Technology HR the Role of Social Media

Technology HR

The Role of Social Media in Human Resources

New technologies have had a substantial impact on the role of a human resource department. Technology in general has allowed the profession to take a more active role in the organization and create a competitive advantage in many cases. Social media is one of the technologies that has had a profound impact on the ways people network and communicate. This technology can also have many advantages for a HR professional and can be used to network, communicate, or as even a way to get to know a potential candidate better. This paper will look at some of the ways that social media is being used by HR departments to further their organization's strategic goals.

Using Social Media to Stay Organized

One of the most functional uses of social media is simply to stay organized. Since participants on social media platforms generally update their own contact information as well as personal and professional information, this can be a quick and easy way to see what someone has been up to. For example, if you want to reach out to someone you have not contacted in quite some time then it is possible that their contact information has changed or they could have even changed jobs or moved. However, if the individual was connected to a social media network then this information would be quick and easy to retrieve.

Furthermore, social media sites can also be used professionally to inform employees of events, administer surveys, request information, and a wide variety of other uses. Contacts can be separated into groups and categorized by different criteria. For example, if a certain group of employees is engaged in a training program then social media could be used by HR to organize these participants and also provide a medium for them to share their thoughts or other feedback items that could serve to provide insights into the program's effectiveness. Using social media in such a manner could serve as a valuable tool to stay organized as well as have access to new levels of information that were previously unimaginable.

Using Social Media to Network

Another use of social media platforms can be for professional networking. Networking through social media can encompass most aspects of networking through other means yet it can help HR professionals build professional networks much faster. For example, if a HR worker in New York was looking to connect with another HR employee from a specific company in Denver then a search could be conducted and most likely the results would only be a few clicks away. Using social media can help professionals network effectively by saving countless emails and phone calls asking for referrals to find the right person. Often this information is already online and can be accessed almost instantaneously.

Another networking feature that has incredible value is to identify potential candidates to fill various positions; especially when the position requires a high quality candidate with substantial experience in a specific area. Thus a HR professional could use social media to search for potential candidates that have the right mix of skills and experience. Furthermore, not only could a list of potential candidates be constructed in minimal time, a HR professional could also quickly send out a brief memo to the individuals on the list to try to gauge their interest in the offering. It is feasible that literally hundreds of potential candidates could be contacted within a matter of minutes.