Hiring through social networking channels is more inefficient than employers think, according to the country’s leading online jobs portal JobStreet by SEEK. Kim Viray, JobStreet Philippines head of marketing, said that social networking channels are proven to be an effective way of communication, but using them for seeking talents may be more inefficient than hirers think. “While social media is a convenient tool to share information, we want to let hirers know that not everyone in your following or likes is looking for jobs—and the best and most appropriate way to recruit active jobseekers is to reach out to where they are searching for opportunities, and that is through official job platforms,” said Viray. With that Viray said JobStreet continues its initiative to empower companies in seeking better candidates in 2023 through a series of videos in line with their latest campaign, “Hire Real Talent,” baring the realities of hiring on social media. The video series depicts a witty take on real-life scenarios and challenges among employers that use social media for posting their job vacancies.
Aside from encouraging hirers to utilize legitimate job platforms in their recruitment process, JobStreet’s video series attempts to show the truth behind social media recruiting: when you hire through social media, chances are you have no idea who you're interviewing. The first video depicts an applicant who resembles the avatar of a newly set-up social media account, illustrating anonymity, a lack of character, or a genuine identity. Likewise, the second video demonstrates the difficulty of recognizing the true applicant whose profile photo is a family portrait. Finally, in the last video, JobStreet displays an applicant with experience working somewhere fictitious, portraying a lack of professionalism and accurate information. As users are not required to authenticate their identities or credentials on most social media sites, it is challenging to discern between legitimate and fraudulent accounts. In addition, most social media users do not present themselves professionally and have little to no work experience information, which limits the hirers’ opportunity to fully scrutinize their applicants based on their criteria. “In today's competitive and fast-changing world, we recognize the challenges that come with the hiring process, which is why we continuously empower hirers and provide them solutions that they need on top of offering a platform with millions of quality and qualified candidates,” he added. JobStreet aims to make hiring more convenient and efficient for employers, particularly for SMEs. Through its free job ad postings, businesses are entitled to a 30-day free job posting credit upon registration on JobStreet, giving seamless access to over 14 million registered candidates with free use of powerful candidate management tools, easy-to-use job ad writing tools, inclusion in job recommendations, accessibility on multiple channels, and many other benefits, allowing hirers to focus on selecting the best candidate. Its beneficial features assure targeted job posting to relevant potential applicants, and it may save time by using screening tools to check and match skills and credentials with the role.