Do you think that the organizations have to wait for sometime before judging the real worth of social media? Social networking is helping recruiters to find the best people from the market. So do you suggest on replacing social networking to other recruitment tools which are been used in the industry?
Social networking these days is considered to be one of the most sought out solution for sourcing and recruiting employees in an organization by recruiters. However, the potential that lies in social networking still needs to be tapped to a greater extent.
Social networking have been successful to a handful of recruiters but that doesn't mean it would be beneficial to all. Organizations need to figure out the answer to whether is it the right time to diverge from conventional tools to social networking approach as more and more recruiters preach and confirm social networking to be the best solution in the market these days.
There are various thoughts and feelings which sets the mood and platform for people to interact online. Let us see how does it affects the online networking circuit.
Psychology of the Recruiter or Head Hunter:
Recruiter assumes that connecting to an online or social media group will give him an easy access to a wide pool of talent. Further assumption is that communities or groups having similar background are more receptive to link to one another. To get a further understanding on this let us also consider the thought process that goes in the minds of people who are joining these networking sites.
Psychology of the People joining Social Media sites:
They want to keep their existing social connections alive. It is been found that most of the people socialize online to retain and strengthen their relations which are offline. To build on their social capital and connections. Social capital refers to the value individuals can extract in terms of information, personal connections, interests, etc., from their online buddies or connections. Very few individuals have been found investing in building social connections to talk about career prospects or to tap upon any employment opportunity in the future. Here I am not mentioning sites like LinkedIn or Recruting Blogs which are solely dedicated for professional interactions. What seems on the most of the social arena is that people are more interested in sharing their life activities to an outer world rather than networking with others which prevents them from exploiting other possibilities of social networking.
What can be figured out from this kind of behaviour of usage is:
The size of an individual's network is very small if we compare it to the total connections strength.
Men respond to an average of seven postings where as women to ten. At one time men often email or chat with not more than 4 while women can interact with six. An account holder's 'friends' are seldom from the same profession or background. Most account holders are protective about friends in their core group. Since the basic purpose of joining social networks is to keep in touch with offline friends and acquaintances, information shared or exchanged is personal. Account holder profiles too seldom mention professional details and even if they do, those details are not enough to assess an individual's professional competence or calibre. We are also unable to judge his performance or knowledge in that particular field.
The observation above forces us to rethink on the benefits of social networking in the professional arena. However, what can be concluded from here is that we are going to face lot of challenges in using it as a complete recruiting tool.
Shady sides of Social Networking Arena:
Hardly have we come across people chatting on how they will like their career to be or what competencies they need to build upon for future growth. Location details can be found but beyond this you really have to work hard to take out information. The only way left is to scrutinize and shortlist people on the basis of the information which is available. The consultant at times rejects people as they are not smart or are more fun lovers as perceived from their personal photographs attached to their profiles. This may lead to rejecting worthy guys and which is not appropriately justified.
What are the steps to search for right information about the candidates?
Are you confident that the information sorted out via social media for any candidate will be 100% true. No obviously as there are no supporting documents or proofs attached. In this kind of a scenario my advice will be not to heavily rely on social media tool for your hiring needs.
Recruiters need to really work hard on totally relying on social media to be the best solution for sourcing and recruitment for organizations. There has to be a certain change in the information shared at these sites which can be utilized by potential organizations or recruters for their benefit.
More Information:
Categories
