Using social media during the hiring process: A comparison between recruiters and job seekers

ABSTRACT

A large majority of organizations and those seeking employment maintain at least one, if not several, social media pages; consequently, social media is being used more frequently in the job search and employee recruiting processes. The use of social media as a source of information may become increasingly important as recruiters, and job seekers alike, learn how to effectively use social media in the search process, leading to sustainable hiring practices. This study evaluates the difference in recruiters and job seeker’s rating of social media activities, content type, and usefulness. In most cases, significant differences were found between recruiters and job seekers. In general, recruiters rated questionable social media more negatively and job seekers were less positive in regards to content that might be beneficial to the job search, revealing a disconnect between the two groups. This disconnect could have an impact on job seekers finding employment and organizations finding qualified, acceptable employees.

绝大多数单位及求职者都会使用至少一个或几个的社交网站主页；因此，在求职和招聘过程中，社交媒体的使用已变得越来越频繁。由于在求职过程中，招聘者和求职者都会了解如何有效地使用社交媒体，从而产生持续性招聘实战，因此社交媒体作为信息来源应用的重要性正与日俱增。本研究评估了招聘者和求职者对社交媒体活动、类型及有效性的评价差异。在多数情况下，招聘者和求职者的评价存在显著差异。总而言之，招聘者对不可靠的社交媒体评价更为负面，而求职者对于可能利于求职的内容却不那么主动，这体现了二者间的背离。这种背离会对求职者找工作及招聘单位找到适合的员工同时产生双向影响。

KEYWORDS:

• Social networking sites
• job seekers
• recruiters
• college students
• sustainable hiring

关键词:

• 社交网站；求职者；招聘者；大学生；持续性招聘

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.