Recruiting online in today’s times has not remained
restricted to the various job portals anymore. Gone are the days when the
recruiters would largely depend on the online portals (Naukri, Monster, Shine
etc. to name a few in India) to filter candidates. The era of social media made
LinkedIn and Facebook, emerge as considerably powerful tools to post job
requisitions and invite candidature, owing to their widespread accessibility.
However, when the world has become a shrinking web-space, how far can we go in
the race for innovation? The answer to this question is ‘App-cruitment’ –
recruiting talents using various Social Networking Apps.
Recently, Fetch, a Dentsu owned mobile marketing agency,
hired an intern through a location-based dating app, Tinder. Yes! You read it
correct! The same Tinder which many a youth today uses to hunt for a date. The
agency created a Tinder profile in January to find matches in the New York
City. Potential candidates were asked for their best pick-up lines. Fetch
matched with 270 potential candidates and further shaved down to 5 personal
interviews, finally hiring 22-year old Sam Weidt as an intern, rather being
called a ‘Tintern’. In another breakthrough story, Droga5, a New York based
global advertising agency looked for interns via an Instagram challenge. JWT
India’s Bodhisatwa Dasgupta did the same using WhatsApp. Every year he would
get calls from collegians from institutes like St. Xavier’s Mumbai, however due
to geographical restrictions and lack of self-awareness among the aspirants, he
was left with rookies who weren’t even sure about making a career in
advertising. So Dasgupta turned to WhatsApp and gave 6 candidates a test fit
for the digital age: create a meme – thereby not only judging their creativity
but how fast they could deliver. The story doesn’t end there. JPMorgan, one of
the world’s largest financial organizations is using Snapchat and its
geo-filters to find and hire fresh talents. (Excerpts
from Brand Equity: The Economic Times)
The reaction to this newly adopted ‘Swipe right’ methodology
is mixed, across the HR fraternity. While some feel that these methods may
appear ‘cool’ and hip for today’s app-crazy generation, they think it’s purely
for branding and advertising purposes that such strategies are adopted.
Moreover, they feel that such recruitments are ideal for the entry-level
personnel and for start-ups only, thereby being impractical for recruiting
mid-level managers or technical and finance professionals. On the other hand,
many companies feel a need to think out of the box by trying to push the limits
of innovative hiring. The question that remains: Are Tinder and Snapchat the
answer?
- Sumit Chakravarty
Faculty, INLEAD
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