Social Media and Hiring Process

Social Media and Hiring Process

Social media refers to internet platforms that people use for interaction. Employers and employees are using social media to understand their prospective employees and employers well. A job applicant searches for the prospective employers Facebook account, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This gives the applicant a wholesome perspective of the real identity of their prospective employer. Similarly, employers search for Facebook account, Twitter, and LinkedIn of their applicants. This gives the employer a wholesome view of their prospective employees (Mueller, 2013). Most applicants present resumes that speak good of them. This does not give the employer the idea of the real personality of the applicant. Social media has made it simple for employers to get a real picture of the personality of their prospective employees.

This has become a concern in todays environment. This is because it has led to the intrusion into applicants privacy. In some cases, employers ask for social media networks passwords belonging to the applicants. This is a total intrusion into the applicants private lives. The situation will take time to remedy since there are no laws that cater for such issues. Laws are way behind social media and technology (Peabody, 2012). Therefore, it is hard to find a solution to the many emerging issues with social media and hiring process. The issue is important in todays life since it makes it easy for employers to find best individuals to hire. This is one of its benefits. Employers understand applicants in an all-round way. Although it seems to intrude into the applicants privacy, it works for the benefit of the employers.

Previously, employers depended only on what applicant presented to them. In most cases, the resume that applicants present is deceitful. This is because people only provide references that they think will speak good of them. This was problematic since employers could employ people who were not qualified or who had undesirable character traits (Peabody, 2012). This necessitated a way through which employers could come to understand employees without employees hand in it. This made social media the only way through which employers could learn and understand their employees independently. It was out of necessity that social media became part of the hiring process.