The importance of social media in the recruiting process

• Author: Iva Sulaj
• Position: Sh.L.P Logos
• Pages: 236-247

236

Vol. 2 No. 3

January, 2017

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Tirana-Albania

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

The importance of social media in the recruiting process

Iva Sulaj

Sh.L.P Logos

Abstract

Demographic changes and the increasing shortage of skilled employees world-wide have

led in the last years to the so-called “war for talents”. Companies are urged to develop

continuously and to adapt rapidly to the labour market changes as a consequence. On the

other side jobseekers are using nowadays more and more social media not only as a platform

for communication but also as a source for information about the latest developments on the

labour market. Therefore it results of particular importance for human resources professionals

to identify social media as an essential tool for reaching the prospective employees as well

as for improving continuously the reputation of the company as an employer in the labour

market.In the last years the infl uence of social media on our private life as well as in the

business world has increased considerably. The rapidly increasing number of social media

users worldwide has signalized many companies no mam er their industry profi le or market

share, to identify the huge potential social media carries for their business development. Based

on Eurostat studies, 39 % of EU enterprises used social media (e.g. social networks, blogs,

content-sharing sites and wikis) in 2015, with more than three out of four of these businesses

(79 %) using such applications to build their image and to market products.Social networks

remained enterprises favourite form of social media; compared to 2013 their use strongly

increased. (Social media - statistics on the use by enterprises, February 2016). Marketing,

customer relationship management, public relations and human resources are currently some

of the important business areas, in which social media can be applied. In this paper the focus

is set on the fi eld of human resources and more specifi cally on the recruiting process.Social

media recruiting can be associated with a wide range of benefi ts,.Firstly it is easier and faster

to identify potential candidates with specifi c skills and professional experiences and also to

reach candidates that are not usually included in the target groups. But,it has some risks too.

The main concerns about recruiting via social media channels are: exclusion of candidates that

do not have access to social media channels and violation of candidate’s privacy.

Keywords: Human resources,recruiting channels,social media,workforce generations.

Introduction

The research on the defi nition of social media showed that there are diT erent

interpretations about the term “Social Media”. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) defi ne

social media as “a group of internet based applications that build the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allows the creation and exchange of data

by users.” Stephen Wilson refers to social media as various online tools that enable

people with common interests “to share information, learn from others, or network

in an open process” (Wilson, 2010, p.3). Oxford dictionary defi nes social media as

follows: “Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or

to participate in social networking” (Social Media in Oxford Dictionaries, 2015).

These defi nitions highlight some important aspects of the social media’s functions,