Social Media and online recruitment continue to change the face of graduate recruitment

One of the most important factors for a businesses success is the people it recruits, that’s why its important to get it right first time. The time and costs associated with the process of hiring a graduate can be a heavy burden, and hiring the wrong person can have detrimental affects to many parts of the organisation.

This has meant that many organisations have turned to online recruitment to cut the costs. Yet this cut in costs doesn’t mean there is a loss of quality and quantity in graduates. The role of social media and online technology has meant many employers have a tighter control over the type of graduates they consider.

The old method of posting jobs in newspapers and using referrals to locate quality graduates for the job is out dated and the use of information technology has taken over. Job sites have opened up the opportunity for recruiter and graduates to target a specific market through location, qualification, age, and even gender with such sites as graduate-women.com. These job sites are available worldwide as well and allowed graduate recruiters to target a mass market and receive on average 70 applicants per every job.

Many graduate recruiters are now improving their relationship during the application process through the usage of social media. It is well known that some employers even view candidates Facebook page to get a good idea of what their new hire may be like. Seeing a picture of your possible superstar graduate who is comatose on the floor after a night out might give some warning signs to some companies.

Information technology has allowed for greater communication between graduates and graduate employers, yet there are downsides to this. Many competitors will also be using the same tools to attract graduates and therefore it is important to create the relationship with the candidate as early as possible to get the best talent available.

Some say the online job market has become crowded, especially during this economic climate, and trying to stand out from the crowd is increasingly difficult because of the amount of applicants per job. This means candidates have to spend double if not more applying to many different jobs or jobs that they otherwise wouldn’t have considered.