In: Operations Management
(Human Resource Management)
The use of social media for recruitment and selection is a very current issue in Human Resources. Provide in detail a list of pros and cons for its use for both recruitment and selection purposes in 200 words or less.
Human resource is one of the most valuable inputs within an organisation and quality of workforce hugely impacts the success of an organisation and it's ability to achieve growth. In view of this, every organisation strives to attract and hire the best available talent through the best possible means at their disposal. With the unprecedented development in communication technology, spearheaded by the advent of the internet, electronic mail and finally the mass social networking platforms, an opportunity for accessing talent and workforce across nations and continents presented itself to companies. This had two advantages a vast outreach to ensure the company has greater access to quality and can make a better choice, secondly, when a company is able to access the social networking profiles of prospective candidates on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter etc., they get a fair idea of the personality and mindset of the candidate besides qualifications and experience making it easier to decide whether the candidate can adapt to the environment of the organisation easily.
Recruitment entails identifying the requirement within the organization, deciding the skill sets and qualifications required, deciding on the methodology for scouting for the target profiles, implementing through the best suited media to reach maximum suitable profiles, to receive applications and assess and interview the candidates, shortlist the best and recruit them. Social media makes recruitment extremely advantageous by access to a huge database of talent pool so acquisition becomes highly qualitative. It has made the market highly competitive for both recruiter and recruited as companies compete with each other to hire the best by offering better packages and perks, while recruited are constantly striving to upgrade their skills and become multi-functional in a bid to stay above the vast competition in the job market due to it encompassing talent pools across nations.