Social media has made a huge impact on recruitment and the recruitment process. Companies, head hunters, and recruitment agencies are turning to social media sites to promote available positions, research potential applicants, and make a decision on whether the applicant they have chosen is the best match for their business. On average, recruitment statistics show that around 89% will use social media at some point during the recruitment process to make a decision, with 80% of recruitment agencies using LinkedIn in particular to find potential applicants for positions they are working on.
Why Social Media?
Social media will simply tell you a lot about a person that might not be apparent on a CV or resume. A basic Facebook page can tell companies how the person conducts themselves and how they interact with other people online. It also tells recruiters about the person’s communication skills, whether they were truthful on their application, and whether there is any reason they shouldn’t be accepted for the position.
In fact, a large number of companies will now turn to social media before they even contact the applicant for the first time. This saves them time and energy and ensures that anyone they interview is the right fit for the company. Many times when I have been approached for a job myself, it is because I have been headhunted by a recruiter who has found me through Twitter, Facebook, or even Google+.
One Step Further in Recruitment
Interestingly, recruiters are taking social media one step further when hiring. For example, the Omnicom Group used Twitter to find five interns for summer work without every seeing their CV or resume.
The company took note how each applicant responded to five tweets which were posted over five days, and from this information they were able to make a decision on the best five interns for the job.
Other companies have also turned to new media instead of relying traditional hiring processes. Skype, for example, is used for interviewing potential candidates, allowing recruiters to cast a broader net instead of just looking at the local pool of candidates.
What Recruiters Look For
The majority of companies using social media for their recruitment process use this valuable social media tool to ensure that the applicant has been honest about who they say they are. Companies can match this against the CV they received. Photographs on Instagram, for example, can show talent, but poor language on tweets and bad communication skills on Facebook can reflect badly on how a future employee conducts themselves on the social media sites.
Social media pages are brimming with information on schools attended, places worked, communication skills, photographs, and so much more. Often, it’s not just about a person’s skills, but also about whether or not they will fit with the team. Social media can help companies determine this. It’s easier for recruiters to make a decision between two very qualified applicants once they have read through their social media profiles.
Digital, design, and web have also combined to bring innovation to recruiters and simple innovation like these when applying for a job speaks more to businesses these days. Infographic CVs and resumes, for example, demonstrates skills without much explanation needed.
Exactly what a company looks for when it comes to social media will vary, but one this is for sure: the social media world is forever expanding and will not be stopping in the new face of hiring.
Do you use social media to hire new employees? Or have you been hired based on your social skills, even for a non-social job?
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Anyone can post whatever they want in their life on social media, and I think you can get responses within an hour with a couple comments and suggestions. Much more if it’s a job hiring, you’ll get tons of resumes sent to your email at the end of the day. On the other hand, if a company like what most tech giants do when they recruit for employees http://www.staff.com/blog/hiring-strategies-of-google-facebook-apple-and-other-tech-giants/, long interviews and thorough exams will really help a company hire the right person to fill in the position.
In addition to the information Facebook already provides recruiters, the recent introduction of hashtags makes the social network an even more effective recruitment tool. Recruiters are now able to quickly identify trends and tailor their vacancy placements appropriately. Imagine if a marketing recruiter was dealing with a series of advertising job orders; they could use the momentum generated by a popular related television show – like Mad Men for example – to push their vacancies in front of an already engaged audience. But the introduction of hashtags doesn’t change the fact that recruiters need to be careful not to clutter potential candidates’ newsfeeds with excess job vacancies. A recruiter’s approach to social media needs to remain targeted and hashtags will help in this respect.