E-Recruitment Research Proposal

By
ST20017136
Presented to
12-12-2011
Introduction
Human Resource Management is probably the toughest function which a manager has to
perform. The most important reason for it is because human resources are most complex and
complicated resources of all. Human resources are not lie other factors of production and
in!ol!e complicated issues lie emotions" feelings" sentiments and hence it becomes !ery
difficult for managers to ensure that they de!ote their full efficiency while woring for attaining
organi#ational ob$ecti!es. Thus" it is !ery crucial for the managers to select best and most
efficient people at !arious le!els so that the organi#ational ob$ecti!es are achie!ed in proper way.
Human resources are responsible for attainment of organi#ational ob$ecti!es" much more than
any other resource. %o from management&s perspecti!e" it is really !ery important to ha!e best
possible selection and recruitment processes in order to ensure least labour turno!er in the
organi#ation and also less disturbances in normal course of woring '(!ance!ich" 200)*.
Recruitment and selection are !ery important parts of o!erall staffing process. There are !arious
methods used by managers to recruit and select people for !arious posts. +arious sources include
different sources of media lie newspaper ad!ertisement" internet $ob portals" and internal
references and so on. 'Mathis" ,acson" 2011*
-ith ad!ancements in sources of communication and media" the sources of recruitment ha!e
increased. .arlier" before ad!ent of internet" it was not thought that computer could be a source
of recruitment or references for human resource management. /ut new sources eep on adding
with introduction of new media sources. Taing this fact into account" this research is about
0aceboo to become a recruitment source in business organi#ations. (n last few years" social
networing sites ha!e grown more !igorously than any other phenomena on web. 0aceboo has
been the most impressi!e growth story of them all" it has huge following in masses and !arious
organi#ations across the world are found to ha!e their own space on 0aceboo. This is the reason
why this topic has come up in mind for research purposes. 'Torrington et al 2001*
Bac!round
0aceboo is a well nown phenomenon in the world. 2ot only it has affected life of millions of
people at large in the past few years" it has !irtually become part of daily life of people across the
globe. 0aceboo has been the reason why so many people around the globe ha!e come together
and closer. (t has been the cause of increasing sharing of nowledge" news and other content
online. (t is an international $uggernaut which seems to be unstoppable at the moment. There are
!arious pros and cons related to usage and content of 0aceboo" but in fact" it is gaining
popularity especially among youth. The corporate world nows it !ery well. -hat could be the
reason besides this for corporate world giants to ad!ertise their presence on 0aceboo rather than
their own portals3 The reason is that people would hardly !isit to any company&s website for
taing details of products" rather they !isit 0aceboo on regular basis and corporate sector
companies now that.
Today" companies ha!e become global in their perspecti!e. 4lobal corporations ha!e hired
people from across the globe from different nations. 5ompanies ha!e hired talents from different
part of the world based on their sill and expertise. 0aceboo too is a global phenomenon. 4lobal
reach of 0aceboo is depicted by way of following diagram6
%ource6 http677futurepredictions.com720117087future-prediction-faceboo-to-hit-1-billion-
subscribers-by-20127
There is no other website which has more followers. The most important thing is people actually
access 0aceboo and spend a lot of time surfing net on 0aceboo.
Title
Can Facebook act as potential source in e-recruitment process for global organizations?
Research "uestion
This particular research is based on the following 9uestion6
#hat are the issues and challen!es in de$elopin! e - recruitment processes throu!h
%ace&oo 'or !lo&al or!ani(ations)
*im o' Research
Research aims are based on !arious outcomes which are expected to be attained during course of
this particular analysis. The following could be listed as the most prominent research aim for this
paper6
The aim is to evaluate the issues and challenges faced by global organizations in e-
recruitment process through Facebook
+&,ecti$es
:part from !arious broad aims directed in this research" there are few ob$ecti!es which the
author wants to attain whilst completion of this pro$ect. Human resource management for long
has been considered the biggest cost centre of the organi#ation. This department is ne!er
considered to be profit or re!enue centre directly for the organi#ation. /ut during past few years"
there ha!e been initiati!es so that actual cost incurred in hiring new personnel at !arious posts in
the organi#ation could be reduced considerably. The HR sector is undergoing an alteration. (n
:ugust 200)" Monster 0rance had more than ; million 5+s on their databases and <ined(n&s
social networ had o!er ;= million members around the world in 0ebruary 200> Those are the
main reasons for me to select a topic lie that. ?.!ery purpose" e!ery di!ision" e!ery wor" was"
is or will be disrupted by (nternet@ stated Aalia in 2000. '/ratton" 4old" 1>>>*
The ob$ecti!e is to find new methods of recruitment process and to find more reliable references
for selection purposes. The main ob$ecti!es for the research are listed as under6
To e!aluate the impact of social networing sites '%2%* on HR recruitment processes of
global companies.
To identify the merits and demerits of using 0aceboo as a channel for e-recruitment
process.
To assess the ethical considerations and pri!acy issues in using 0aceboo for recruitment
process.
-iterature Re$ie.
0or purpose of literature re!iew" the author decided to tae account of !arious articles and
researches pre!iously published on this matter. The author has researches !arious internet based
databases and also some offline libraries to find rele!ant text on this sub$ect. The author has
selected following articles on the sub$ect for purpose of analysis and literature re!iew6
.mployers Bse of 0aceboo in Recruiting6 /y Ceter .ngler and Ceter Tanoury
Twitter" 0aceboo and Recruitment6 /y Thomas %haw
Don&t 0aceboo Me6 -hy Eou %houldn&t 4oogle During the Recruiting Crocess6 by
<aurie Ruettimann
Bsing social networing sites in the recruitment process6 brilliant or a legal trap36 /y Dr.
Aathleen Dodaro
The abo!e mentioned list is not exhausti!e" nor does the author want to intend any comparison of
present research of what they ha!e done in the past. The only outloo of the author while writing
literature re!iew was to tae account of !arious reports and theses done in the past on that matter
in order to ensure that whate!er outloo and perception is made out of the current research is not
merely repetition of what authors ha!e said in the past. The main aim of e!ery dissertation is to
bring in something no!el and different for a particular sub$ect. The thing is" while carrying out
the literature re!iew" this process becomes doable and it gi!es a direction to the author to mo!e
the dissertation in particular way.
Scope o' -iterature Re$ie.
(n their research" .ngler and Tanoury ha!e taled in details about ad!ent of 0aceboo as
potential source of recruitment. This is probably a comprehensi!e research article on this matter
and has co!ered all the parts which a researcher wants to see in a research. The authors ha!e
started the research from the following scenario6
A recruiter at a enver based company has a stack of resumes on their desk from recent
!niversity of Colorado graduates" ue to time constraints and the fact that each applicant
appears e#ually #ualified$ the recruiter decides to go online and check their Facebook profiles
for any relevant information to aid in the hiring process" %o&ever$ the recruiter does not have
access to the C! Facebook net&ork and asks one of their C! interns to log on for them" The
recruiter begins searching through profiles based on the stack of submitted resumes" The first
profile pops up" 't doesn(t take long before the recruiter sees that the applicant)s political
affiliation is *very liberal* and listed under her interests is a pro-choice feminist club" +eing a
conservative Christian$ the recruiter immediately thro&s a&ay the applicant)s resume$ never
giving them a fair chance" As alarming as this sound$ it is an increasing occurrence" ,hould the
employer be allo&ed to see Facebook profiles and screen potential employees based on the
information they uncover? This is a #uestion that has only recently come to light due to the
e-plosive popularity of Facebook across the university system '.ngler F Tanoury" 2010*.
0aceboo is a process by which the recruiters can ha!e access to personal information of a
candidate" without his nowledge. This could pro!e to be unethical practice as resume is the only
official document forwarded by the candidate to the companies and all the nowledge or
information about the candidate should be extracted out of it. /ut" a recruiter does not want to
tae chances while selecting correct candidates for the $ob and hence" they use !arious sources
lie social networing sites.
The outloo of this research de!ised by .ngler and Tanoury is to discuss 0aceboo and other
social networing sites as source of reference and gathering of information for candidates. :
person while updating profile on 0aceboo or other sites should be thining twice of pri!acy
options as it could be used by !arious people and especially during recruitment and selection
processes" he could get out of the contest without getting a fair chance of fighting.
This research helped in understanding how unofficially 0aceboo has been used as source of
gathering references for recruitment processes. (t has also taled about !arious ethical and other
issues related to such practices. Gur research goes to next le!el by taling about !arious
initiati!es the manager could tae in order to officially use 0aceboo for e-recruitment process.
This is something that has been done in the past by the managers" but what we intend is
something which has not been tries as yet by the managers 'Celuchette F Aarl" 2010*.
This research has also shown !arious methods by which the recruiters ha!e access to candidate&s
information !ia 0aceboo '.lmore" 200>*. The first instance has been listed abo!e in the gi!en
scenario. The second process is to create an official page on 0aceboo and then in!iting
applications of for the selection process and then carrying out normal recruitment process. Gur
research is $ust an extension of second process of gathering information by enabling the pages of
recruiters on social networing site lie 0aceboo and accordingly carrying out recruitment
process online.
/eed o' carryin! out online process0
(n current scenario" most of the processes for recruitment are done by offline measures which
tae enormous time of managers as well as candidates and on broad way" timeline for
recruitment process is increased. The effort which we intend to mae here is to reduce the
amount of time taen to complete the recruitment process and also to ensure that there are
considerable time sa!ings in the process of recruitment 'Rutledge" 2001*.
This is what Thomas %haw has argued in his research based on Twitter and 0aceboo as
potential hiring factors. He has e!en gone to say that the candidates should be careful about what
they exactly post on social networing sites because the content is actually monitored by the
organi#ations. He has come up with some statistics which suggest that 8HI of the employers are
using social networing sites for selection and recruitment process. This again is encouraging
stat for us as we now ha!e idea that around half of the total employers are actually monitoring
social networing sites already '-est" 2011*.
Taing this into account" we can gi!e example where importance of 0aceboo could be
illustrated in day to day life today. -hene!er a new person comes into our contact" rather than
taing introduction" we tend to search the person on 0aceboo to now whether he7she is single
or engaged" her choices" preferences and so on 'Reiter" 2010*. -hen the impact of 0aceboo is
so much on daily life of indi!iduals" one can $ust thin how crucial and important it could be in
normal recruitment processes '/ondarou" Ruel" F <ooise" 2011*.
-hen a candidate enters an organi#ation the only thing which a recruiter can do is to cross chec
the credential from references made in the resume. Hence" the actual sources from which
credentials listed in the resume could be cross checed are relati!ely less. 0or this purpose" social
networing sites could be handy.
%indin! 1andidates on %ace&oo
0aceboo is !ery user friendly website and the process to find candidates on 0aceboo is
relati!ely simple. :s %haw has illustrated in the following diagram6
%ource6 http677www.slideshare.net7thomasshaw7twitter-faceboo-recruitment-integration-thomas-
shaw-recruittech-200>
/ut the abo!e mentioned process has some inherent shortcomings. The most important thing is a
candidate could really lie about the credentials on social networing sites. The fact remains that
any candidate would tae the information posted on resume more seriously than what he is
listing on any social networing site" especially when he is not aware of the fact that the
recruiters are actually maing use of the information 'Aluemper" F Rosen" 200>*. /ut when a
recruiter actually finds that the information listed on resume matches with what pro!ided on
social networing sites" the chances of maing good impression of the potential candidate on the
recruiter is pretty high '%ocial networing and recruitment" 200)*.
<aurie Ruettimann in her research pointed out ethical considerations of taing information from
online sources. There are number of aspects which are 9uite personal to a human being and
something which he does not want to disclose to other people in general. Hence" it is not
recommended to ha!e access on information posted online to recruiters 'Ruettimann" 2010*.
Dr. Aathleen Dodaro on the other had has taled about !arious legal and other considerations
which the recruiters should tae in mind while gaining access to information of candidates !ia
social networing sites. :s per the author-- some say social networing is the best thing that has
happened to recruiting. 'B%(24 %G5(:< 2.T-GRA(24 %(T.% (2 TH. R.5RB(TM.2T
CRG5.%%6 /R(<<(:2T GR : <.4:< TR:C" 2010*
:fter all" what e!ery employer is looing for is the finest talent a!ailable because the success of
an organi#ation depends upon the sills and dedication of its employees. More importantly"
indi!iduals and organi#ations are most effecti!e when their respecti!e !alues" goals" and interests
are aligned. (t is a well-nown fact that the industry of recruiting and inter!iewing needed to
change drastically to address the issues businesses face when they do not properly match an
indi!idual to the position '4ome#-Me$ia" /alin" F 5ardy" 2010*. The content posted on social
networing sites is intended for personal use and !arious attributes which a recruiter wants to
ha!e in a candidate are not found there.
2ethodolo!y
The research process and methodology adopted by the author during course of this research
could be compiled in following diagram6
13
The +nion 2odel

PARADIGM

Positivism APPROACH
Deduction
STRATEGY
Survey
Method:
Mixed method
Time horizon: cross
sectional
Technique:
Quantitative

Philosophy
Cositi!ism will be the underlying philosophy of this analysis. (n this paper" the author has argued
that the differentiation between 9uantitati!e and 9ualitati!e philosophies and research methods is
sometimes exaggerated" and that triangulation of methods in modern-day research is common. (t
is" hence" crucial to reali#e the strengths and weanesses of each approach" and this paper aims to
pro!ide the rooie researcher with a basis for formulating that understanding. : detailed analysis
of the philosophies of positi!ism thining in rele!ance to research methodology is demonstrated
both as an introduction to the philosophical basis of research" and as a sound basis from which to
discuss the J9uantitati!e-9ualitati!e& debate. The paper will mae use of both 9uantitati!e and
9ualitati!e sources and hence" it will be important to follow a balanced approach to mae use of
them at selecti!e instances. ':4R.%T(" 2002*
433 Research *pproach
Deducti!e approach is selected to pursue the conduct of this study due to its top down nature.
Hypotheses are de!eloped on the basis of a!ailable theory of HRM and social media. Data will
be collected through sur!ey instrument and hypotheses will be tested to chec the correctness of
assumptions on the selected scenario. Deducti!e approach follows few steps that will start the
study from a general discussion and later will narrow down towards the empirical findings
Deductive Approach
Theory Development
Devising Hypothesis
434 Research Strate!y
Kuantitati!e strategy will be followed with the help of field sur!ey through a close ended
9uestionnaire. Kuantitati!e strategy choice will support the positi!ist framewor which is base
on ob$ecti!e and scientific approaches.
435 6ata collection 2ethod
The author has collected data from both primary and secondary data sources. The sources are
described as follows6
Secondary Sources0 This includes des research and !arious sources which will mae
theoretical foundation of this study. The research for des sources shall include !arious internet
databases" online libraries" search engines" encyclopaedia. :part from online resources" the
author will also mae use of $ournals" articles and reports on !arious rele!ant topics to be
inculcated in this report. ':xinn and Cearce" 200=*
Primary Research
Crimary research consisted of inter!iews and con!ersations which will be carried out during this
research. There are !arious efforts made to rope in few ac9uaintances in corporate sector and
finally we also carried out a 9uestionnaire in one of the companies which has its operations 'bac
Testing O Hypothesis
!esults
office* in (ndia. /y primary research" we will be able to focus at primary issues rather than $ust
re!ol!ing around basic issues and $ust being simplistic about our outloo. Crimary research in
this case is important because it results in great controlL not only does primary research enable
the mareter to focus on specific sub$ects" it also enables the researcher to ha!e a higher control
o!er how the information is collected. Taing this into account" the researcher can decide on
such re9uirements as si#e of pro$ect" timeframe and goal.
-e ha!e also included a 9uestionnaire ':ppendix* which will be used for collection of primary
research data. -e shall try to gather information from !arious HR consultants and recruiters.
43532 "uestionnaire 6esi!nin! and conductin! sur$ey
The 9uestionnaire is designed on the basis of close ended 9uestions. The contents of these 9uestions will
be related to the demographic 'age" gender" profession etc.* of respondents" attitude towards purchasing
based on pacaging of soft drins" and general perceptions about the impact of pacaging styles on brand
image. The fi!e point <iert attitude scales and multiple choice 9uestions will be used in designing
9uantitati!e 9uestions. Due to easiness and direct approach" only 9uantitati!e strategy will be followed in
data collection instrument.
436 Time 7ori(on
The cross-sectional time hori#on is proposed for thisresearch" because the responses of the
corporate employees will be taen in present and the research will not stretch o!er long period of
time as in the case of longitudinal research.
437 Research Techni8ue
The research plans to tae a 9uantitati!e techni9ue based on the sur!ey method. :n employees&
sur!ey will be conducted to explore and e!aluate research ob$ecti!es. :s compared to case study
and experiments will not suit this type of research due to their detailed and 9ualitati!e nature in
general.
437 Sample Si(e and Samplin! Techni8ue
%ample frame will be comprised on the employees& list of selected global organi#ations.
Croposed sample si#e is about 100 employees at different posts in regional and local offices of
!arious organi#ations. Croposed sampling techni9ue is $udgemental sampling in which ion ly HR
managers and employees of HR departments& will be accessed for conducting sur!ey. This
techni9ue will help to identify the representati!e sample for this research.
439 6ata *nalysis
The collected data will be transferred to the %C%% software and analysed with the help of
regression techni9ues and descripti!e statistics. The research 9uestions will be answered with the
help of this statistical analysis.
43: Relia&ility and ;alidity
The efforts will be made to upgrade the reliability factor of the research by contacting the respondents
personally and using the personal influence in increasing credibility of the collected data. The chances of
collecting original data from respondents will be high in this method" otherwise in electronic conduct of
sur!ey there are chances that the 9uestionnaires might be filled by somebody else. :lso" the confirmed
contacts and nown respondents can be tested for another research of the same type to get accurate
answers in future. Gn the other hand" in case of inter!iew or focus group discussion" the response of
inter!iew may be changed if same research is repeated in future because if the sub$ecti!e nature of
inter!iews and the impact of surroundings on the respondent mind. :nother reliability factor of this form
of data is the easy interpretation and con!ersion to the mathematical analysis which is not possible in
9ualitati!e data.
439 Ethical Issues
-hile compiling this particular research" there were a number of ethical issues which we had
confronted. 0irst of all" we had come across !arious ethical constraints which were inherently
part of the particular research lie ha!ing access on personal information of candidates !ia social
networing sites. -hile compiling this research" we had collected data from both primary and
secondary sources. -e also had inter!iewed !arious people who ha!e wored as recruitment
agents and ha!e used social networing sites for ha!ing details about a particular person. -e had
to ensure their being anonymous during all part of this research. -e ha!e also conducted a few
inter!iews with candidates who ha!e actually updated their 0aceboo accounts in order to
pro!ide best possible impression on the employers. Maintaining their pri!acy and using only
rele!ant part of information for our research was !ery important while compiling this research.
53 1onclusion
(t is important for managers to understand that inno!ation is inherent part of management
practices. There are number of theories and methods which managers ha!e used in order to
recruit new people in the organi#ation. /ut the main concern for manager remains the high
labour turno!er rate. Human resources are !ery crucial in attainment of goals of the organi#ation
and it needs extreme amount of expertise from part of managers to tae most deser!ing candidate
at ey positions in the organi#ation. 0or this purpose" there are specified theories in place and
!arious methods which ha!e pro!ed more than successful for hiring candidates.
0aceboo in past few years has become really !ery popular source of communication in the
youth and public at large. Ha!ing recruitment process conducted online will mean that managers
are able to sa!e a lot of money as well as hiring and recruitment process shall also become e!en
more transparent.
Bi&lio!raphy
:4R.%T(" :. '2002*. Categorical data analysis. -iley series in probability and statistics. 2ew
Eor" 2E Mu.a.N" -iley.
:O(22" -. 4." F C.:R5." <. D. '200=*. .i-ed method data collection strategies. 5ambridge
Metc.N" 5ambridge Bni!ersity Cress.
/ondarou" T." Ruel" H." F <ooise" ,. 5. '2011*. /lectronic %0. in theory and practice.
/ingley6 .merald 4roup Cub.
/ratton" ,." F 4old" ,. '1>>>*. %uman resource management1 theory and practice 23nd ed"4"
Mahwah" 2,6 Macmillian /usiness.
Dessler" 4. '2001*. %uman resource management '11th ed.*. Bpper %addle Ri!er" 2,6 Cearson
Crentice Hall.
Donald H. Aluemper" F Ceter :. Rosen. '200>*. 0uture employment selection methods6
e!aluating social networing web sites. ,ournal of Managerial Csychology" 28'=*" H=)-
H10.
.lmore" /.. '200>*. %G5(:< 2etworing %TR:T.4(.%. +aylor +usiness 0evie&" 21'1*" 2H-
2).
.ngler" C F Tanoury" C. '2010*6 /mployers !se of Facebook in 0ecruiting1 Retrie!ed on >
th
December 2011 from website6 http677www.ethicapublishing.com7;5HH.htm
4ome#-Me$ia" <. R." /alin" D. /." F 5ardy" R. <. '2010*. .anaging human resources. Bpper
%addle Ri!er" 2.,6 Cearson7Crentice Hall.
(!ance!ich" ,. M. '200)*. %uman resource management '10th ed.*. /oston6 Mc4raw-Hill (rwin
Mathis" R. <." F ,acson" ,. H. '2011*. %uman resource management '1;th ed.*. Mason" GH6
Thomson7%outh-western.
Celuchette" ,." F Aarl" A.. '2010*. .xamining %tudentsP (ntended (mage on 0aceboo6 Q-hat
-ere They Thining3RQ. 5ournal of /ducation for +usiness" 1H'1*" ;0-;).
Reiter" D.. '2010*. Recruiting High-<e!el .xecuti!es Remains a Relationship
/usiness. /mployment 0elations Today" ;)';*" ;;.
Ruettimann" <. '2010*. Don&t faceboo me6 -hy you shouldn&t google during the recruiting
process. :!ailable online at6 http677www.tlnt.com720107107087dont-faceboo-me-why-
you-shouldnt-google-during-the-recruiting-process7
Rutledge" C.-:. '2001*. 6rofiting from social net&orking. Bpper %addle Ri!er" 2.,6 0T Cress.
%haw" T. '200>*6 Twitter" 0aceboo" Recruitment F (ntegration6 Retrie!ed on >
th
December 2011
from website6 http677www.slideshare.net7thomasshaw7twitter-faceboo-recruitment-
integration-thomas-shaw-recruittech-200>
%ocial networing and recruitment. '200)*. 's it ethical to use social net&orking sites for
recruitment. :!ailable online at6
http677www.ceridian.co.u7connection7articles7recruiting-ethically7
Torrington" D." Hall" <." F Taylor" %. '2001*. Forum 6ersonal management ')th ed.*. Harlow6
0inancial Times Crentice Hall.
B%(24 %G5(:< 2.T-GRA(24 %(T.% (2 TH. R.5RB(TM.2T CRG5.%%6 /R(<<(:2T
GR : <.4:< TR:C3 2010. :!ailable online at6 http677www.naylornetwor.com7ahh-
nwl7articles7index-!2.asp3aidS12;=0)Fissue(DS228>H
-est" 5.. '2011*. EouPre on 0aceboo. . . 2ow -hat3 'nternational /ducator" 20';*" 11->0">2.
*ppendi<
Sample "uestionnaire
The sample 9uestionnaire consists of following 9uestions6
1* Ha!e you e!er used social networing sites to gather information about potential
candidates3
:nswer6 Ees72o
2* Do you agree that social networing sites could be used to gather the information which
resume of a candidate is generally lacing3
;* Do you agree that it is !ery important that a recruiter needs to ha!e access on personal
information of a candidate apart from what is referred on resume3
8* Do you agree that using social networing sites to gather information is !iolation of
personal pri!acy of a candidate3
H* -hich of the following sites ha!e you !isited or ha!e an account on6
0aceboo
Grut
Twitter
<ined (n
=* Do you admit that 0aceboo is reliable source of information3
Ees
2o
)* Do you find gathering information !ia social networing sites is economical as compared
to other sources3
Ees
2o