The Role of Social Media on Talent Search and Acquisition: Evidence from Contemporary Literature

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The main objective of this paper is to explore/investigate the role of social media in searching and acquiring the talented employees and the appropriate rationales behind and ways of using the social media for such purposes with due advantages and risks involved. Methodology: This paper uses the literatures published from 2010 to 2019 to highlight the research on social media influence on searching talent for organizations. For due purpose, Scopus and ResearchGate databases have been utilized to search the papers using the keywords such as social media, social networking sites, online recruitment & selection, candidate screening, hiring, human resources management and talent search. Findings: Although social media is getting popular among employers, they are not utilizing this platform as the main rather as secondary sources. LinkedIn is the most preferred source among the employers for searching and acquiring talents. Value Added: The paper is expected to contribute to the existing literature through an in-depth literature survey as well provide some proper guidelines for the HR professionals to conduct efficient search and recruitment. Recommendations: The authors have provided some action recommendations based on the literature survey such as (a) the recruiters should make proper reliability and validity tests of the information collected through social media, (b) organizations that intends to use social media information need to develop a proper and transparent social media policy and user codes of conduct, (c) the codes of conducts should be linked to the training manual of the HR professionals who involve in talent search and acquisition, (d) organizations should use social media for searching talents more than screening/selecting, (e) social media should be used as a secondary instrument rather than the sole one; and (f) organizations/hiring professionals should focus only on job related information and professional social media (such as LinkedIn).