the utilization of a tool like SPSS, a recommendation from one of the top directors of IBM could ensure that such a profile stands out in the eyes of a recruiter. Although the lack of endorsements and connects is not commensurate of lack of credibility of the person, the parameter of connects and recommendations are highly effective in ensuring that the most favourable candidates are exposed enough.
In the instance where a user has not interacted with any directors of the most successful organizations, and they are proficient in the skill(s) they profess to possess, such an individual could stand out from the herd by taking the highly specialized tests available on the platform for the common skillsets ranging from Mathematics, technology and social studies. High scores in any particular discipline are indicators of suitability for the various roles that the HRM could be looking to incorporate to the corporate fabric. Creative Human resource managers can be quick to pick up cues on how to foster a dominant image of the company and engage the employees on the same.
Social media as a representative of the corporate culture
Major companies have adopted the element of promoting their corporate image on their social media page. The manners of the behaviour of employees of a particular company have exemplified a positive vision of their workplace. By carefully curating their social media profiles and the stuff an employee could post to other users, the behaviour of persons associated with any organization is primarily expected to uphold the values of their workplace. Strategic approaches are vital to the establishment of corporate culture for any corporation or institution. Since various social media users elicit different practices over social websites, it can be relatively easy to distinguish the kind of a person the human resource manager is about to hire. Active social media users who also command a broad audience are an added advantage when it comes to hiring. Such candidates put their workplace in front of many people, and an increased reach only perpetuates the popularity of the corporation. Hiring managers who take time to analyze the social media activity of potential employees stand a better chance of hiring a worker who’s activities beyond the workplace revamp the company’s image. In a globalized world where internet traffic is of central importance, the utilization of the data available about the habits of a potential employee on various social platforms could propagate the growth of the company’s popularity.
The popularity index of a company in the social media space is an asset in the current economic dispositions. Clients are likely to associate with companies they are familiar with. The public could be having an intricate knowledge of a firm due to previous engagements, or the corporation could be situated around the premises of the subject. Some could have heard a close friend or relative discuss them and recommend their services/ products. Another group could only have passively heard someone mention the company, not necessarily disclosing the kind of products they deal in. Another group could be bumping into the company’s profile on social media every day, while another group has never heard of the firm. In order to demonstrate the impact of familiarity of a company to its regular business mechanism, the analysis of the different levels of understanding by prospective clients should reveal the benefits reaped from getting the name of the company out there.
Most buying decisions lie entirely on the testimonials regarding a service offered or a product dealt with by a company. This statement is the reason why some few brands dominate the market despite having thousands of identical products with the same ingredients performing poorly in the same market. The main trigger of a person looking forward to making a buying decision in a market where there are so many alternatives for the same product usually draws down to product awareness. As highlighted above, when a buyer is faced by a dilemma of choice between ninety brand names providing the same nature of service, regardless of the cost, the prospect is likely to end up buying from a brand by which they either saw their online stranger friend recommending its products, has an intricate knowledge of the brand or a close friend and relative actually recommended the particular product. Just like every market behaviour, buying patterns are intelligible, and strategic positioning, based on the knowledge of a marketplace can attract unlimited possibilities for an enterprise.
The goal of a company in terms of incorporating formidable human resource to its fabric should involve both the active and passive manners of reaching out to potential employees. Besides targeting candidates who are actively looking for work, a company should also aim at attracting those of who are comfortable in with their current responsibilities in their respective workplaces. Such proactive efforts place the company at the acquiring edge of both young and intelligent folks who are curious about building a new career plus also making openings available to experienced candidates in the respective field. Although the hiring of more skilled workers could be inadvertently associated with higher wage rates, creating positions for such a group could be critical in the strategic approach to human resource management. Linked in provides a meticulous platform for all sorts of individuals to showcase their employment history, projects they have been involved in over time and the current positions they are occupying plus the roles that befall them. The creation of job descriptions which fit an employee who possesses abilities that are revered by competitors or for people who have incredible track records should be a priority to a recruiter considering how indispensable talented and disciplined human resources is.
Younger recruits are more likely to be accentuated with the technological era, and the inadvertent exposure provides for the inadvertent prowess in the navigation of a company’s reputation in the online media. Every corporate should aim at forging an online image that is attractive to both prospective clients and employees as well.
Brand identity refers to what a brand is popularly known for. When the corporate image imbues a rich culture, a fun environment to work and a team with an outstanding work ethic, many more people will want to be associated with such a company. As such, service providers, job seekers and clients will always be looking for any chance to engage with the company. A positive corporate culture can be promoted through social media through the interaction of the company profiles with other regular users. However, existing employees of the institution play the pivotal role of distinguishing their firm from the crowd and forming the public image for the company. Over time, with constant social media activity, a company image is likely to gain traction, and a fan base should develop over time, some fans being more attached to the brand than others. It’s worth noting that all sorts of fans from the mildly involved to the dedicated fans are essential to a corporate’s online image.
Although LinkedIn stands out among other social media in the incorporation of essential HRM processes to its online interface, other popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook significantly impact the day-to-day activities of a worker in a company. A modern human resource manager is tasked with the obligations of extending their role of regulating employee engagement from the physical premises to the online platform for an enterprise. Employees are expected to carry themselves in a manner that bolsters the image of the company they are working for. Although it could seem as if practices of enforcing policies that regulate the personal activities of an employee are intrusive, many experiments have been proved of the impact of employee behaviour on social media to the promotion or degradation of the company reputation. The negative implications for a company that is regularly exposed to negative publicity by their employees could result in undermining the potential of such an institution in reaching out to their prospective clients.
Instagram stands out for the number of creatives who frequent the platform on a daily basis. Models, Photographers, Musicians and videographers can use the social platform as their portfolio through which potential clients can always reach out. This is despite the astounding percentage of regular Instagram users who utilize the platform for mundane purposes such as sharing funny videos, photos and memes with other users. Twitter, on the other hand, is a micro-blogging website with an exclusive group of users who share short posts of random things, and these users create several such posts every day. Twitter is a formidable social media site for a company and its employees and is an ideal platform with the most potential for employees to create a corporate culture on the social website. Users who are fond of playing the devil’s advocate on a regular basis are likely to attract a massive following, as the native application of Twitter is the sharing of ideas and thoughts. Images can be used on Twitter despite the functionality of its novel design during its inception being limited to posting short posts of up to 140 characters. Facebook, on the other hand, represents the most popular social site and the user base of this platform is quite dynamic, and most users can easily find something to relate to. Incremental revamping of the platform has happened since its inception in 2004. The ‘pages’ feature has been beneficial to all kinds of brands as they get exposed to more than one billion registered users. Depending on how much resources a company is willing to input into the development of its Facebook presence, the opportunities here are innumerable. The useful information is given back to a company’s online profile by its fans, regardless of whether the remarks are positive or damaging.
Challenges that arise with the adoption of social media in recruitment
The relatively new landscape that has forced recruiters and companies to base their actions upon has derived some resistance. Issues ranging from unethical practices of a company in the infringement of employee privacy to dealing with incompetent employees who used deception to get a job opportunity. Some of these challenges are attributed to the fairly foreign grounds that have nonetheless propelled the operations and revenue generation activities for all kinds of enterprises. The new types of setbacks are particularly hard to address head-on due to the inexperience in encountering such barricades. For instance, a person could be selected for a job over other more suitable candidates due to false testimonials, which have been quite a common issue with Linkedin recruitments. A group of wizards have mastered the way Linkedin operates at an intuitive level and proceeds to find ways to beat the way in which the social site is designed to work without being tampered with. These rings register numerous accounts curated to imitate top officials of an enterprise. Multiple cases of instances where an employee with an outstanding portfolio on Linked in got employed, just to be ineffective in the positions have repeatedly played out in the corporate arena. Inexperienced recruiters could fall for such traps just to become a liability to the company rather than utilizing their job description to the improvement of the stature of such a company. Other unethical practices that pose a prospective corporation to risk are those employees who possess a revamped profile, and due to the formidable connections associated with their profile, an HR practitioner could take in the individual as a part of the organization, only for them to become redundant in their position. Such a case would be encountered where a person who is from a highly reputable family gets recommended by individuals occupying high places and not based on the abilities of the subject, but since these referees find it cordial to ‘do the son/ daughter of their boss a favour’. Such biased stances that make some candidates fronted unfavourably against their competitors are some of the unethical practices that have exposed the darker side of a website that has connected employers with their dream workers for a decade.
Standing out as a recruiter using Online Social Networks.
Various practices stand out when it comes to adopting practices that are suitable for effective recruitment using Linked In and other forms of social media websites. HRM personnel cannot ignore the impact of exposing job opportunities to a broader pool of candidates. The aspect of social media management has primarily been an essential routine to carry out in a company that expects to reap the benefits of optimized social media presence. Social media management incorporates features that motivate employees to be more ectatic of their workplace, and such practices yield results such as employees always revealing the positive aspects of their corporate. The continual practices by employees to shine light upon their employer on social media reinforces its reputation and increased engagement from other social media influences. As discussed earlier on the factors that affect the buying decisions of prospective clients, when the person has encountered or interacted with the brand before, that alone can lead to them paying patronage and eliminating other providers of the same product being sought for.
A company is also expected to diversify on the number of social platforms they choose to set up their profile. Every social network site usually has a unique fandom, and diversification ensures that the company image transitions to accompany the various kinds of dedicated social media users who are potential clients. Unlike Linkedin, which is motivated by the need to decentralize recruitment activities as well as enriching the career market by providing its users with a tool to improve their skillset. Its function of exposing career people to about 100 million employers in the platform is a major advancement in the employer/ employee/ workplace paradigm.
Hiring managers are also expected to utilize the advanced functionality of a site like LinkedIn to ensure radical practices that ensure effective hiring of workers is applied. The underlying of the development of the HRM department was to ensure that employees are managed in a manner that promotes cohesiveness, responsibility and healthy working culture. The specialized department was intended to encourage retention rates, provide the welfare of employees in the place of work and manage their overall activities with the goal of continually revamping the human element in a workplace. LinkedIn understands the essential drivers of HRM practices as the platform factors in details such as a highly scrutinized ‘referral’ function. High employee retention rates are mostly associated with referrals. As it, therefore, stands Linkedin users with a high referral rate represents the most indefatigable specialists in their areas of interests. Although high wages are to be associated with such a selection, the value that a skilful and motivated worker can provide to their place of work is priceless. An encounter with such people by HRM could call for the creation of a unique role in the company that utilizes outstanding skillset.