Are recruiters relying too much on social media?

Some recruiting experts and other trainers for interviews and advice on recruitment always tell you to add your social media accounts on your CV. Companies or recruiting agencies often want to learn more about the candidates’ non-professional personalities before interviewing them. They want to see what you are twitting about or other professional experiences you didn’t mention on your CV. As almost everybody looks for a job online, it seems that recruiters have the obligation to look at your social media accounts. However, aren’t they relying too much on it? Is it really unavoidable? How did recruiters manage when social media was not existing? This is what we are going to deal with in this article.

Too much reliance

A very interesting article found on Recruitment Grapevine explains the situation really well. Some CEOs and recruiters believe that if you rely on social media too much, this could affect your recruitment campaign. And if you put things into perspective, what you see on social media can affect your decision and your opinion on a candidate that could suit your recruitment needs. This concerns especially what you can find on Twitter or Facebook because LinkedIn, even though some updates make it look like Facebook, remains the only social media where people remain professional, and where nobody would put a picture of themselves drinking at a their birthday party as a profile picture (even though I’m sure some people did it to be completely honest).

You may think that nobody would put their Facebook name on their CVs, but you are sure that some recruiters will look for you. And with Facebook latest job board feature, your profile will definitely be seen and examined by the companies and their recruiters. In the article, the CEO interviewed even adds that some recruiters could become “lazy” and could even eliminate a good applicant and stop the hiring process because of social media. There are good reasons for sure, but sometimes it is just an excuse.

How to properly use social media in recruitment?

In the digital era, it seems unavoidable not to take advantage of all platforms available to recruit the best talents. It also help you save time and money. Social media is more than useful, I’m not going to lie, however, recruiters should not only rely on it. Let’s take an example: Mark Jury, a recruitment manager interviewed by Recruitment Grapevine explains that telephone is still their most important recruitment tools, and that “in-depth telephone interviews are the best way to get a real feel for a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, achievements and experience”. Have you ever wondered how recruiters before social media and Internet used to hire the best ? They used to get out of their office to meet people face to face, and this is the real social network.

So yes, social media makes recruitment easier and quicker, but it has to be used properly, not as a spying tool or something that could bias you, or form an opinion based on a superficial impression. Human relationships will remain complex, because if digital seems to be nowadays’ only response to all our problems, there is something it can’t control: humans.