Technology and social media in modern recruitment and selection practices

Business Management

Recruitment, Selection & Onboarding

With the economy growing and hiring demands increasing, conventional methods of posting jobs and contacting candidates are losing effectiveness. Recruiters are taking ground-breaking approaches to finding talent. Even with the elevated volume of candidates in the marketplace, recruiters are most apprehensive with their ability to find qualified candidates quickly. Technology advancements and social media platforms are providing many opportunities for recruiters, which are seen as one of the most significant topics today. Recruiters and hiring managers are using technology and social media to get around conventional methods of posting jobs so they can unite with passive candidates directly (2010 Recruiting Survey Results the New Age of Recruiting, 2010).

The use of social media communication tools in business is so new that best practices are still emerging. It is no surprise that there appears to be some puzzlement among recruiters about the best ways to leverage these tools successfully. Social media is recognized for its capability to build employment branding, but many see these communities as just another place to post jobs. Candidate engagement and influential social media communications tools like online videos and podcasts are not on the radar screens of the majority of recruiters (2010 Recruiting Survey Results the New Age of Recruiting, 2010).

Recruitment

It is important for companies to recognize the likelihood of resume impression management by the candidate and perceptual biases by the company. Companies must obtain additional data prior to selecting candidates for interviews. Companies are using a mixture of valid selection tools, measuring the success of selection choices, and adjusting processes as needed. Such tools comprise the pre-interview screening of applicants by telephone or the use personality and aptitude evaluations intended to match the candidate attributes to job requirements. Commonly used selection tools include ability tests, knowledge tests, personality tests, and background checks, along with the systematic compilation of biographical data. It should be emphasized that these as well as all personnel selection measures should be authenticated for content, construct, and criterion (Wright & Domagalski, 2010).

Key factors impacting a company's ability to attract and retain talented staff are its image and candidates' first impressions. Prior research supports the significance of firm image to applicant appeal and succeeding job choice choices. Research also supports the longer term effect of bad impressions on later choices to leave or stay. Consequently, first impressions and experiences have a chief impact on both the acceptance and retention choices of workers. Even though it is normally recognized that first impressions are significant, planning for and managing such impressions are not a common practice. First impressions can affect not only the choice to accept a job but ongoing job satisfaction and the choice to stay with or leave an employer (Yamamura, Birk & Cossitt, 2010).

In the recruiting process it is important for companies to not only look at potential candidates' resumes but they must look beyond it and collect other data as well. This ensures that companies hire the most capable people possible. Companies must also make sure that they make a good first impression on potential candidates. This is important not only in the hiring but in the retention of good talent as well.

Onboarding

Research has shown that successful onboarding makes a big difference. It is vital for a number of reasons. Good onboarding can advance employee performance by up to eleven percent by clearly communicating performance expectations, providing feedback, involving co-workers and peers and providing training. Onboarding also helps evaluate a new hire's strengths and weaknesses, and whether or not they are the right person for the job. Companies that invest in onboarding are found to enjoy the highest levels of worker engagement. Other research shows that effective onboarding programs can advance worker retention by twenty-five percent. This can diminish the cost of turnover, which ranges from fifty percent of the yearly salary of entry-level employees to four hundred percent for specialized, high-level workers (Lavigna, 2009).

New workers who go through complete, structured onboarding become productive faster. One study found that a strong onboarding program helped employees reach full productivity an average of two months earlier than those who did not receive comparable onboarding attention. This is particularly true for jobs that necessitate high levels of knowledge and expertise. But onboarding is not the only answer. A well-structured and complete onboarding program must be incorporated with other HR programs and with strategic goals. Good onboarding will not compensate for a bad hiring process, weak managers, or poor human resource practices. Onboarding also will not work unless managers and supervisors are aggressively involved (Lavigna, 2009).

Four fundamental principles make sure that onboarding is comprehensive, integrated, reflect the organization's needs and, most significantly, leads to positive outcomes. These principles are:

Align to Mission and Vision - onboarding should emphasize how new hires' jobs add to the organization's mission.

Connect to Culture, Mission, and Strategic Priorities -onboarding must paint a sensible picture of culture so that workers understand what they're getting into. Onboarding goals should be built around organizational priorities. If a goal is to decrease turnover, the onboarding program should reflect this in a quantifiable way.

Integrate Activities - while HR is conventionally the key onboarding process owner, other key players include security, information technology (IT), and facilities and managers and supervisors.

Apply to All Employees, regardless of location and level, and also tailor to specific types of employees - new hires entering the world of work for the first time have different needs than experienced professionals who are switching jobs (Lavigna, 2009).

There are two necessary fundamentals of onboarding that should be entrenched across all phases: technology and measurement. Even though onboarding is a noticeably person-to-person action, technology can advance the process. Measurement metrics can be operational, like the percentage of employees with e-mail on their first day, the percentage of new employees who are satisfied with the orientation program or strategic, like performance, satisfaction, and attrition of new employees (Lavigna, 2009).