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Depending which surveys you look at, some 39-84 per cent of employers now use social media to research prospective candidates – last year, YouGov found that 1 in 5 employers had rejected candidates because of what they found out about them in the process.
But social screening goes both ways; an estimated 77 percent of candidates screen their prospective employers and 59 percent of employees credit the organisation’s social media presence as a reason for accepting the job.
Candidates are increasingly using social media as a primary job search tool, to the point it has even been mooted ‘the new CV’ – the tech-savvy hailed Generation Z are now perceived by millennials as a greater threat than robots!
Social media offers a fantastic opportunity for candidates to gain an insight into an organisation’s day to day activities before they even decide to fill out an application – some have even secured a job with a single tweet. But social media profiles only present snapshots.
There’s no question that the advanced search functions on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter has opened up opportunities for hiring teams to quickly scope out a wider talent pool and attract tricky to reach candidates more cost-effectively. But quick and fast rarely means good, and there’s often a disconnect between the anticipated benefits and reality.
Despite praising the potential for social media to reach passive candidates, many employers complain that such candidates are harder to motivate and retain. The truth is that while social media may help them filter out those who use offensive language, have bad spelling and post inappropriate photos, it won’t help them build the quality of relationship with candidates they need to identify a good match. And unless employers understand their target audiences in detail, they will most likely end up focusing on the wrong channel, LinkedIn instead of Facebook for instance, if they make the mistake many others have.
This isn’t to say it’s not worth having a presence on social media – far from it. Social media offers a great route to promote employer brand, which as we’ve mentioned in a previous blog is a key priority for a number of organisations. In fact, many businesses have social media profiles dedicated solely to careers.
However, it takes time to build engagement and manage one presence, let alone two – posts can’t all be about job vacancies after all. Blogs, videos, testimonials – anything that gives a taste of what it is like to work there can help, and this approach is more likely to yield culturally compatible candidates too – but it’s a long game.
Either way, trying to bypass the process with surreptitious screening of candidates’ social media profiles, however public they are, may soon be considered a breach of European law. In line with GDPR, regulators say that unless there is a legal ground and the search is directly relevant to the performance of the job, social media screening by employers will not be permitted.
Regulation aside, snooping is the opposite of what social media is, by its very name, all about.
Ultimately, if you really want to understand whether a candidate is a good match, there’s no screening more successful than the traditional face-to-face interview. Which is why, despite becoming more mainstream, social recruitment’s place in most recruitment processes is really still quite small.
If you need any guidance on recruiting a senior manager or leader or are looking for such a role yourself, please get in touch today to see how we can help.
The experience of working with Sitka was really enjoyable. It was like talking to a friend who knew all the answers to my future career.
I was thrilled when I was offered my new job, which I felt was down to Sitka’s support and proactivity. Karen kept in contact and made sure I was happy in my new role. This personal and professional service is second to none. I would highly recommend!
Everything about Sitka’s approach is a breath of fresh air. I have worked with Sitka on both the candidate side and recruiter side and I have never had a better relationship with an agency. I trust them implicitly to provide a service that is above and beyond what you would expect a recruitment agency to do and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.
The recruitment process was seamless. From our initial meeting, when we thought we wanted a certain person, Ita guided us through the type of person we needed initially, and who we would ideally like to recruit for the development of the business. She found us both in quick succession.
Ita’s communication skills are second to none. She kept us informed at every step. I would definitely recommend Sitka.
Ita took the time to ask about our business, our culture, the role and really understood what we were looking for. This resulted in a really straightforward recruitment process. All of the candidates put forward were of exceptional quality and I would definitely recommend Sitka to my colleagues and network.
Trying to find a new role can be quite a daunting experiencing, however what I found working with Karen is that her enthusiasm is infectious. Karen listened to what I had to say and we had a long and productive conversation about what I wanted and whether the role was right for me.