With the help of technology man has been able to achieve whatever it wanted to achieve for the purpose of satisfying their unquenchable thirsts. Use of technology has become prevalent in many fields and it has already become a trend. Every company has been using technology for the purpose of customizing themselves with changing environment in the corporate world. Such as social media has been getting preference for formulating the effective manpower strategy which has made recruitment process dynamic, effective and reliable. As a result, recruiters and HR managers of organisations are not hesitating to rely on social media for implementing the manpower acquisition strategy.
Social sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter help recruiters in getting information about potential candidates. Whenever a company decides to hire a candidate, it intends to collect relevant information about that particular candidate from Facebook or Twitter or Linkedin because it is but natural that most of the candidates have their Facebook or Linkedin accounts opened and they often put status update on their social media accounts which work as one of the sources for conducting background check. For example, a candidateโs work experiences, educational qualification can be got through his or her social media account especially from Linkedin as millions and millions of job seekers use this social site for reaching to their desired companies and that information can be compared with the information put on CV by a candidate for finding out whether any false statement has been made by the candidate or not or whether a candidate has hidden any work or academic qualification related information or not.
Job posting can also be done on social media for the purpose of reaching to millions and millions of potential candidates as well as the passive candidates as this is the cost effective method for recruitment and it is not possible for companies or recruitment consultants to attract candidates through telephone as it is time consuming and ineffective. In short, social media helps in facilitating target group orientation of the recruitment process.
If we see the other side of the coin, it will be found out that use of social media has made it simple for candidates to apply for jobs. Through social media they can easily get information from different Facebook groups related to job hunting. Linkedin, being professional social media, can also help candidate in getting job notification and getting clear idea about companyโs requirements. According to a research, 76% of US companies rely on Linkedin for recruitment. According to a report of Society for Human Resource Management which was made in the year 2012, it was come to know that 43% of HR professionals are making contribution in framing organisationโs social media policy, whereas Marketing professionals make 35% contributions for leading or realizing social media policy through effective utilization of their leadership capabilities. Even it is seen that most of the companiesโ HR executives provide candidates their whatsapp numbers so that they can get connected with candidates in case candidates are not found suitable for interviews. He or she may get selected in future if interview is held again. Through social media managers and executives can build professional network for the purpose of making work process flexible and it helps in creating environment for open communication. Companies like LโOreal, Wipro, Genpact put emphasis on using social media for making recruitment flexible.
Now letโs see how Indian companies are framing social media policy for the purpose of implementing the manpower acquisition strategy. Most of the Indian companies use social media for four principle areas.
The first area is hiring for which HR departments make optimum utilization of social media policies. However, it is not possible for companies to put their focus diametrically on talent acquisition function. Therefore, they transfer this job to recruitment consultants or to be more specific, to the placement consultancies, so that companies HR department can put their entire focus on administrative management. After that comes collaboration and communication which are of vital importance because if the environment for open communication is not made, interpersonal relationship management will not be optimized as a result of which productivity of entire team will be failed and company will not be able to hold their market share in the industry. So, communication should be effective for the purpose of making business management an efficient entity. Organisational policy should be communicated to each and everyone inside the work floor through the commencement of virtual meetings, technical discussions, employee recognition, meeting in executive as well as managerial level etc. Thereafter, comes Talent management. Though, managing talent does not require use of social media as a whole as it takes a good and efficient leadership, effective training, installation of leadership development program and effective HR policy to manage talent inside work floor through optimum utilization of manpower, which ultimately leads to the controlled attrition rate.
Last but not the least, Indian organisations use social media as one of the ways of promoting internal stakeholderโs branding which includes employer and employees both. In a survey it was found that use of social media is prevalent in telecom (More than 65%), retail (More than 55%), Manufacturing (Approximately 60%), ITES industry (Approximately 80%) in India which are high profile industries.
Marketing and sales departments of Indian companies from large and medium scale industries make effective utilization of social media for reaching business targets. Social media has become effective tool for promoting the culture of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Last but not the least, it can be said that use of social media has advantages as well as disadvantages too. As it has been mentioned that social media is used for getting information about candidatesโ background and checking the validity, reliability and credibility of data provided by candidates at pre-joining stage, it is also kept in mind that quality of data should also be checked as sometimes candidates are smart enough in presenting data in such a way that it looks like true. However, most of the companies in Indian industries do not put stress on thorough checking of candidatesโ backgrounds and more emphasis is given on performance in interview and capabilities of generating profit for organisations which means productivity.