Nowadays, many companies are getting their businesses online. They are extensively using social media for developing marketing and sales strategies. They are increasing brand awareness, publicizing their newly formed business, and selling relevant content and blogs, etc. With more and more people engaging in social networking sites many companies have started using social media recruitment platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for staff recruitment purposes.
Social media recruitment is an advanced way of talent acquisition. It is used to find and engage with potential candidates. Over 90% of recruiters are now using social networking sites in their recruitment process. While the traditional resume contains only a chunk of information about the candidate, social media accounts open the door to the potential employee’s work, qualifications, experience, personality, interests, and so on.
In fact, nowadays, some professionals also use their social media accounts to showcase their work, skills experience, and qualification to attract prospects. This gives employers an initial preview of their professional abilities. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are on the top lists of recruiters for posting advertisements for Job vacancies.
But before you decide to go probe further into your desired candidate’s LinkedIn profile, let’s first take a look at how has social media emerged as an important force in recruiting. In this article, we will know the challenges of social media recruitment and the advantages and disadvantages of using social media to get a job
Social Media Recruitment Advantages
Less time consuming
A typical recruitment process could be long and exhausting for both the employer and the potential employee. But, the information found on a candidate’s social media account, such as comments, statuses, and tweets could also offer the employer a glimpse into the applicant’s personality at the moment. The employer can reach out to a maximum number of people in less time. That means you have a higher chance of finding the perfect candidate for your position.
Cost-effective
Posting a job on social media platforms like a Facebook group, Facebook page or LinkedIn costs nothing and saves a lot of resources for the company. Whereas the cost that is spent on advertising through agencies, publishing job boards, and putting up advertisements in newspapers costs you money and time. Hiring through social media platforms costs much less than any other channel.
Qualified candidates
Self-reported statistics from several companies show that they get excellent candidates when they recruit via social networking websites. Because most people you will find on social media are tech-savvy or IT specialists. This is a fundamental requirement to land any job in today’s marketplace.
Additionally, such people are aware of the latest business trends and latest technologies that add to the skills they bring to the table.
Fresh talent
If you desire to employ a fresh and energetic candidate for your start-up, then searching via Social media channels would be beneficial in this regard. As social media is mostly used by the youth segment of society, especially fresh graduates. Hence your company can get a chance of choosing from a pool of fresh talents, who have innovative ideas and skills.
Increased brand visibility
Social recruiting is successful not just in fetching you the ideal candidate, but also in increasing the visibility of your brand. Build social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles. Upload posts that include useful and informative content about your company and its services. Use a hashtag to generate lots of organic traffic. Be more creative with their recruitment tactics and strategies.
People trust brands that have a strong audience engagement. This will attract candidates looking for job opportunities. With a robust social medical presence and advertising new positions and openings on social media, you can strengthen your brand name and create awareness in people about your company until it becomes a word of mouth on social media.
Access to diverse talent
Everything that is posted on social platforms is read by a large population around the globe. If a job opening is posted on a social media channel using the right procedure, it makes your advertisement available to a wider range of audiences and candidates. This can help you find the strongest applicants available. This is not possible with traditional methods such as newspaper ads, posters, banners, or job fairs.
Approach a specific niche audience
Social media is one of the most powerful tools in the employment industry. It allows employers to approach and interact with a very specific and niche audience with their job listings. Keep your strategy targeted so that you are not lost in the white noise of social media. As social media websites allow you to search for an employee that exactly possesses the skills and experience in accordance with your business requirement. In this way, social media can significantly reduce unemployment rates.
Opens the door to engagement.
If you are a new brand and are struggling to outshine your competitors and engage with the followers. Such a brand can benefit from social media posts of job openings and audience engagement.
As interested individuals dig out more information regarding the job opportunity, your social media page will get more engagement. Some interested parties will post in the comments section, while others may share with their friends and followers. Some candidates might send you a direct message to your inbox.
These conversations can keep your company page active and give you the opportunity to engage and interact with potential employees. According to Recruiters who are capable of using social media efficiently for recruitment processes, these social conversations are much better and more fruitful than one-on-one interviews.
Shortens hiring time
If you have an open position that needs to be filled in the shortest time possible, social media is the platform to consider. Traditional recruiting methods generally take longer than social media recruitment methods. Social networking sites not only make the hiring process easy and quick to communicate with candidates but also allows them to respond faster. This way, you can find the ideal person for the role and the candidate can find suitable employment according to his requirement. In this way, both the hiring party and the candidates hope to get along well in the future.
Disadvantages of Social Media Recruitment
Recruiting on social media can be a great strategy for finding and hiring top talent. But it also has its downside. Following are the challenges of social media recruitment and why social media should not be used in the hiring process
Fraud recruitment ads
Sometimes candidates looking for job opportunities may fall prey to online scams and fraudulent companies. They may apply and give personal information to such scams that waste a lot of time and energy of the applicant. These hackers may hack the data and persons’ personal information.
Attract unqualified candidates
While recruiting through social media, there is the risk of attracting a high volume of unqualified applicants. These people may not be willing to work seriously or do not fulfill the requirements. Screening the unnecessary candidates and finding qualified candidates with the right skill set. can be time-consuming and hence may reduce productivity.
Compliance Issues
Another consequence of depending on social media for manpower recruitment is the tendency for biases to arise. Unknowingly, an employer can be biased toward applicants with a good social media presence, as compared to people who are not as active online.
Credibility issues
Never trust everything you read on the internet. Social media recruitment can not always be accurate or reliable. People can edit their profiles, add fake information or lie about who they are. What may appear to be a perfect candidate for your company role could turn out to be the opposite in reality.
Recruit with skepticism and a keen eye for contradictory information or red flags in people’s profiles. To avoid this situation, many companies opt for more traditional recruitment methods such as job boards, or workforce recruiting agencies.
Considering the advantages and disadvantages of using social networks for recruitment, it is important to use social media as a complementary tool in the recruitment process and not as a primary source of information. Companies should create a social media screening policy and train all hiring professionals on it.
On the other hand, the candidates should investigate the employer and the company through every aspect before providing any personal information to avoid getting scammed. These measures can help both the candidate and the company reap the advantages of perusing social networks while reducing any ethical risks.
Related: Six Soft Skills required for Career Success
Common FAQs about Social Media Recruitment
What are the types of social media recruitment?
There are several types of social media recruitment, including job postings on personal profiles, professional networks such as LinkedIn, and specialized websites such as Indeed or Monster. Additionally, organizations may utilize video interviews, virtual career fairs, Twitter chats, and more to reach job seekers. Social media also allows employers to share content about their company culture and values to attract potential candidates with similar interests
What are the benefits of social media recruitment?
Social media recruitment is a great way for employers to reach out to potential employees. It has many advantages, such as being cost-effective, efficient, and allowing employers to access a larger pool of candidates than they would through traditional methods. Through social media recruitment, employers are able to quickly post job openings, share information about their company culture, and receive applications from qualified candidates in a timely manner
Which social media is best for recruiting?
LinkedIn is undoubtedly one of the best social media platforms for recruiters. It provides an unparalleled overview of candidates
