Social media recruitment has emerged as an important route for hiring fresh talent by the corporates which use the micro-blogging sites for background checks as also judging the overall persona of the candidates. Most HR personnel depend on the LinkedIn as a professional networking and recruitment tool, an ASSOCHAM survey says.
According to the survey, while 68 per cent of the HR managers looked into LinkedIn and/or Facebook or Twitter to have an idea about the candidate, social media is also being used by the job hunters who are becoming conscious about their posts, pictures, academic and professional achievements posted online.
According to the survey, LinkedIn is the top dog for social recruitment. The findings of ASSOCHAM survey reveal that a large number of corporates use social media for recruitment based on the responses received from human resource officials representing more than 650 small, medium and large businesses from the cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Dehradun etc.
The survey majorly focused on broad sectors such as BPO, IT/ITes sector, financial and other services, construction, real estate, hospitality, tourism, FMCG and infrastructure, media & advertising, manufacturing and textiles, logistics, transport operators etc.
About 68% of the human resource officials of various companies are using platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook for hiring through social media sites and other digital mediums to find and hire new talent, reveals the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) latest survey.
It reveals that social media has also been a valuable tool for recruiters and job seekers.
With employers increasingly using social media to recruit, it is a great medium for people looking for promotion or a new job to enhance their career, reveal majority of the respondents.
See: Recruitment Marketing in 2016: HR Managers Rely on Content and Social Media to Find the Perfect Hire
The study found that as many 80-85 percent among the high level job seekers and 40-45 percent among the low level job hunters are using some online medium for selling their professional and academic achievements in the corporate world.
Facebook is used as a tool to judge the behaviour and intellect of the candidate. Experienced HR personnel can make out from the kind of posts on the Facebook the level of intellect of the candidate.
Besides, other behaviour traits such as the attitude towards society, women in particular, whether extrovert or introvert are easy to judge by a good review of the Facebook whereas the LinkedIn medium is more organised and cannot be taken as inadvertent.
“Even though the social medium is a good first reference point, it cannot be fully relied upon by the HR managers, since there are chances of misrepresentation of the facts. There is no alternative to the internal checks and balance tools and further verification. After all, human resource is what makes or breaks the organisation,” said D S Rawat, ASSOCHAM Secretary General.
The increased use of technology, especially advances in social media related technologies, has been relentless. “Social media, for one thing, helps individuals reach out and build their job search network. They can find people in targeted companies and connect with those who can help.”
One of the best aspects of LinkedIn is that the site gives users the opportunity to highlight their achievements by uploading work samples to their profile pages and adding “rich media” files, such as blog posts, videos and links to websites featuring their work, reveals the majority of respondents.
Also read: How Millennials Pick and Choose Employers in India?
Image credit: growingsocialmedia.com
