Reading: Hays Legal and Field Seymour Parkes event looks at impact of social media on the world of work

E-recruitment: mobile-friendly presence is key

Employees tend to look for a new job on Tuesdays between 9-10 am – online while at work. That was just one of the intriguing facts revealed at a breakfast seminar in Reading hosted by recruitment specialists Hays Legal and solicitors Field Seymour Parkes.

Hays Digital Solutions business director James Corcoran presented survey details from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that showed almost a third of Internet users now search and apply for jobs online. The top sources for quality recruitment were now Internet ‘job-boards’ (42%, up 15% since 2011) and social professional networks (38%, up 73%), according to LinkedIn.

Millions of candidate CVs have now been uploaded online – in some sectors, recruitment is 100% online – but there was still a large untapped talent pool of passive yet potential candidates.

Although 75% of professionals are open to switching jobs, only 61% of companies are actively recruiting passive candidates, according to LinkedIn research highlighted by Corcoran.

Mobile Internet access doubled to 58% between 2010 and 2014, say the ONS, mirrored by today’s increasing use of smartphones for jobsearching and applications.

Accordingly, Gartner research found global e-marketing was now four times the ad-spend of print, and 1.5 times TV advertising, and it was becoming essential for companies to provide attractively designed mobile-enabled job websites. And, to advertise appropriately at the right time – hence the survey data about when and where employees tend to search or apply for jobs.

Managing risks, protecting business data

Field Seymour Parkes associate Louise Smyth highlighted the changes that the use of social media is making to today’s workplace, and “the tight-rope that employers have to walk”.

She mentioned three key areas of growing concern:
-  use of social media to vet candidates and employees
-  reputational damage resulting from employee’s online activities
-  loss of confidential information or key business contacts.

While social media sites could provide interesting information on potential and existing employees, using such sites for employment purposes could present unwanted HR and legal problems, she stressed.

Inappropriate use of social media by employees within the workplace was also difficult to monitor and control.  Employees should be able to have some social media privacy, yet a tweet or video-posting could cause rapid and extensive reputational damage to a company via the Internet.

Smyth advised companies to be transparent in their employment expectations and ensure that an agreed policy was communicated and understood by all employees.

Such policies and procedures needed to be detailed yet clear – bearing in mind the potential of an employment tribunal.  She also advised proportional response and the avoidance of knee-jerk reactions.

Protecting company data and business contact lists was also a thorny problem with the advent of Internet-linked professional social networks, and the lack of case law on such matters to guide decision making.