Social Media to Influence Recruitment Decisions-Free-Samples

Question: Discuss about the Social media to influence recruitment decisions. Answer: Social media to influence recruitment decisions. Social media recruiting has recently evolved as an extensively practiced form of recruiting within various organizations (Gibbs, MacDonald Mackay, 2015). The advent of social media through various platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is not unknown. These websites have provided people with a platform to turn themselves into a brand (Harris Rae, 2011). People can share their ideas, communicate with others, voice their opinion and discuss leading issues inflicting the world today. Every person has leveraged the platform as it deems necessary for them. The issue in this case is not rare. In the process of recruiting individuals, an access to their social media platforms provides the HR personnel with certain additional information that may or may not work in favour of the candidate (Kaur Sharma, 2015). But is it really ethical to gain access to an individuals personal life while deciding their professional career? Also, are the details shared by individuals on their social media platforms are really personal? The first option of seeking permission from candidates before visiting their social media platforms is surely an ethical move. However, there two risks posed in this process Firstly, either of the candidates have complete authority to deny the access. This would probably give the other candidates an unfair advantage. Secondly, there is a strong possibility that the candidates edit, hide or delete any details that they deem might affect their chances of selection. In which case, the entire picture would become unclear. The second option of viewing the information that is public without informing the candidates seems fair because every individual has an access to public information. However, there is no surety that the public information provided by the candidates on these platforms truly reflects on their professional life. Also the three candidates may not have public information to the same extent. It is likely that one candidates profile is entirely accessible while the other candidates profile has security access. Lastly, upon viewing the profile of either of these candidates, if the HR finds any mutual relationships, then it may affect the HRs decision which in turn may lead to a biased judgement (Caers Castelyns, 2011). Lastly, the option about not looking at the social media profile of either of the candidates leaves the organization at a disadvantage of not having any additional details about either of them. In the future if the selected candidates public profile reflects badly on the organization then it would be difficult to fix the issue. In my opinion social recruiting is surely gaining ground but a certain line has to be drawn. Every individual has a personal and a professional life and it may be unfair to judge anyone based on the other. Out of the many social media platforms that exist, LinkedIn has been built to enable and build professional relationships. An individuals updated LinkedIn profile is the closest to reflecting upon their professional life. The website also offers to demonstrate an individuals endorsements from their peers and seniors (Zide, Elman Shahani-Denning, 2014). These endorsements might be beneficial for the organization in evaluating attributes of individuals which suit the organizational culture. Once an employee is recruited in the business, it is essential to recommend the employees to maintain a decent public profile on all their social media platforms. This is specifically true for people who are hired at a senior position. Trainings on effectively managing social media profiles could also be provided by organizations to all their employees. However, it would be largely unfair to judge an individuals candidature based on anything that they share in their personal time and space. Therefore I recommend that the HR personnel must invite the candidates for a second round of interview or a psychometric test for better clarity on the issue. References Caers, R., Castelyns, V. (2011). LinkedIn and Facebook in Belgium: The influences and biases of social network sites in recruitment and selection procedures.Social Science Computer Review,29(4), 437-448. Gibbs, C., MacDonald, F., MacKay, K. (2015). Social media usage in hotel human resources: recruitment, hiring and communication.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,27(2), 170-184. Harris, L., Rae, A. (2011). Building a personal brand through social networking.Journal of Business Strategy,32(5), 14-21. Kaur, P., Sharma, S. (2015). Using social media for employer branding and talent management: An experiential study.IUP Journal of Brand Management,12(2), 7. Zide, J., Elman, B. and Shahani-Denning, C., 2014. LinkedIn and recruitment: How profiles differ across occupations.Employee Relations,36(5), pp.583-604.