Influence and Biases of Social Network Sites on Recruitment and Selection in Maldives

Running head: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Recruitment and Selection
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1RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
As opined by Spence, Lachlan and Rainear (2016), the process of globalization or
internationalization and the extensive usage of the different kinds of innovative technological
developments have drastically changed the nature of the contemporary business world.
Ployhart, Schmitt and Tippins (2017) are of the viewpoint these factors have not changed the
present business world but at the same time had made it completely different from that of the
earlier times. For example, these factors have not only changed the manner in which the
different business operations or functions are being carried out by the business firms but at
the same time the manner in which these entities are being managed (Boxman & Flap, 2017).
More importantly, it is seen that the focus of the majority of the contemporary business firms
is on the enhancement of the individual employee performance and also on the improvement
of the overall performance of their firms as well (Nikolaou, Bauer & Truxillo, 2015).
However, the wicked problem of labor crisis that the majority of the nations are presently
facing is adversely affecting the business or the organizational prospects of the different
firms.
Derous, Pepermans and Ryan (2017) have articulated the viewpoint that the
traditional approaches to recruitment and selection had failed to yield any significant results
and also to meet the increasing labor demands of the business firms. The net result of this is
that the business firms and the HR professionals who are related to them are increasingly
resorting to the usage of different forms of innovative recruitment and selection strategies
like e-recruitment, recruiting from online job portals, social media recruitment and others
(McCarthy et al., 2017). The extensive usage of these innovative recruitment and selection
have not only enabled the different business firms to overcome the labor issues that they are
facing in an effective manner but also helped to recruit the right kind of qualified
professionals for their business as well. This paper will analyze the influence and biases of
social network sites on recruitment and selection in the particular context of Maldives. This
topic is of special interest to me because of the fact an analysis of this innovative strategy will
enable me to understand the key trends within the framework of the contemporary Maldivian
business world and also the manner in which the firms and HRs are using these strategies for
the resolution of the labor crisis that they are facing.
Maldives, an Asian island nation, is located to the south of the nation of India in the
Indian Ocean (Maldivesinfo.gov.mv, 2019). More importantly, the nation has a land area of
only 286 sq. km and is known for its picturesque beauty which is one of the major reasons for
the large number of Asian as well as international tourists that the nation is being able to get

2RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
on an yearly basis (Maldivesinfo.gov.mv, 2019). Ladkin and Buhalis (2016) are of the
viewpoint that despite the geographical as well as political challenges that the nation faces, it
had been able to make a significant amount of advancement in terms of trade and commerce.
For example, it is seen that the tourism and the hospitality industry forms the backbone of the
national economy of the concerned nation. In addition to this, the nation is also the home to
some of the most reputed business firms of the world like “Allied Insurance Company”,
“Maldives Gas Pvt. Ltd”, “Fuel Supplies Maldives Pvt. Ltd”, “Lafarge Maldives Cement Pvt.
Ltd”, “STO Hotels and Resorts Pvt. Ltd” and others (Maldivesinfo.gov.mv, 2019). However,
at the same time it needs to be said that one of the most important problems that these firms
are currently facing and which in turn had greatly limited the success made by them is the
labor crisis that the nation is presently facing (Maldivesindependent.com, 2019). In this
regard, it needs to be said that the relatively small population of the nation, that is, 427,756 as
of 2016, had greatly contributed towards this problem (Maldivesinfo.gov.mv, 2019).
According to Maldivesindependent.com (2019), although the unemployment rate of the
nation is only 5% yet it is seen that there are more than 70,000 new job openings in the
concerned nation for which the firms cannot get suitable candidates. Another important factor
which accounts for the inability of the business firms of the concerned nation to get the right
number as well as kind of candidates for their firms is the fact that they are still taking the
help of the traditional methods of recruitment and selection for the hiring of candidates
(Melanthiou, Pavlou & Constantinou, 2015). This in turn had given rise to the situation
wherein the work of these firms is greatly adversely hampered because of the shortage of
labor that they have within their framework. It is precisely here that the construct of e-
recruitment, social media recruitment and others become especially important in the
particular context of Maldives.
El Ouirdi et al. (2016) are of the viewpoint that one of the most important job roles of
the different HR professionals within the framework of any firm is the recruitment as well as
the selection of new candidates who would in turn enable the firm to complete the work of
the firm in an adequate manner. More importantly, the HR professionals for the recruitment
and selection generally conduct interviews with the candidates who had responded to the job
advertisements placed by them in the traditional media tools like newspapers, radio,
television and others (Jeske & Shultz, 2016). However, it is seen that this process takes a
significant amount of time as well as other resources of the firms and too often it is seen that
the firms fail to get the kind of candidates that they are looking for. This in turn had given