Many companies are finding that hiring the right employees in today’s market is tedious and challenging. Hiring an employee is an expensive process that can cost even more if the wrong candidate is selected. However, hiring the right candidate on the first attempt will increase employee productivity, create a successful employment relationship, and impact the work environment positively. In today’s world of high-end technology there are many new ways to recruit the right talent. Many human resource generalists are discovering that a combination of both old and new methods works well for them. Human resource departments are still using traditional recruiting methods such as newspapers, bulletins, and job fairs. Yet since the boom of the Internet, advertising online often offers a lot more bang for the recruiting buck. There are hundreds of online-only job boards such as Monster, Hot Jobs, Career Builder, and Indeed. Using the traditional methods along with online job boards and social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter allow recruiters to reach a larger range of people more effectively.
I have worked in the Human Resources department for the past four years and I recently took on a position of recruiting this past May. I wanted to write my paper on something that would make me a better employee now and also carry with me in the future. As a recruiter I am always looking for new and effective ways to reach more job seekers without going over the allowed budget. After doing my research of recent articles and books I consulted with a colleague of mine here at Fastek regarding best practices for recruiting he has used in the past. I have a personal Facebook account, but until I did my research I had no idea that it could be used as a recruiting tool by setting up a company’s Facebook page could essential lead to more candidates. I have recently broadened my use of LinkedIn, when trying to locate a candidate with a specific niche in their resume. It was very easy to type in a specific word and to see a list of candidates that matched my search. I spend the majority of my day combing through online job boards either posting job opening s or finding candidates that have
Social media tools are used by companies as a means to reach its customers, distribute messages, build or maintain its reputation, and to recruit potential hires. A common thread found in all definitions of social media is a blend of technology and social interaction. Social media have become a new tool for effective business marketing and sales, particularly in e-commerce. With social media, Human Resources has a great recruiting tool at their disposal, as there are many popular social and professional networking websites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Social networks are beneficial for hiring people from different backgrounds, race, geographic, age and gender. Recruiters can now easily access thousands of potential employees, contact them, and pick those that match their criteria.
Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Harvard college students Mark Zuckerburg and Eduardo Saverin. It is a social outlet that helps people communicate more efficiently and frequently with their friends, family and coworkers. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with people in a trusted environment. (Heathfield, 2010) With Facebook, like other social networking tools, whatever a user chooses to post online is never entirely private. Once people have signed up for a Facebook account they have made themselves completely exposed to the world.
Here are a few tips on how to use Facebook as a recruiting tool. (Heathfield, 2010)
•Recruit new employees using the reach and the passion of your current employees. If multiple current employees send out job postings with links to your recruiting website or your company's Facebook fan page, your job openings reach a wide audience.
•You can send messages about job openings to fans of your company fan page. While in "edit" mode, in the right column, you can use the "send an update" function under "promote your page."
•You can also post job openings on the fan page, just like you'd post any other message, when job openings occur in your company.
• When a company adds, removes, or edits the jobs on their company's website, their Facebook page is automatically updated without any additional work from the employer.
LinkedIn is similar to Facebook but its user experience is more geared toward the professional work world. With over 120 million members and growing rapidly, LinkedIn connects the user to their trusted contacts and helps them exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. (Heathfield, 2010) LinkedIn profiles tend to rise to the top of search results when googling people. This allows the user to help control the first impression people get when searching for them online. Whether looking for a career opportunity, winning new clients or building a professional reputation, LinkedIn connects the user to jobs, sales leads and ideal business partners. (Gitomore, 2010) With a powerful search engine, company research tools, and a jobs board that shows personnel connections at listed companies, LinkedIn is the place to turn for new opportunities.
Here are a few tips on how to use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool. (Heathfield, 2010)
•Stay in touch with former, valued, trusted colleagues for potential future employment relationships. You don't want to lose touch with people who have worked successfully for you or with you in the past. They could be your best future employees - or send you your best future employees.
•Actively search for candidates among LinkedIn members by searching on keywords for people with the required qualifications listed in their LinkedIn profile. (This is why keyword rich, well-developed, complete profiles are recommended for professionals on LinkedIn.) Share your contact information so others can easily contact you whether you are actively or passively job or employee searching.
•Develop a complete, keyword-rich profile for your company on LinkedIn. Prospective employees, who are looking for employers, search LinkedIn by keywords, too. They also look at company profiles to make up lists of companies for whom they'd like to work. Potential employees may even contact you through LinkedIn's mailing system, Inmail. Be prepared to respond as you want to hire these social media savvy candidates.
•Search for potential employees by past or current employer who may have employed people with the skills and experience you seek for your company.
•Search for employees based on references from recommenders you trust, the process used on LinkedIn in which members of your network can write notes of recommendation for you.
•Can ask your current employees to activate their networks to reach out to potential passive candidates for jobs. (Not everyone is looking, but most people are open to discussing the right opportunity.) Employee referrals are valued because most employees will only refer to you people with whom they want to work.
•Can use Inmail, your internal inbox at LinkedIn, to request assistance from your network or selected professionals to find a qualified candidate.
•Can join groups at LinkedIn. Participants in groups may share the interests, memberships, specializations, backgrounds, and experience that you seek in a potential employee. Group members may also know of a potential employee with the profile you seek.
•For a fee, you can post jobs on LinkedIn and recruit and hire candidates. According to LinkedIn, "LinkedIn combines job listings, candidate search, trusted referrals and the power of networks to give you results."
Twitter is a micro-blog, allowing a maximum of 140 characters per post that is shared with followers. “At Twitter, we believe that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. Every day we are inspired by stories of people using Twitter to help make the world a better place in unexpected ways.” For recruiting purposes, many companies simply post open jobs to their Twitter account with a compressed URL for the corporate Website, in which followers can link to for more information. Twitter offers companies the ability to identify candidates by querying for competencies, companies, activities, or key words as well as sending direct messages to potential candidates. Twitter offers a special guide called Twitter 101 for businesses on how to use the site to their advantage, along with best practices and case studies.
Here are a few tips on how to use Twitter as a recruiting tool. (Heathfield, 2010) * Create a branded company Twitter profile. Assign a key person — or automate tweets to post jobs as they become available. * Don’t be a Twitter wallflower. Engage in conversation. * Create a protocol for your job Tweets. Consider search ability by using hash marks (#) around key words. Include a track able URL. * Help your search by using a third-party tool such as TweetBeep. * Encourage your staff to retweet job openings by providing an incentive such as a referral bonus for candidates sourced through tweeting. (We love this one) Don’t be a one-track tweeter. Be varied and creative in your approach. To keep it real and not boring or spamlike.
With an understanding of the nature and uses for the most popular Social Media sites, there are 4 primary ways in which Social Media can be used in the recruitment process (Grensing-Pophal (2009). The first method mentioned is to post (tweet) available jobs using a dedicated Twitter account that links back to the organization’s career website (Grensing-Pophal, 2009). When using LinkedIn, one way to narrow the scope of the job posting in order to make more meaningful connections (to be more true to the essence of Social Networking) is to post a link on their career website that takes the user to LinkedIn and asks them if they know anyone working at the organization. (Grensing-Pophal, 2009). If the user has a LinkedIn account already set up, connecting with the person they know is easy and translates into more corroborative referrals (Grensing-Pophal, 2009). Another method mentioned is “trolling” for potential candidates by using LinkedIn to discover whether a recruiter’s former colleague might be in a position where they are looking for a new job or are in possession of needed skills. Furthermore, trolling is an effective method to prevent resume overload that often accompanies posting a job especially in the current economic situation where so many candidates are competing for a smaller pool of available jobs (Grensing-Pophal, 2009). An additional way to use social media is a third method described as “checking out.” This approach involves recruiters using LinkedIn in addition to traditional background check processes in order to review what others people are saying about the candidate. LinkedIn provides a recommendation feature that allows users to comment on their opinions about current and former colleagues. This information can be useful in understanding if a candidate has the skills to work well with others (Grensing-Pophal, 2009).
There are numerous online job search websites, which make it easy for both candidates as well as recruiters to find what they are searching for. Some of the more popular sites are Monster, Career Builder, Dice and Indeed.com. “These websites have revolutionized the way the job market functions.” (Gray, 2011) Online job- search websites are designed to make sure that any company looking to hire someone for a particular post will almost certainly find candidates. By simply signing up and posting a resume to the job search engine the user is reaching out to hundreds of different companies across the world. “These websites provide the tools to help both recruiters and job seekers achieve their desired goals in an efficient manner.” (Gray, 2011) Every time a recruiter or employer conducts a search for prospective candidates that matches details, the database will present the candidate’s name, information, and resume to the recruiter. These websites will usually have a lot of recruiters from various companies in different fields checking out the database. So the chances of a candidate with desirable skill sets being contacted by an interested company are high.
Another advantage of online job-search websites is that they allow people to search their databases for prospective job openings. So job seekers can browse through job listings and see whether anything interests them. If it does, they can simply apply for it and wait for the company to get back to them. As online recruitment sites continue to multiply in numbers these 'value -added' services may well prove crucial to their long time survival. Although e -Recruitment addresses the initial phase of job hunting and applications, the challenge is to go beyond the virtual value, and prove the value of the initial contact.
Using the power of the Internet to achieve HR goals not only increases productivity but also saves time and money to give a competitive advantage. Recruiting potential candidates on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter is at low cost since there is no charge to pay when you sign up. Posting jobs online can cost less than half as much as Sunday newspaper postings and far less than employment agency fees. Online ads can be longer, more descriptive, written any time of the day or night, and posted almost immediately. For employers, online recruiting allows far better targeting of candidates than advertising in general newspapers, resulting in a greater percentage of qualified applicants. In addition, because 24/7 online job hunting is private and convenient, a company's Internet presence is more likely to draw in "passive job seekers" – high-quality candidates who may be curious to know what is out there but who have not launched all-out campaigns.
Some major downfalls with recruiting and via the internet are that corporate companies are reducing their recruiting departments and forcing them to do the same amount of work with fewer personnel. “Companies are downsizing their recruiting and talent acquisition departments.” (Gray, 2011) Recruiters who are not on top of expanding technologies could find themselves trailing behind those who are using the Internet and all of its offering. Websites have to be monitored and kept up-to-date on a daily basis. “Companies could possibly lose qualified candidates to competitors if they are not keeping up with the responses coming in from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or online job boards.” (Gray. 2011) Social networking websites can be a powerful way for small companies and recruiters to expand their list of potential job candidates.
However organizations cannot be solely dependent on the online recruitment methods. Since not every job seeker has instant access to the Internet many are left using the more traditional ways for job searching. Some job seekers hesitate to put all of their private information out on the Internet. This requires companies to keep physical addresses visible for anyone who might want to mail in their resume.
Social media sites can also be used against a potential job seeker. Users must be careful what they post and who they allow to view their pictures. On Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter users can set up privacy settings so they can control who can view their profiles and what specifically they have access to. “More employers these days are Googling candidates and researching their Internet footprints before an interview is set up.” (Gray, 2011)
Human resources managers and recruiters can no longer ignore social media and the benefits it can bring to a company. With the help of social media, many job openings can receive more exposure than ever before. By decreasing the cost to post an open position on online job boards or using social media at no cost. Moreover, social media can even drive consumer to consumer promotion of worthwhile career opportunities among groups outside of the recruiters’ involvement. This is a great opportunity to greatly increase the reputation, visibility, and activity around a vacancy. However, many recruiters should take in mind that the policies and guidelines around social recruitment are not well-defined and endorsed. So they should be careful when integrating social media in the hiring process. However, when used correctly, there is no better tool at their disposal.

Works Cited
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