Social Media and Recruitment

Social Media and Recruitment Everything You Need to Know for Your Job Search Naima Hafeez McCoy College of Business Administration Texas State University

Within the past few years, new technologies such as smartphones and various mobile applications have improved communication for users. Social media websites, one of these technologies, are increasingly assisting people connect with others globally at exponential speeds. In addition, there is an enormous amount of data available to companies to make better strategic business decisions. Since the US economic crisis began in the 2001, good employment opportunities have become a scarce commodity, and job seekers are looking for new ways to gain employment. Social media sites are helping people connect with recruiting companies and other working professionals to increase their chances of becoming employed. This study aims to (1) determine companies level of use of social media as related to other factors in recruitment and hiring for job positions, (2) evaluate social media s role in increasing a candidate s attractiveness to gain an interview and/or employment by recruiting companies, (3) assess the perspective of the Texas State University MBA Program at the Round Rock Campus on social media websites, and (4) make recommendations to current job seekers about the use of social media. 1 Hafeez What is Social Media? According to 2013 Social Recruiting Survey Results, the top three social media sites from largest to smallest used in recruiting are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, respectively (Jobvite, 2013). Facebook was founded in 2004 and has more than 1 billion members globally (Facebook). Facebook s purpose is to assist its members connect with family and friends and openly communicate with them. Methods of communications include personal photographs, comments, instant messages, relationship statuses, video files, audio files, favorite websites, etc. A member of Facebook can post these to their personal profiles where they can control which categories of people in their contacts can see this information. LinkedIn was founded in 2003 and has 300 million members (LinkedIn). LinkedIn specializes in globally connecting unemployed job seekers, working professionals, and companies with each other. The company claims that it can assist members become more professionally successful. A LinkedIn member can create a profile where they can list their historical as well as current academic and professional experiences, technical skills, and professional contacts. Twitter was incorporated in 2007 and has more than 40 million users (Twitter). Similar to Facebook, the mission of Twitter is to help their members freely share and communicate ideas. However, unlike Facebook, Twitter members communicate through short comments or Tweets in addition to photographs with all members of Twitter who are interested in the specific topic. Companies Use of Social Media in Recruitment A portion of the unemployment in the workforce is caused by frictional and structural unemployment. Frictional unemployment occurs because there is a time-lag between job seekers looking for employment and actually finding employment with a hiring company. This transition period comes from inefficiencies in the economy due to incomplete information available to job seekers and hiring companies. Structural unemployment occurs due to incompatibility between a job seeker s particular needs of an employment opportunity and the hiring company s specific requirements of a job candidate. Karen Halliday, Coast Specialist Recruitment senior executive consultant, states, Many people are networking directly via social media, speeding up the process through better targeting. Often much of the interview process is complete before an employer and candidate have met face to face, using Skype, for example (Money Marketing). Social media allows recruiters to very quickly access a vast number of job seekers who have already posted an enormous amount of information about their professional experience, technical skills, and everyday life. As a result, recruiters can also give information to job seekers about current open jobs. Social media essentially allows companies and job seekers to speed up

the matching process. Stephanie Overby and Sharon Florentine state that one of the major advantages of using social media in the recruiting process is that, Social media lets your company connect to candidates who may want to work for you, even if they're not actively searching for a new job. Therefore, social media not only allows companies to access job seekers data, it also gives companies access to viable candidates who are not job seekers. Many companies still believe that the traditional approach to finding quality candidates is referrals. According to Bacharach Leadership Group survey results in Figure 1, social media is the third most preferred method of companies to look for candidates after co-worker/peer referrals and customer/suppliers/former colleagues (Tobel). It is important to note that even though social media is in third place, it does play a role in 15% of the companies surveyed. The interview is listed as the highest preferred method of selection and social media is not listed as a selection method. In addition, Overby and Florentine state, Real-time conversations with candidates are more authentic than pre-composed tweets and posts. This allows companies to assess the candidate based on authentic information that comes from sources that are already familiar to the company. Few companies have recognized the capability of social media sites in recruiting talent. Patty Gaul asserts that, a substantial 67 percent of elite companies optimize the use of social networking tools in their recruitment, while 55 percent of bottom-tier organizations have adopted a strategic approach to using such tools and technology. Although social media may seem like a great resource of information, companies need to learn how to use it over time because it is a fairly new form of social interaction; LinkedIn, oldest of the top social media site, is only 11 years old. The Human Resources department of a company may or may not be suitable to handle the Information Technology aspect of social media recruiting and vice versa. According to Zach Lahey, companies are going towards a significant shift to forward-looking and innovative technology, away from the more antiquated tools that many companies have in place today. And given the importance organizations place on using technology to engage candidates and build talent communities, these technologies play an important role. Overall, companies gravitate toward solutions that will engage candidates and create long-term relationships while driving business results. Companies are refining their long-term strategic business goals in an effort to quickly adapt to these changes. Social Media s Role in Recruitment Although it may not play a big role in recruitment, the information available on social media is still of interest to companies. Companies are increasingly utilizing online tools such as social media sites and online search engines to find information about potential candidates. According to 2013 Social Recruiting Survey Results, recruiters look for the professional experience, length in professional tenure, 2 Hafeez

specific hard skills, cultural fit, and industry-related posts in a candidate s profile on a social media site. In addition, the results of the survey show the reactions of recruiters to the listed items in a candidate s social media profile in Figure 2 (Jobvite, 2014). It is very important to note that recruiters have a higher positive reaction rather than a negative or neutral reaction to only one type of information on a candidate s social media profile which is Volunteering/donations to charity. Most of the items have a high negative response, and only two of the items have a neutral response. According to a survey conducted by the website CareerBuilder, recruiters found expected and extraordinary information about job candidates online that impacted decision making. Dennis McCafferty states, 51% of employers who research candidates on social media say they've found postings which have caused them to not hire a candidate. Specifically these include the following: 41% of hirers say they've dismissed a candidate because they found posted information about the applicant's use of alcohol or drugs. 32% indicate that they've passed on a candidate due to postings which demonstrate poor communications skills. 28% say they've moved on to other applicants after seeing that a candidate posted discriminatory comments about race, gender, religion, etc. 24% say they've dismissed a contender because that applicant shared confidential information about previous employers. 21% say they've passed on a candidate because of an unprofessional screen name. A hirer saw a photo of an arrest warrant for a candidate on a social media site. A candidate revealed that a pig was his "closest friend" on one of his pages. A contender was actively involved in a demonic cult. A candidate posted pictures of what he described as Sasquatch. 3 Hafeez

It is interesting to see that not all the information about a candidate s personal life found by recruiters is directly related to job performance such as use of alcohol and drugs, screen name, prior arrest, pig friend, religious involvement, and interest in conspiracy theories. However, it is much more important to note the employer s interest in a candidate s communication skills, awareness of cultural diversity, and outlook on previous employers is directly related to job performance. This leaves job seekers in a tough position because information completely unrelated to job performance can be used to assess them as a good job candidate. In Cornell HR Review, Kellie A. O Shea states that hiring companies need to be very careful about the great resource of information at their finger-tips through social media. First, the information provided may increase disparity among different demographic groups such as age, race, and gender. O Shea also states that younger white males are more likely to be a member of social media sites. This variance in demographics in job seekers is also shown in the 2014 Jobvite Job Seeker Nation Study, which furthermore shows that people who post negative information about themselves are more likely to be less educated (Jobvite 2014). In other words, negative information about candidates who are associated with certain demographic groups will be more easily available on social media sites than for other demographic groups. However, companies need to be careful because all demographic groups are protected by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Second, O Shea also states that the information available online may also be inaccurate as there is no one certifying its accuracy. Companies may face the challenge that they are dismissing a good candidate based upon a small amount of false negative information. It would be in the candidate s best interest to inquire what information is available about him or her on social media and address any negative information that is available. Unfortunately, if there is negative information about a job seeker, then it is more than likely that a hiring company will use that information in their hiring decision without the candidate s knowledge. Perspective of Texas State MBA Program The survey attached in Appendix A was administered to two classes at the Texas State University Round Rock Campus on October 13 th, 2014. The two classes surveyed were ACC 5361: Accounting Analysis for Managerial Decision Making and MGT 5314: Organizational Behavior and Theory. All the students in these classes were students in the Texas MBA Program. Demographics The survey resulted in responses from 45 students. Of the students surveyed, 96% were employed at the time of the survey. In addition, 31 % of the students surveyed were seeking new employment opportunities at the time. 4 Hafeez

80% of the students surveyed were a member of Facebook, and similarly, 80% of the students surveyed were a member of LinkedIn. Comparatively, only 27% of the students were a member of Twitter. This membership data reflects similar information as shown earlier that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are largest to smallest social media websites respectively. In addition, it is safe to assume that the students surveyed are working professionals and therefore more likely to be members of LinkedIn than Facebook. 22% of the students responded that their current employer recruits through social media, 31% responded that their current employer does not recruit through social media, 42% responded that they do not know this information, and this was not applicable to 2% of the students who were unemployed. A large portion of the students do not know if their current employer recruits through social media, and this percentage is higher than the students seeking new employment opportunities. However, it is understandable that these students will be seeking employment opportunities outside their current employer. Attractiveness, Interview, and Employment 64% (sum of once, sometimes, and many times) of the students have used a social media site at some point to look for employment opportunities. 62% (sum of once, sometimes, and many times) of the students believe that their social media profile has increased their attractiveness to companies at some point. 5 Hafeez

Percentages of students who responded that characteristics of their social media profile have made them attractive to recruiting companies are 82% for Professional Experience, 60% for Listing of Specific Skills, 18% for Number of Contacts, 9% for Number of Active Posts, 9% for Other, and 2% for None. Significantly attractive characteristics are Professional Experience and Listing of Specific Skills. This is understandable as both of these characteristics are directly related to a person s professional success; however, it is notable that these characteristics exist independently of the person s social media profile, and recruiting companies take a large interest in these characteristics as well. 40% (sum of once, sometimes, and many times) of the students responded that either they or someone they know has been invited to an interview through a social media site. 33% (sum of once, sometimes, and many times) of the students responded that either they or someone they know has received an employment opportunity through a social media site. Both of these percentages are much lower compared to the students who actually looked for new employment opportunities and believed that their profile made them an attractive candidate. However, it is notable that these are significant positive responses for the assistance of social media in new employment opportunities. 6 Hafeez

31% (sum of once, sometimes, and many times) of the students responded that either they or someone they know has been turned down an employment opportunity due to a social media site. Although this is a significant negative response for the assistance of social media in new employment opportunities, it is notable that this percentage in still lower than the positive response. In an interview, Matt Painter, Director, MBA Program McCoy College of Business Administration Texas State University, stated that social media sites are a research tool for employers. It is a small component of the hiring process which can create a negative impact for a marginal candidate about whom the hiring company is uncertain about hiring. He stated that a LinkedIn profile is rarely surprising for the employer because it is like a business card, resume, and letter of reference. This is information that the company should already have about the candidate. On the other hand, Facebook and Twitter are most telling about the candidate s life and cultural fit. Mr. Painter s main view was that a job seeker should note that everything is fair game on social media sites. Potential employers usually search for a candidate s information on social media sites to reinforce what they already know. If the potential employers find out something that they already don t know, then it is likely negative information which will have a negative impact on a candidate s job prospect. Recommendations to Job Seekers Search for yourself: First find out what information is on social media and online because there could be inaccurate and/or negative information out there. Then address any negative information that is available. Don t dwell on the past; look to the future: Don t discuss old issues, bad co-workers, bad bosses, or confidential information from your old job for a potential new employer to see. Remain focused on your priority of looking for a new job through industry-related posts. Stay true to yourself: Don t lie on your online profile about your professional experience, skillset, or your everyday life. Online profiles on sites such as LinkedIn serve as resumes, and this information can be easily verified by potential employers. 7 Hafeez

Focus on the detail: Use accurate grammar, proper spelling, professional screen names, and perceptive language. Be careful: You shouldn t post something that you would not want to see in the newspaper or your parents to find out. Stay away from posts about excessive use of alcohol and drugs. Don t post negative comments about sensitive topics like race, gender, politics, and religion. Highlight the positive: Talk about your hard skills such as professional experience, length in professional tenure, and specific technical skills. Show your soft skills such as proficiency in communication, friendliness, ability to adapt, desire to help others through volunteering, and openness to new cultures. Express your personality: Stay active and remain positive. Having an expressive presence on social media is great. Good luck! 8 Hafeez

9 Hafeez Work Cited Facebook. Company Information. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/facebook/info?tab=page_info. Gaul, Patty (2014). Talent Acquisition Requires Strategic Use of Social Media, Understanding Quality of Hire. American Society for Training & Development. Retrieved from http://www.astd.org/publications/magazines/td/td-archive/2014/09/talent-acquisition- Requires-Strategic-Use-of-Social-Media-Understanding-Quality-of-Hire. Jobvite (2013). 2013 Social Recruiting Survey Results. Retrieved from http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/jobvite_2013_socialrecruitingsurveyresults.pdf. Jobvite (2014). 2014 Jobvite Job Seeker Nation Study. Retrieved from http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/2014%20job%20seeker%20survey.pdf. Lahey, Zach (2014). Talent Acquisition 2014: Reverse the Regressive Curse. Aberdeen Group, A Harte Hanks Company. Retrieved from http://www.icims.com/sites/www.icims.com/files/public/hei_assets/aberdeen%20talent%20ac quisition%202014%20reverse%20the%20regressive%20curse.pdf. LinkedIn. Company Information. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin. McCafferty, Dennis (2014). Hirers Increase Social Media Scrutiny of Recruits. CIO Insights. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=5b739dcd-2459-4a4ead0842de3956b936%40sessionmgr110&vid=21&hid=119&bdata=jnnpdgu9zwrzlwxpdm Umc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=97292406. Money Marketing (2014). Career Briefs: The Rise of Social Media in the Recruitment Game (2014). Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=5b739dcd-2459-4a4ead0842de3956b936%40sessionmgr110&vid=2&hid=119&bdata=jnnpdgu9zwrzlwxpdmu mc2nvcgu9c2l0zq%3d%3d#db=bth&an=97114573. O Shea, Kellie A. (2010). Use of Social Media in Employment: Should I Hire? Should I Fire? Cornell HR Review. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5b739dcd-2459-4a4e-ad08-42de3956b936%40sessionmgr110&vid=24&hid=119. Overby, Stephanie and Florentine, Sharon (2014). Advanced Social Studies: Smarter Ways to Use Social Media to Recruit Talent. CIO. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5b739dcd-2459-4a4e-ad08-42de3956b936%40sessionmgr110&vid=13&hid=119. Painter, Matt. Director, MBA Program McCoy College of Business Administration Texas State University. Interviewed on November 10, 2014. Tobel, Alexa Von (2014). Where Money Meets Morale. Inc. Magazine partnered with Bacharach Leadership Group. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5b739dcd-2459-4a4e-ad08-42de3956b936%40sessionmgr110&vid=16&hid=119. Twitter. Company Information. Retrieved from https://about.twitter.com/company.

10 Hafeez Appendix A