Pitfalls abound in social media use for recruitment
TECHNOLOGY drives workplaces towards new ways of working – including using social media networks to select suitable employees.
Popular social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn allow individuals to communicate and connect, expanding personal and professional boundaries. But, there is significant difference between knowing someone personally and professionally.
Therefore, it’s questionable whether viewing personal social media information is an appropriate recruitment practice to determine future employment suitability.
Facebook is not a website intentionally used to apply for specific jobs. Despite this, Caers and Castelyn present research from a cross-section of organisations that indicates more than 40 per cent of recruiters use social media as a part of the selection process.
Additionally, many organisations don’t have policies guiding consistent practice, with recruiters indicating that judgments on applicants’ personalities and behaviours are often determined through social media profiles and network connections.
Even though social media information is used regularly, evidence suggests it’s not a proven technique in relation to predicting job performance or turnover intentions, beyond traditional methods.
In contrast to Facebook, LinkedIn has been adopted with a professional purpose, to facilitate career advancement. Although recruiters tend to observe LinkedIn information through a professional lens, explicit professional networks can unintentionally lead to guilt by association, reducing chances of employment with specific organisations.
Organisations may intend to expand their market for recruitment using social media platforms, but this may actually have a detrimental effect.
Demographic unfairness exists across different parts of the world concerning social media networking availability, use and power. Additionally, inequality exists depending on the type of social media platform being used.
It’s fair to say that selection bias also exists within traditional recruitment methods. But, accessing information via social media platforms tends to prompt this bias earlier, prior to the interview phase.
Regardless of recruitment means, the material gathered by organisations should relate directly to the job being advertised. Responses to questions and performance of tasks similar to what the actual job requires.
Recruiters who choose social media screening for candidate selection should tread carefully.
RECRUITERS WHO CHOOSE SOCIAL MEDIA SCREENING FOR CANDIDATE SELECTION SHOULD TREAD CAREFULLY
There is no good evidence that social media screening is better at determining employee workplace suitability compared to regular recruitment methods.
Furthermore, organisations should understand the problems associated with social media screening in recruitment, and the underlying prejudice it can bring.
Similarly, organisations should recognise that social media screening could potentially be detrimental to business, inadvertently excluding ideal candidates from interviews, through unintentional inequality and discrimination.
Most importantly, all job candidates should be aware social media technology presents risks towards future employment opportunities.