When I think of job searching, I think back to when I was looking for my first job. I actually got my first job through a friend who knew that the company he worked for was hiring, he told his manager about me, I went in to apply and interview and I got the job. I once got a part-time job working as a teller for the bank my mom worked for. I also looked for jobs in the classifieds in the Sunday paper. At that time, computers weren’t in every household and the internet was in its infancy. Now, everything is on the computer, from newspapers to job boards. Also, there is the latest trend of social networks (or social media). I say networks because there is a long list of social network sites out there. You can use social media for anything from catching up with schoolmates to meeting new people. You can even looks for jobs through social media which is what made me start reading into the subject.
With the popularity of social networking growing, it isn’t enough for companies to have just a website. A lot of companies are creating social media accounts that allow them to post just about anything, including job openings. According to a list published on www.eBizMBA.com in February 2013, the top 3 most popular social networking sites based on monthly visitors (out of a list of 15) are: Facebook, with an estimated 750,000,000 monthly visitors, Twitter, with an estimated 250,000,000 monthly visitors and LinkedIn, with a monthly 110,000,000 monthly visitors.[i] I stop here because these are the most popular sites for companies to use for their social media presence and also the most popular sites used for recruiting, also called Social Recruiting.
Social recruiting is simply defined by process of sourcing or recruiting candidates through the use of social platforms as promotional and/or advertising channels by employers and/or recruiters. A survey was conducted by Jobvite and approximately 1,000 employers and/or recruiters were surveyed between May and June 2012 on social recruiting.[ii] According to the survey, 92% of the respondents use or plan to use social media for recruiting; 73% have successfully hired a candidate through social networks; 49% of those that have started using social recruiting have seen an increase of the quantity, or number, of candidates, 43% noted a surge of the quality of candidates, 20% said that it took less time to hire and 31% saw an increase in employee referrals. Another social recruiting survey was conducted for Social Talent and the results were posted on their blog on 7/6/12.[iii] 85% of the respondents of that survey have successfully recruited a candidate through social media. Of those 85%, 99% of the respondents recruited via LinkedIn, 19% recruited via Twitter and 18% recruited Facebook. Out of all of the respondents to the Social Talent survey, 99% recruit via LinkedIn, 67% recruit via Twitter and 45% recruit via Facebook and when asked where do they primarily look for candidates, 42% say though social media.
So, with all these companies/recruiters who are recruiting through social media, just what are they looking for? According to a survey done by CareerBuilder, 2,303 hiring managers, H.R. professionals and/or recruiters responded.[iv] Most said that they’re trying to dig deeper than the traditional interview to find out: 65% – Whether the candidate presents himself/herself professionally, 51% – Whether the candidate is a good fit for the company culture, 45% – More about the candidate’s qualifications and 35% – Whether the candidate is well rounded. Things that hiring managers/recruiters listed for reasons that led to candidates not getting a job include: Candidate posted provocative/inappropriate pictures, evidence of the candidate drinking or using illegal drugs, candidate had poor communication skills, candidate bad-mouthed current or previous employers, and candidate lied about his or her past employment. There were even discriminatory comments related to race, religion, etc. According to the Jobvite survey, other reasons were listed, including: Profanity used in posts/tweets, spelling or grammatical errors in posts/tweets.
With the trend of social recruiting growing, there is the growing concern of privacy not to mention legal concerns. Discrimination and employment laws tend to restrict the gathering and use of social media information and the terms of use of social media sites, like Facebook, restrict access and use of social media information for hiring purposes. There is the Fair Credit Reporting Act which protects what is reported for various background checks used for pre-employment purposes (criminal background checks and credit reports) but it does not apply to social media background checks. Employers who do use social media for background checks must be careful to not violate Article VII which prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, national origin or religion. There is also the Age Discrimination in Employment act which prohibits discrimination towards employees aged 40 and the Americans with Disabilities Act which protects those with physical or mental disabilities. There may be individual state laws that add protected classes (example: California passed an act that prohibits discrimination against sexual orientation/preference, marital status, pregnancy, cancer, political affiliation and gender identity).
Companies or recruiters who are for social recruiting feel that it is an effective way to advertise job openings and appears to be effective in getting referrals to potential candidates from existing company employees. With that said, social media isn’t their only form of recruiting. One of the downfalls is that there are potential candidates who may not be actively looking for a job. There is also the fact that there are job seekers who do not use social media as a form of job searching either because they don’t use social media at all or they are not aware that they can do so. This is why companies shouldn’t rely solely on this form of recruiting but just as an option to add to their current forms of recruiting.
[i] www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites
[ii] http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite.images/jobvite_2012_social_recruiting_survey.pdf
[iii] www.socialtalent.co/resources/?p=5970
[iv] www.careerbuilder.com/article/cb-3212-job-search-strategies-what-do-employers-find-when-they-search-for-you-online