Introduction
A major breakthrough in technology was attained with the usage of Internet, Ethernet and Email. The online media and communication industry started growing with a variety of online portals cropping up. Out of these, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn gained popularity globally.
The human resource industry is also keeping its pace with the changing world of technology and is using strategic processes for recruiting excellent personnel. One of the newest techniques used to recruit skilled personnel is by using electronic employee referral programs.
Electronic employee referral programs and social networking sites
The article demonstrates a host of instances wherein many organizations are using the employee referral program by spreading word about vacant posts through social networking sites. Also the article provides instances of organizations which uses the widget tool so that personnel belonging to a particular firm can share the available jobs.
From the traditional processes of recruiting, human resource management has come a long way with its tryst with technological change and has embraced the latest and most strategic method to unite technology in strategically recruiting manpower. By perusing through the article, it shows that in this case the method used to select and hire personnel by means of social networking sites is a clear winner.
However, the article just ends by simply explaining the process. It does not explain in detail as to the positive or negative impacts of recruitment by means of social networking websites. One of the favourable impacts of hiring by means of social networking website is that such hiring proves to be cost effective and strategic. Also since such recruitment is made by means of employee referrals most often organizations get an employee whose qualifications match with the skill set required for a particular job for which the job vacancy is declared. Another positive effect of hiring personnel by means of social networking website is that such sources may be used to find out excellent talent and at the same time helps organizations to remain competitive. Also firms hiring personnel by means of social networking sites have an access to get a multicultural workforce and at the same time have access to varied demographics. Also human resource recruiters usually use a judicious mix of employing both job boards and social networking websites to get skilled personnel in more efficient and targeted manner (Madia, 2011). All such positive benefits may not be available by means of the widget toolkit to employ talent.
Firms can further use the widget toolkit in order to facilitate electronic referral programs by means of social media. The widget toolkit permits an application to be uploaded on a social networking site of an employee. In fact, an employee can download a page about the organization in its social networking site. At the same time an organization can get adequate publicity by means of the pages of social media sites. Hence, using the widget toolkit method is a superior alternative than just sending an automated email to selected individuals who may bring in potential referrals to fill a particular job vacancy.
However, a lot of care must be taken while implementing the widget toolkit to helping find recruitment by electronic employee referral programs. This is because, social media has its own ills and it is very important for an organization to maintain and manage its corporate reputation. Organizations need to put in a host of conditions before allowing employees to use the widget toolkit to post a page about their firms on social media sites. First, the firms must ensure that any negative publicity by the employee may be possible and hence they should have a privacy policy which takes care of such anomalies. At the same time human resource professionals can view potential employee profiles on the social networking websites in order to make their decision on recruiting a particular individual. But this does not mean that the information posted on social networking sites is valid and beneficial to the employers. Also human resource professionals need to find out whether using such websites for recruiting personnel is legal and the perception of possible employees about the use of such sites by employers to view personal information (Davison, Maraist & Bing, 2011). However, since social networking sites have a lot of personal information, this could adversely impact a firm. Hence, human resource professionals need to ensure that they get valid and reliable information about the target before proceeding on a recruitment decision (Kluemper & Rosen, 2009). Another possible perspective which needs to be examined in this context is to consider the ethical aspects employers using the social media to find out certain information about candidates. Also some social networking sites contain sensitive data which employers are not permitted to inquire while finding details about a prospect (Vicknair et al. 2010).
Conclusion
Hence, the use of online networking tools to search and hire excellent talent is slowing gaining popularity. However, the human resource professionals should not only think of all the positive aspects while recruiting candidates by using the social networking sites. A lot of thought must be given before an electronic employee referral program is floated and efforts should be taken to ensure that they do not hurt the sentiments of people in a negative manner. At the same time, firms should also ensure that the employees are not using such sites to negatively portray their organization. All in all, a judicious blend of best practices with a privacy and legal policy must be adapted by organizations implementing such electronic employee referral programs so that it benefitted both employers and employees.
Reference
Davison, H.K., Maraist, C. & Bing, M.N. (2011). Friend or foe? The promise and pitfalls of using social networking sites for HR decisions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), 153 – 159.
Kluemper, D.H. & Rosen, P.A. (2009). Future employment selection methods: evaluation social networking websites. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(6), 567 – 580.
Madia, S.A. (2011). Best practices for using social media as a recruitment strategy. Strategic HR Review, 10(6), 19-24.
Vicknair, J., Elkersh, D., Yancey, K. & Budden, M.C. (2010). The use of social networking websites as a recruiting tool for employers. American Journal of Business Education, 3(11),7– 12.
