Pros and Cons of Using Social Media for Recruitment

This article discusses the pros and cons of using social media for recruitment purposes. It explores how HR departments can leverage social networking sites to find the right candidates, particularly for difficult positions. The article also highlights the ethical considerations and limitations of social media screening, emphasizing the importance of maintaining fairness and privacy. Overall, it provides insights into the benefits and challenges of using social media in the recruitment process.

Running head: ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic Writing

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Introduction
In This modern 21st century, science and technology is improving at a very rapid rate.
One of the most important innovations of the advancing is the usage of the social media and the
social networking sites. There are many applications of this process. The companies all over the
world are trying their level best to use the scientific and the technological advanced methods in
order to increase their production. The modern 21st century is an era of changes and thus it is
important for the company to make sure that they are staying ahead in the race. It is seen that in
the modern ages the industries have started using many new technologies like the SNS for the
purpose of recruitment. The SNS helps in getting the relevant information about all the
companies in a very time effective manner. Thus, using the SNS is really good for the
recruitment purposes. However there is a chance that too much usage of this procedure can bring
about many disadvantages. The company management can become biased towards some or the
other employees. On the other hand, there can also be a chance that the employees will feel
threatened due to the unnecessary violation of the privacy and the personal social platforms like
the facebook, twitter, instagram.
Discussion
The HRM department has started using the social networking stores in order to recruit the
employees. However as per the opinion of (Jeske & Shultz, 2016) the usage of then SNSs or the
social networking sites is useful for the HR department as it helps them to focus over a large
number of employees. This is mainly because of the fact that the social platforms like LinkedIN
usually provide the company with a chance of recruiting employees from a huge and wide
region. However (Rait, Prochaska & Rubinstein, 2015) has argued that if the companies are

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using the old and the traditional methods then they will be able to target only a small and handful
employees. At the same time, many are of the opinion that using the traditional methods is safer
as the employees might be much associated with the old and traditional methods.
SNS usage in modern 21st century
The modern 21st centuries have brought about the large scale usage of the Social sites for
multiple purposes. (Storrar et al., 2015) is of the opinion that the company pages on the LinkedIn
helps man jobseekers to visit the company profile and the company pages in order to know if
there are some new vacancies going on in the companies. (Jeske & Shultz, 2016) has suggested
that it is very itself for the HRM departments of the companies to use the social networking sites
as it helps them in recruiting the candidates for particularly those positions that are difficult. In
other words, there are some particular positions in the company that are difficult for finding the
right kind of employees. It is for this reason that using the social media sites is really very
important for the companies. It helps them to recruit from a wide platform of fresher and also
from the experienced ones.
However, there are also some doubtful areas that often come up in this discussion. People
are often concerned about their security and privacy. Many individuals might not feel safe
knowing that recruiters all over the Globe are getting to know about their profiles. The HRM
departments of many organizations might make their decisions only by taking a general
overview of whatever people are posting on their social accounts. There is no evidence of this
information being true. There is also a chance that people might just keep on posting wrong and
false information in order to gain popularity.

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Benefits of using the social networking sites by HRM
The usage of the social networking sites is very useful for the HR professionals as they are able
to carry ion their work in a fast, easy and error free manner. They have to give very less effort
and get their jobs done by using the robotic efficiency. On the other hand, (Rait, Prochaska &
Rubinstein, 2015) is of the opinion that job seekers try to get the help from the social networking
sites in order to get proper information about the companies before taking up the jobs (Grellier &
Goerke, 2014). On the other hand, the HR professionals must also do the same in order to know
who might be the suitable candidate for the desired profession. (Holland & Jeske, 2017) is of the
opinion that the usage of the SNSs or the social networking sites by the HRM departments of the
companies helps in recruiting the best and the apt talents, as they can get the relevant information
from the social networking sites.
For an instance the face book is one of the well known and widely used social networking
platforms. This can be used by the HR, department to check the relevant information about the
employees The HRM department can screen through the newsfeed or the posts and also the
newsletters in order to get the previous work experience and also the current expertise of the
employees. This is thus helpful both for the employees and for the companies as a while. Both of
them are able to stay in a win win situation.
This will help both the aspiring candidates and the HRM officials to get good and useful
information about each other before taking up any strong decisions. Thus, it can be said that in
on way the usage of then SNSs or the social networking sites are a very helpful tool for the HRM
departments. (Topolovec-Vranic & Natarajan, 2016) is also of the opinion that the social

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networking sites help in displaying the company reputation as well. This is mainly reflected
through the employee reviews and the different posts that have been shared by the employees.
This will help he companies to know about the organizational or the company culture that is
taking place.
However just as there are both positive and the negative aspects of each and everything,
same is the case with the SNSs or the social media screening. (Moreno et al., 2017) is of them
opinion that thought the social media screening is useful for the HRM department; this also
signifies the violation of the personal space of people. This is because the SNSs or the different
social networking sites are entirely the personal space of the users. Thus, it is natural for the
individuals to share their personal views or any kind of person al stuffs in their account. Thus, it
is not right for the HRM department officials to mix the professional and the personal mindset of
the individuals before recruiting them. This is because it is a common act that each and every
individual might maintain a separate kind of mind set and personality in his professional and in
his personal and also in his professional life.
Ethical duty of companies while using SNS
There is a strong responsibility on the companies to abide by the ethics while using the
SNS for recruiting purposes. The other issue with the social media screening or the usage of the
SNSs is compliance issue. This is mainly because of the fact that some of the HRM officials
might get influence or biased by seeing the positive and the good social media presence.
However this is not right as there is a chance that the particular individual might not have the
same characteristic feature in the real life. However, there can also be the chance of getting some
inappropriate or inaccurate data regarding the personality or the backgrounds of the employee.

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(Topolovec-Vranic & Natarajan, 2016) is of the opinion that this might not be the best practice
for getting the information about the employees. As for example there are some companies that
are already using the SNS for recruiting purposes. The companies are ALDI, Telstra Mortars,
Coles, Woolworths and many other such companies have already started using the e recruitment
method or the SNS methods.
They use the methods like an in depth an analysis of the employee profiles through
facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and other such social site for recruitment purposes. This is mainly
because of the fact that individuals might change within the course of time. There can also be the
chance that the individuals might post some wrong or inappropriate information about
themselves on their social media platform (Melanthiou, Y., Pavlou, F., & Constantinou, E2015).
Thus, it is important that the HRM follows some important methods for doing screening before
recruiting them. Hundreds of Australian businesses are involved in the usage of the social media
for the purpose of recruiting the employees. It is found 26% currently use social media for
recruitment, with Queensland employers the most enthusiastic at 31% and South Australian
employers the least popular users, at 17% (Thomas, Rothschild & Donegan, 2015).
Conclusion
The HRM department must be using a disclosure policy that will inform the employees
beforehand about the usage of their social media platforms in their screening procedures. This
will ensure that the employees are already aware about the fact and are not feeling threatened.
There will be no violation of their personal space.They must be hiring a third party for carrying
out the process of social media screening. This will help the company in maintain their fairness.
In other words the decision regarding the final selecting or the recruiting process will depend on
somebody else.

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It is also essential for the company to maintain their limitation. In other words, the HRM
officials must restrict themselves to the screening of the LinkedIn profiles only. They must be
sufficient for the recruiters in getting the relevant information regarding the professional
qualification of the employees. The HRM department must not violate the privacy of the
individuals by entering into the other social media platforms like the instagram, facebook, twitter
and other such platforms. The HRM screening must be limited to the employee’s professional in
formation only.

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