Social Media's Influence on Recruitment and Employee Behavior

This report delves into the complex relationship between social media and recruitment, examining the ethical dilemmas faced by HR professionals. The report highlights the challenges of assessing candidates based on their social media profiles, considering the potential for biased decisions and the difficulty in verifying information. It emphasizes the distinction between personal and professional behavior, suggesting that a person's social media presence may not accurately reflect their work ethic. The report recommends a balanced approach, suggesting that while personal social media should not influence hiring decisions, the professional platform LinkedIn can provide valuable insights. The report also suggests that organizations keep a tab on their employees' social media accounts. It references studies on social media marketing and LinkedIn's role in recruitment, advocating for a cautious approach to using social media in candidate evaluation, focusing instead on professional platforms and guiding employees on responsible social media use. The report concludes that while social media offers some insights into personality, it should not be the primary factor in recruitment decisions.

Organizational Behavior
Blog

1
Social Media – Personal or professional?
The advent of social media is not an unknown phenomena (Stelzner, 2014). It is rare to come
across an individual that does not has a Facebook account. The platforms provide people a space
to share their ideas, opinions and communicate with a bunch of other people. However, the usage
of these platforms is different for different individuals. The dilemma faced by the HR manager in
the case is quite common. While recruiting candidates, gaining access to their social media
platforms will surely reveal a lot more information about the candidate. But it is difficult to
analyze the extent to which this information is true and honest.
It would be an ethical move by the HR manager to seek permission to visit social media profiles
of the candidates. However, there is a strong possibility that before sharing the information, the
candidates will alter the information available or hide the details that they may feel will
adversely impact their recruitment. Secondly, if a particular candidate refuses to share the
information, then the organization may lose out on a competent candidate altogether.
On the other hand, if the HR manager decides to view public information on these profiles, then
there is no assurance of how this information can reflect upon their professional behavior
(Guedes, 2015). Secondly, if the HR team identifies personal mutual contacts with the candidate,
it may lead them to make a biased decision. Thirdly, the extent of public information would also
be different for different candidates and hence it would hardly be a fair analyses.
Lastly, if the social media profiles are not checked for any of the candidates and the selected
candidate is found indulging in any inappropriate behavior on these platforms, it may reflect
badly on the organization.
In my opinion, it is true that social media platforms may disclose certain attributes of an
individual’s personality and hence might refine the HR team’s judgment. But these platforms are
created for an individual’s personal use and must be restricted for the same. A person’s behavior
or attitude in their personal life may not necessarily reflect in their professional behavior.
Therefore it would be unfair to judge them based on these attributes even if it is the last resort
available.

2
Out of all these platforms, LinkedIn is a professional platform and it largely consists details of
an individual’s professional life. LinkedIn also consists of endorsements from peers and seniors
which enhance upon the individual’s personality and demonstrate attributes that might be
beneficial for the organization (Zide, Elman & Shahani-Denning, 2014).
When an employee associates with the firm, the employee’s public personality also reflects upon
the organization. Therefore it is recommended to keep a tab on the information disclosed by
organizational employees on their social media platforms. But such factors can be recommended
to employees or they can be guided upon this. In no case, should a personal social media account
of an individual impact the recruitment decision of an HR of the company.
References
Guedes, S. (2015). The Use of Social Media within the Recruitment and Selection Process.
Stelzner, M. (2014). 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Social media examiner, 1-
52.
Zide, J., Elman, B. and Shahani-Denning, C., 2014. LinkedIn and recruitment: How profiles
differ across occupations. Employee Relations, 36(5), pp.583-604.