Social Networking and Employee Recruitment
Referrals and professional networking are commonly used methods of identifying job prospects, particularity for managerial, professional, and technical positions. Several software applications and social networks facilitate employee referrals, reference checking, and hiring based on networks of personal relationships. ExecuNet and ExecRank are just two of the many career sites that allow members to search for contacts and network with other professionals in their fields.
LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals. It is a giant database of contacts with profiles that provide an overview of a person’s past and present professional experience, skills, professional referrals, and affiliations with business and professional associations. A member can search through an extended network of contacts based on his or her professional acquaintances. The basis for a search can be job, job title, company, geography, zip code, or membership in a professional organization. LinkedIn uses the concept that there are no more than six degrees of separation between two people, or one person can be linked to any other individual through no more than six other people. With more than 530 million members worldwide, LinkedIn’s extensive platform is an ideal network for both recruiters and those looking to make their next career move.
LinkedIn, like other social networks, is based on voluntary participation, and members consent to being networked. Nevertheless, important questions can be raised regarding privacy concerns and use of one’s social network.
Critical Thinking Questions
- Social networks can easily generate a name for an HR recruiting target, but how can the hiring firm convert the target into a candidate who is interested in the job?
- A social network like LinkedIn is an excellent tool that can be used to build a personal brand and find a new job. In what ways could a job seeker potentially harm their career opportunities on a social networking site?
Sources: “About ExecuNet,” https://www.execunet.com, accessed February 8, 2018; “LinkedIn Statistics,” https://expandedramblings.com, accessed February 8, 2018; “Social Recruiting Tips,” https://www.betterteam.com, January 24, 2018; Susan M. Heathfield, “Use LinkedIn for Recruiting Employees,” The Balance,https://www.thebalance.com, April 7, 2017.