Social media spreads into some IT recruiting practices

Social media appears to becoming more and more integrated into the way our country does business. Even though these tools are completely reliant on the use of technology, IT recruiters and job seekers have not really taken advantage of them up until now.As social media continues to develop and establish a more stable presence in consumer culture, companies and potential employees may be looking to these channels to help them carry out their day-to-day tasks.South West News Service explained that a substantial number of businesses have followed the general public’s lead in social media use, engaging their consumer audiences. They have invested time and money into creating comprehensive company pages on a variety of outlets, sharing relevant posts with Internet users. This has enabled them to reach and interact with a broader scope of prospective customers, building a more clearly defined brand image and a stronger consumer following.With that said, these social media practices are no longer the only ones out there, especially among information technology firms. Businesses have started to see these websites in a new, innovative light. Instead of depending on them to connect with just possible clients, they have expanded their audience to include job prospects.Looking into employer pagesAccording to Business Insider, a growing number of IT professionals looking for work are turning to these platforms to help them in their employment search. If tech job seekers decide to utilize social media as an instrument to check up on companies that are hiring, all they have to do is go through a couple of simple steps.The news source stated that as soon as tech applicants come across a job posting, they should conduct a follow up social media investigation to figure out just what the company hiring is like. Because most businesses now have an active social media presence, applicants can peruse these organizations’ profiles and pages. As a result, they will be able to get a better sense of companies’ identities, missions and overall values.This preliminary research will benefit IT job candidates in more than one way. With a more complex picture of a business’ functions and goals, applicants can be better equipped to determine whether they are a good fit for a given organization. If the information on a company’s social media pages indicates that it’s general objectives and expectations are in line with employment seekers’ qualifications, then they will know that they are a match and that submitting an application would be a wise use of their time.All of that aside, employees – both prospective and contracted – need to pay attention to their own social media pages. Even though they are being clever in utilizing these outlets to examine businesses, IT professionals should bear in mind that companies are doing the same to them. For this reason, they should make an effort to keep their profiles as private as possible, ensuring that they’ll have a squeaky-clean image in the eyes of future employers.Despite the increased adoption of social media channels to assist businesses and IT professionals alike as they check up on one another, the Financial Times stated that the rest of the job application process appears to be void of this technology.Applications still social media-freeSome tech experts may be under the impression that these platforms will be the future of recruitment and employment practices. So far, that is not proving to be the case. Job candidates and employers still prefer traditional application methods and are even skeptical about replacing them with social media solutions.The newspaper cited a study conducted by a UK firm Hyphen, in which employment prospects stated they do not consider social media to be a credible medium to use when submitting job applications. In this research, almost one-quarter of respondents reported that even if they did end up applying for a position through one of these outlets, they would feel like recruiters would see them in a negative view.”Fortunately, most employers are now becoming better at engaging with candidates through these channels,” said Zain Wadee, managing director at Hyphen, according to the Financial Times. “But there is still a lack of applications made through social media channels. Candidates prefer to apply using traditional methods for fear of not presenting themselves as a serious candidate.”Additionally, few recruiters have come up with working solutions that will even accept applications.”Of course, there are good versions of third-party apps, but in effect they still bring you back into the central corporate careers site,” Wadee explained.For this reason, most IT professionals continue to depend on tried and true application protocol. As social media has become more mainstream for various recruitment functions, it appears that many prefer to keep it out of the actual application process. Consequently, tech candidates remain reliant on sending in their CVs, résumés and cover letters to companies the good old fashioned way.