Should Employers use Social Media to screen job applicants?

Introduction

Social media have taken over the world in a short time period, and almost every person uses them. The technology revolution brought the use of social media, and the busy lives of people made them use social media often in order to stay in touch with their loved ones. Apart from connecting with friends and relatives, excessive use of social media also allows them to share things in which they are interested. These are the aspects that can be considered by employers when hiring someone by scrutinizing the social media profile. The positive side of this step is that it will help employers to know the relevance of the employee the company intends to hire, but in the meantime, the negative side is the privacy violation of that person. The employers who are performing these tasks to go through social media profiles need to take care of the legal and ethical boundaries that protect the privacy rights of the employee. Furthermore, the discussion will follow all the positive and negative sides of social media’s influence on the hiring process.

Discussion

The usage method of the employers of the social media profile of candidates should be taken under consideration when forming any particular opinion regarding it. The first application, which was created for the same purpose and is widely used by employers, is LinkedIn. The method of selecting a candidate and showing interest in hiring on LinkedIn by the employer to any person is searching the relevant fields and interests. Mostly, the search goes through mutual connections, posting the opening of the position and often directly messaging the person whom an employer wants to hire. LinkedIn is less controversial as compared to other social media websites because it serves the same and relevant purpose. People who use LinkedIn are interested in showing their profiles so they can get jobs in their relevant fields. The second most famous social website is Facebook, and lately, its usage has increased drastically. In the meantime, recruiters also use it to hunt for talent. The corporate world has created official pages on which they display advertisements for the people to show interest in those potions. For those who show interest, the employers scrutinize the profile of the candidate to look for relevance. The third famous social media platform is Twitter, which is also being used by employers for a purpose similar to Facebook (Drouin, 3).

This practice is widely criticized by many people because it’s a violation of privacy rights. Life in the workplace is different than living outside of the workplace. Those Employers who look into social media profiles possibly find out that aspect of potential candidates and reject them on that basis. The use of social media is inappropriate because it contradicts the personal space of the candidate. If the organization starts to give permission to check the social media profile before recruiting the candidate, the HR manager will have the right to use that information against the employee. The stalking and harassment cases that are raising the concern of women’s rights organizations are also considered a violation of privacy. For example, the consumption of Alcohol is not illegal, but the display of pictures while consuming it will leave the impression of non-seriousness and question the integrity of the candidate.

The other reason for not using social media as a means of recruiting is that the information provided on the CV is valid compared to social media profiles. The authenticity of the displayed information should be questioned before considering it. The use of social media to recruit employees is neither ethical nor legal. HR should consider and respect the privacy of the candidate.

On the contrary, those who speak of the right of using social media as the means of recruiting and scrutinizing candidates consider it the most efficient way. The medium that social media can become is beneficial for employees and employers. The usage of social media is excessive, and while using those social websites, people can also find jobs for themselves easily and conveniently. The other reason for considering social media an efficient method is because the users share things that they are interested in and also show their specialty. This is the advantage for employers in assessing potential candidates by their interests and what they are good at. The blogs can give the edge to candidates because the employer is looking for someone who can write well and make proposals as part of the nature of the job. Technology is an essential part of the lives of all people, and its use makes it easy for everyone.

The traditional Human Resource practice is slow and waste time and resources but the use of social media can make the hiring process quick. The traditional use of HR practice requires several processes to go through, which wastes the time of both the candidate and the employer. However, the use of social media makes it faster; the candidate doesn’t need to prove the specialty, and in one process, the top candidate can be hired. The other significance of using social media as the mean of recruiting is that the job post will reach to a maximum number of people who could avail the opportunity (Alexander, Deanna and Fred H, 6).

Conclusions

In conclusion, the use of social media has been proven to be more effective and efficient, as shown by several research studies and surveys. Social media as a medium of recruiting holds both positive and negative sides. The positive side of this step is that it will help employers to know the relevance of the employee the company intends to hire, but in the meantime, the negative side is the privacy violation of that person. The medium that social media can become is beneficial for employees and employers. The usage of social media is excessive, and while using those social websites, people can also find jobs for themselves easily and conveniently. The other reason for considering social media an efficient method is because the users share things that they are interested in and also show their specialty. This is the advantage for the employers to assess the potential candidate by their interests and what they are good in. The blogs can give the edge to candidates because the employer is looking for someone who can write well and make proposals as part of the nature of the job. Technology is an essential part of the lives of all people, and its use makes it easy for everyone. Employers should consider all the legal and ethical aspects of using social media, but if these aspects are taken into consideration, this method will bring efficiency to the human resources recruiting practice.

Works Cited

Drouin, Michelle, et al. “Facebook fired: Legal perspectives and young adults’ opinions on the use of social media in hiring and firing decisions.” Computers in Human Behavior 46 (2015): 123-128.

Alexander, Elizabeth C., Deanna Mader, and Fred H. Mader. “Using Social Media During the Hiring Process: A Comparison Between Recruiters and Job Seekers.” (2017).