E-RECRUITMENT AND THE SOCIAL MEDIA: EFFECTS,TRENDS AND A FUTURE PERSPECTIVE

The importance of having credible employee’s cannot be over emphasized despite the economic depression in the world. The war for talent has become more fierce and  companies are confronted daily with the problem of finding the right person for the right job. But qualified people are in short supply (Harris,2001) making recruitment a vital  issue in all organizations. Therefore, the objective of this article is to critically examine and identify how social networking sites are  used in the recruitment processes, their strengths and potential weaknesses and how they can be used more effectively in an organization. Although e-recruitment  transcends the conventional recruitment methods it involves the usage of series of internet based tools  that seek to enhance and speed up the recruitment process, it is a relatively young research field (Galanaki 2002 as cited in Wafswinkel,2010). 

Recruitment is a series of multiple activities ,each one having a potential influence on the decision of an applicant to continue to pursue employment with an organization and such decisions are based on their interpretation of various aspects of the recruitment and selection processes (Barber, 1998,Behling et al,1968 as cited in Schreurs, 2010, Lewis et al ,2010), attracting job seekers is the main goal of recruitment and the key to organizational success (Ehrhart and Ziegert, 2005 as cited in Pierce, et al 2012).Although the process of identifying and attracting  individuals with the requisite skills and profile to apply for existing or future vacant positions in an organization or making them aware of such vacancies has been aided by the use of  social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, interestingly it is argued that social media is not a quick fix nor a replacement for existing recruitment tools, it is just an extension of existing strategies like sourcing for talents in a more broad form internationally and also doing an on the spot check analysis of prospective employees, it is also about user participation and involvement (Kaplan and Haenlen (2009) .

 However the use of social media in recruitment transcends cost reduction and the relative ease of scouting for talent it encompasses a forum for talent evaluation and quick assessment .According to Chapman and Webster,(2003) as cited in Handlogten,2009) organizations make use of several e-recruitment tools for saving cost ,easy usage ,large talent pool ,time management and keeping ahead of competitors, but cost is not really saved in e-recruitment it is quite difficult to do so accurately because  the cost of posting such information online ,storing data and accessing it, may turn out to be more costly than expected because such analysis has not been accurately documented. Essentially in last few years the usage of social media have increased and the rapid growth has altered the way jobseekers find jobs and the way companies do recruitment but little is known about its effects.(Tong, 2008). Social media have been called ‘the new hybrid element of the promotion mix’ (Mangold & Faulds, 2009, p. 357 ads cited Tench et al, 2012). Allen et al,(2004) argue that Organizations make use and select from a variety of media to communicate recruitment messages to potential applicants and the choice of media is important because media differ in their ability to communicate certain types of information effectively. In a complex and competitive labour market organization attraction is a vital tool in ensuring a valuable workforce and attracting the best talents (De Cooman,2012).

Most companies have been able to use one form of social media or another in the course of recruitment .They use it primarily to attract competent people to the organisation and advertising vacant positions in order to have a competitive advantage over others. The development of web 2.0 offered recruiters new perspectives and a large pool of global talent it also reveals variety of new e-recruitment strategies like application tracking systems and on the spot check on the data, profile and antecedents of applicants. Although the recruitment process has been evolving and diversifying as a result of the internet, these has created a lot of challenges and new issues. Many older generation talent are denied opportunity to access, apply and be employed through this medium of e-recruitment because some are not well educated on how to use such social networking site also it has invaded privacy of some individuals who posted their profile online, only to receive unsolicited mails and job offers from companies across the world. Another issue inhibiting its increase acceptance is the unpredictable nature and dynamism of technologies ,more networking site are developed even before the previous ones are fully utilised and this poses a lot of problem for users. Companies who successfully used social media for recruitment did not report any challenges on their part making the usage look suspicious and superficial.

HR specialist need to align all efforts to effectively implement a strategic human resource management objective which will aid the usage social media and enhance e-recruitment strategies. In few years more companies will embrace social media recruitment and will consider increasing budgets for social recruiting (Finder,2012). More so realign HR strategies and in corporate it with recruitment strategies. Recruitment in social media has become a vital tool in the recruitment process. Social media, without doubt, is fast emerging as one of the most efficient and engaging ways of personal or community interactions. Companies should queue into this and develop a social media recruitment strategies employ a social networking recruitment expert on their HR board that will give cogent advice and expertise .Finally all companies should treat social media as one element of a comprehensive recruit plan 

Written by: Olawale Babsalaam 2013