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Social media is a term used to describe platforms and tools including blogs, bookmarks, photosharing websites, podcasts, wikis, which are used to publish and share content online (Burrows, 2011). In recent years, social media has become a powerful recruitment method for enterprises to hire employees. Consequently, this research is a further investigation, to previous studies of e-recruitment (Lewis et al, 2010; Lewis et al, 2013; Lewis et al., 2018a&b), with an aim to critically explore whether social media and online recruitment are effective innovative e-entrepreneurship methods (Lewis, 2019) in hiring the best job applicants for enterprises.
Innovative e-entrepreneurship methods are an effective new approach used by enterprises involving electronic processes. Further dimensions, not covered in this study, are recruiting for new enterprises and new ventures for recruiting, which are interesting avenues for further research. Social media enables enterprises to provide a dedicated service (vehicle) to attract appropriate employees to augment their talent management strategy (Eduardo, 2006). It is used by many enterprises and individuals in order to market their corporate brands and can give the enterprise a new identity to compete in a competitive market (Doherty, 2010). Social media can be an excellent starting point for recruitment as “key metrics” such as cost and time to hire are measurable providing the ability to substantiate improvement (Doherty, 2010). It allows individuals to create an online profile with a network of friends and colleagues (Henderson & Bowley 2010). They can then upload pictures and personal details enabling users to create an online profile and a visible, virtual network (Hsu et al., 2007) of their friends (Henderson & Bowley 2010).
There has been dramatic growth in online recruitment since the mid 1990’s when the economic climate created a considerable demand for employees with a strong academic background and relevant experience (Lee, 2005:175). Recruitment methods have consequently changed in enterprises, and by individuals when looking for their next opportunity, and also looking at the ways in which they are applying for roles. Online recruitment has consistently shown itself to be one of the most substantial shifts in recruitment practice in recent years (Lee, 2005:175).
In this paper, the literature review details previous research and media coverage regarding social media and online recruitment. Most of the research is focused on the importance of having a clear social media strategy and how the subsequent changes implemented by these enterprises might impact on individuals who use these sites. Although existing research indicates that recruitment websites are used, it does not comprehensively cover industry specific recruitment agencies. This paper considers social media and online recruitment tools and processes from the perspective of employers, recruitment agencies and individuals in an attempt to ascertain the relevance to enterprises and individuals.
Several areas such as intellectual property law, good Human Resources practice and how practical these methods are in recruitment are explored in the literature review and discussed throughout the paper. Social media is a relatively new area of interest and yet something which adapts quickly and could be instrumental in selecting and retaining the best people for an enterprise.
Through almost two billion internet users Worldwide in 2010, increasing from approximately 360 million at the end of 2000, and more than four billion in 2018, there has been dramatic growth in internet usage over the last two decades (www.internetworldstats.com). A growing number of enterprises are using social media in order to communicate with their staff and customers. Some social media tools (Anari et al., 2013) may be viewed as being more suited to different individuals; however, the number of users grows rapidly.