The Effects of Social Media on Employment - Essay Example

The effects of Social Media on Employment Introduction Social Media becomes more and more popular platform for communication among different categories of users of different ages. People tend to communicate and share information through the social media at home, at work, at airport, and everywhere where is Wi-Fi or Internet access. Despite the broad audience involved in this communication, there is a particular group of employers/recruitment agencies who use social media channels as an instrument for achieving corporate HR purposes. According to Sinha et al (2012, 71) social media platforms are especially popular in four major areas of HR activity: Hiring, Collaboration and Communication, Internal Branding, and Management. The aim of this research is to provide a literature review of the social media and its role and impact on the hiring process. First, there is provided a brief overview of what the social media is, and how it is used in modern organizations. Further, there is presented review of the literature devoted to this research issue. Social Media in the Modern Society Social Media is recognized to be one of the most popular communication medias, which made information exchange process more entertaining and creative (Sinha et al 2012). Social media implies any online media platform providing content for users and also allowing users to participate in the creation or development of the content in some way (Sinha et al 2012, 66). Thus, Social Media users are enabled and encouraged to share information, audio, pictures, messages, and videos. However, the popularity of Social Media has been increasing not only among general internet users, but also among businesses and other organizations (Sinha et al 2012). According to the survey carried out by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in 2008 34 percent of companies used social media channels to recruit employees, while in 2013 this number increased up to 77 percent (Catelli 2014). The most popular social networking channels among both categories of users include: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube, LinkdIn and others. Social Media and Employment Data created and provided through these and other social media channels is especially significant for contemporary organizations (Sinha et al 2012). Social Media is a great instrument that enables employers to gain information about both prospective and current employees (Rackham & Holtzman 2011). By using Social Media Analytics companies and other organizations can improve the quality of the hires as they can measure behavior, engagement, conversation, sentiment, influence and other vital characteristics of potential or current employee (Sinha et al 2012). Literature review Role of Social Media in Selection and Hiring Nowadays, more and more individuals tend to share their personal information through the social networking sites and blogs, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc (Sinha et al 2012). This tendency led to another one whereas many employers began using social networking sites as tools for recruiting, researching, and screening potential job applicants (Hunt 2010; Withiam, 2011). According to the Career builder survey of more than 2500 employers, 21 percent were using social media to research and recruit potential employees in 2010 (Hunt 2010). This statistics shows positive trend indicating that social media (especially LinkdIn, Facebook, Twitter) becomes more and more popular channel for searching talents requiring no additional costs (Ramirez 2010; Hunt 2010). In addition to the above discussed aspects of the use of social media in employment, Zielinski (2013) stresses the importance of power of employee referrals utilized through the social network channels. By using social media networks, employees can refer their Facebook friends, LinkdIn connections and/or Twitter followers for open positions posted by employers (Zielinski 2013). Professional and personal networks typically include former co-workers, schoolmates of employees, or professional associates and thus help HR specialists to reach target audience with minimal efforts (Zielinski 2013). Social media is also a great platform not only for professionals seeking a job but also for those who only begin their career. Herbold & Douma (2013) have carried out a study researching on the student’s use of social media for job seeking. The results of the study have shown that many students tend to use such social networks as Facebook in order to find a job (Herbold & Douma 2013). Screening employee’s behavior through social networks As it has been already mentioned, employers use social networks for pre-employment screening purposes (Ebnet 2012). Social media searches enable recruiters to find useful information about the job applicant and to helps to evaluate person’s suitability for a specific job based on candidates skills, strengths, interests and attitude to work (Fong 2014). Having screened social medial profiles of the applicants and other relevant information available online, employers eliminate significant number of job candidates from the lists (Ebnet 2012). Thus, by using social media, many employers routinely “screen out” job applicants with negative characteristics and “screen in” those with desirable positive characteristics (Ebnet 2012). Moreover, employers use social media not just for researching new candidates and potential hiring purposes, but also for screening actual employees’ activity and behavior outside work hours (Forsyth 2013; Withiam, 2011). The information more commonly available through the social media that can affect the employment status includes: the way of interacting of other people with the employees, racist remarks or sexually explicit photos posted by employee about or other people (Forsyth 2013; Ebnet 2012). There are many various situations where employees can misuse social media and technology resulting in unlawful conduct outside of work (Miller 2013). These cases include posting some corporate information and later the company receives unwanted publicity, posting photos or other information about the customers that seems to be funny for employee, etc (Miller 2013). Potential risks of pre-employment screening and best practice solutions However, employers also face significant risks while using social media to make employment-related decisions. These decisions can result in substantial financial, public-image, and human-resource costs (Rackham & Holtzman 2011). The information retrieved from the social media by employers can be used against them. Employers can be blamed in discrimination (based on the knowledge retrieved from the social media: sexual preference, pregnancy, religion, political leanings, etc (Rackham & Holtzman 2011; Fong 2014). For protecting own assets, employers should establish corporate policies for using social media and proactively communicate these policies to own employees (Rackham & Holtzman 2011). Another pitfall of using social media while making pre-employment screening is the risk of finding online profiles with incorrect or incomplete information about the potential employee, misinterpreting the information, or looking at the wrong candidate (McGrath 2012). In order to avoid these risks, employees are advised to follow the best practices, which suggest: screening via social media by the HR department at the end of the hiring process; examination of “public profile” only; development and following of the policies for determining the appropriateness of applying social-media-driven screening process; documenting of cases where applicants exhibit danger or illegal conduct on the social media channels; compliance with federal equal employment opportunity laws (Bologna 2014; Wilkie and Wright 2014; Catelli 2014). Conclusion Social media is a widely used instrument in employment activity by both employers and employees. Employers tend to use social media networks for two major purposes: selection and hiring and pre-employment screening. By using social media companies and other organizations can measure vital characteristics of potential employees. Social media searches also enable recruiters to find useful information about the job applicant and to evaluate person’s suitability for a specific job based on candidates’ skills, strengths, interests and attitude to work. Some employers use social media not just for researching new candidates and potential hiring purposes, but also for screening actual employees’ activity and behavior outside work hours. Moreover, some studies indicate on the importance of power of employee referrals utilized through the social network channels. By using social media networks, employees can refer their social network connections for open positions posted by employers. Social network is also a great instrument of job search for those who are just begin their career or studying at the universities but looking for additional income. While social media offers many opportunities for both employers and employees, employers face significant risks while using social media to make employment-related decisions. Hiring managers can simply find wrong person, misinterpret information, or simply find incorrect or incomplete profile of the screened candidate. Also, employers can be blamed in discrimination based on the knowledge retrieved from the social media: sexual preference, pregnancy, religion, political leanings, etc. However, these risks can be mitigated by following best practice advices discussed in the literature review section. References: Bologna, M 2014, Social Media Strategies in Recruiting, Hiring Pose Legal Risks for Employers. (cover story), HR Focus, 91, 5, pp. 1-4, Corporate ResourceNet, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 July 2014. Catelli A, 2014. 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Sinha, V, Subramanian, K, Bhattacharya, S, & Chaudhuri, K 2012, The Contemporary Framework on Social Media Analytics as an Emerging Tool for Behavior Informatics, HR Analytics and Business Process, Management, 17, 2, pp. 65-84, EconLit with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 July 2014. Wilkie A, and Wright D 2014, Balance Risks of Screening Social Media Activity, HR Magazine, 59, 5, p. 14, Small Business Reference Center, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 July 2014. Withiam, G., 2011, ‘Social networking websites andthe hospitality industry: holding the tiger by the tail’. Cornell Hospitality Research Summit Proceedings 3, pp. 6–15. Zielinski, D 2013, Referral booster: social media platforms are expanding employers recruiting reach, HRMagazine, 3, p. 63, Business Insights: Essentials, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 July 2014. Read More