HRM0067 - Social Networking

7/27/2019 HRM0067 - Social Networking

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Licensed for use in the contact program for PhD Scholars at ICFAI University Jaipur, from 7-Aug-2013 to 11-Aug-2013.

Social Networking:

Threatening the Monster and Its Likes?

Man is a social animal with a fundamental desire to be a part of a community and this basic

human nature, has developed and prospered human social networks since time immemorial. While

social networks have historical antecedents, they have come of age in modern times. With various

technological innovations such as mobile phone and the Internet, people are more connected with

each other than ever social networking being one of the trends, which has fast gained popularity.

Interestingly, in the initial days of its inception, social networking was more of a casual affair

wherein people stayed connected with friends and shared the happenings of their lives with each

other. However, social networking has evolved over the years. It has found application in many

other fields other than just socialising and staying connected with friends. For instance, the American

Red Cross dissipates disaster news through Twitter.com (Twitter) a social networking site. Journalistsuse social networking to spread news within seconds of its occurrence. It is also being used to start

or expand businesses. Quite similarly, job seekers as well as employers have found interest in social

networking websites and they are being used as a source of recruitment. However, the effectiveness

of social networking as a recruitment source is debatable. Notably, the popularity of social networking

sites such as LinkedIn.com (LinkedIn) is jeopardising the business of job sites such as monster.com.

Will the popular social networking sites indeed give the job sites a run for their money, or, is social

networking just a passing fad?

If the job boards dont innovate more often and more quickly, they are going to have a very difficult

time growing their businesses over the next several years.1

William Morrison, Analyst, ThinkEquity Partners

This case study was written by Vandana Jayakumar under the guidance of Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary, IBSCDC. It is intended to be used

as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case

was compiled from published sources.

2009, IBSCDC.

No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever

without the permission of the copyright owner.

Ref. No.: HRM0067

1 Boyle Matthew, Recruiting: Enough to Make a Monster Tremble, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_27/

b4138043180664.h tm, June 25 th 2009


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Social Networking: Threatening the Monster and Its Likes?

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E- Recruitment

Recruitment is an integral part of human resource planning of an organisation. Companies use

various sources internal search, advertisements, employee referrals, employment agencies, Internet

etc. for carrying out the recruitment activity. Amongst various sources, e-recruitment recruitment

via Internet has become quite popular. Prior to the introduction of Internet, companies could access

a limited pool of talent and were forced to recruit only from that pool. This included active job

seekers and candidates fresh out of college, for entry level positions. To fill higher-level positions,

companies took the help of professional recruiters that invariably proved to be expensive. However,

Internet has changed the corporate recruiting procedure significantly.

Internet has become an indispensable part of the recruitment mix of organisations as well as job

seekers. It is believed to be the most effective way for spreading information about the availability of

jobs as well as people to fill those positions. By using the Internet, employers can access a hugedatabase of qualified personnel for most of the levels in the company; be it entry level or senior level.

Quite often, companies create an online recruitment section in their corporate websites where

candidates can post their resumes. The resume becomes a part of companys database, which the

company can use whenever there is a requirement within the company.

At the same time, companies also advertise vacant positions and their specifications on job sites

also known as job boards, dedicated for the purpose. One of the benefits of using job sites to employers

is the resume scanner service. Using this, employers can filter the resumes on the basis of some

preset criteria for the job such as skills, qualifications, experience, etc.

E-recruitment has a wide geographical reach wherein employers can access a vast and diverse

pool of candidates. Also, e-recruitment is more cost-effective. For instance, candidates can be askedto take online-tests, which eliminate the need of organising tests at various centres as well as the

costs involved. It is estimated that Internet as a recruitment tool costs one-twentieth2 of what it

would cost to hire through want ads or through other traditional sources of recruitment.

The use of Internet also makes the process of recruitment quite efficient and fast. It is believed

that by using Internet as the recruitment tool, the time to hire is reduced by as much as 75%3 (as

compared to recruiting via the print media). According to a study by Recruitsoft/iLogos Research of

50Fortune500 companies, an average company was able to cut considerable number of days from

the recruiting cycle by using Internet as a recruiting source (Exhibit I). The automation of the process

as per the requirements of the company ensures that only the right quality of candidates reach up to

the interview stage. Employers can screen the candidates online within a few minutes, identify the

qualified candidates and contact them immediately.

2 Cappelli Peter, Making the Most of On-Line Recruiting, http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2001/03/making-the-most-of-on-

line-recruiting/ar/1

3 Why Are Employers Adopting E-Recruitment Software?, http://www.wcn.co.uk/?q=why-online-recruitment-software


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Consequently, the busy schedule of HR department gets relaxed. With more time at their disposal,

the department can concentrate on more value added tasks. At the same time, the HR department

can deliver HR services to other departments more efficiently. Also, with e-recruitment, companies

can manage the information about candidates in a better manner and have an up-to-date database.

For instance, if a candidate is not good enough for the given job opening, the company can easily

maintain a database of such people who can prove to be of use in the future.

E-recruitment also diminishes the role of intermediaries in the recruitment process as interaction

happens directly between the employer and the candidate. In addition, companies can also gain

information about HR trends in the industry such as compensation plans of competitors etc.

While there are many benefits of e-recruitment to employers, there are many benefits of using

Internet as a job search tool to job seekers as well. Most often, they receive better and timely service

from employers using e-recruitment. Interestingly, job seekers can look for jobs while at their desks

in offices instead of going out in the field for job search. Also, even if users are not looking for job

change, they can update themselves about salaries and perks in other companies and get an opportunity

to better their current positions.

Despite the advantages, candidates complain of drawbacks in using Internet as a job search tool.

Generally, job seekers look for three main things when looking for employment strong foothold of the

company, bright prospects of advancing ones career and good pay packages. However, job seekers

complain that information on these parameters is generally missing from online job postings. Also, asthe job sites have enormous numbers of resumes, an individuals resume gets lost in the database.

From the employers perspective as well, there are several drawbacks and limitations of e-recruitment.

For instance, it is difficult to gauge the authenticity of resumes posted online and even if the authenticity

can be checked, it is a time consuming process. Moreover, organisations cannot rely solely on

e-recruitment. Also, there are certain jobs which can not be filled using e-recruitment alone.

Many a times, companies as well as applicants prefer face-to-face interaction as against

interaction on the Internet to better assess the candidate and the job in question respectively. Also,

if the job seekers or the employers are not clear about their requirements, then Internet proves to

Exhibit IReduction in Number of Days of Recruitment Cycle with the Use of Internet

Process Reduction in Number of Days

(approximately)

Posting jobs online instead of posting in the newspapers Reduced 6 days of the hiring cycle of

43 days

Taking applications online instead of taking hard copies Reduced 4 days of the hiring cycle

Screening and processing applications electronically Reduced more than a week

Compiled by the author from Capppelli Peter, Making the Most of On-Line Recruiting, http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/

2001/03/making-the-most-of-on-line-recruiting/ar/1


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be inefficient in filling a given position accurately. Critics also suggest that with online recruitment,

there is an increase in the number of passive job seekers people who are less loyal to their

current employer and are ready to jump jobs the moment they come across a more lucrativeopportunity. Nevertheless, e-recruitment proves beneficial both to the company as well as job

seekers if certain aspects are taken care of.

Given the benefits, almost 90%4 large companies in the US use Internet as a recruiting tool. It

is estimated that there are about 50,000 job sites5 in the US and an equal number are present in

rest of the world. The three front runners of online job search are monster.com(monster),

careerbuilder.com (careerbuilder) and Yahoo! HotJobs.com (HotJobs). Job sites draw revenues

from fees and advertising. For instance, Monster gets almost 90% of its revenues from fees and

the rest from advertising.6

Apart from various job sites, there are some other websites also which are used by employers as

well as job seekers for talent hunting and job search respectively. For instance, craigslist.com and

indeed.com are not job sites in the true sense but are popular destinations for employers and job

seekers alike. Quite similarly, social networking sites have also become a popular source of recruitment

among job seekers and employers.

Social Networking: The New Recruiting Source

Over the years, Internet has become an integral part of life and an important tool for communication.

With technological advancements, it is easy and fast to create, upload and share content on the web

using digital cameras and camera phones. People also have the desire to share their digital content

immediately in their network of people. Using the social networking sites, users can connect witheach other and follow each others activities. They can also create clusters of people having similar

tastes and interests. Social networking sites enable them to create a unique personal profile, replete

with pictures, videos and blogs. Thus, social networking sites provide a dual mix of friendly

neighbourhood and a global community.

They also enable people to discover others as well as be discovered. Notably, Dan Nye, one of

the ex-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LinkedIn became CEO when he was discovered on the

social networking site by Reid Hoffman (executive chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn). Some of

the popular social networking sites, also referred to as online communities are Friendster, Orkut,

Tribe, Ryze, LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, MySpace and Twitter.

The popularity of social networking among enthusiastic users has increased over the years

(Exhibit II). The number of unique monthly visitors to the top six social networking sites saw an

increase of 95% between 2006 and 2007 and another 50% between 2007 and 2008.7 The number

of unique visitors to Twitter increased from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to more than

4 Making the Most of On-Line Recruiting, op.cit.

5 Recruiting: Enough to Make a Monster Tremble, op.cit.

6 Ibid.

7 Dam Rob van den, et al., The Changing Face of Communication : Social Networkings Growing Influence on Telecom

Providers, ftp://f tp.software .ibm.com/common/ssi/pm/xb/n/gbe03121usen/GBE03121USEN.PDF, 2008


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7 million unique visitors in February 20098(The statistics being exclusive of people who use the

service over their mobile phones). Further, it is also estimated that by 2012, the number of unique

visitors to the social networking sites will be more than 800 million9 people. All these indicate thepotential that social networking holds for generating revenues as well as its popularity.

8 All That Twitters Isnt Gold: A Popular Web Application in Search of A Business Plan, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/

article.cfm?articleid=2202, April 15th 2009

9 The Changing Face of Communication: Social Networkings Growing Influence on Telecom Providers, op.cit.

Source: Dam Rob van den, et al., The Changing Face of Communication: Social Networkings Growing Influence on

Telecom Providers, ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/common/ssi/pm/xb/n/gbe03121usen/GBE03121USEN.PDF, 2008

Social media sites

Exhibit IITop Twenty English Language Websites Over the Years

Rank August 2004 August 2006 August 2008

1 Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!

2 MSN MSN Google

3 Google Google Youtube

4 Microsoft MySpace Live5 Passport Live Facebook

6 eBay eBay MSN

7 Amazon Youtube MySpace

8 Offeroptimizer Microsoft Hi5

9 Fastclick Amazon Orkut

10 Doubleclick Orkut Rapidshare

11 Go Blogger Blogger

12 Alibaba Google UK Megaupload

13 CNN Passport Fotolog

14 BBC BBC Friendster

15 165.254.12.202 Craigslist Microsoft

16 AOL Go eBay

17 Google UK CNN Megarotic

18 Gator Alibaba Google UK

19 eBay UK Megaupload Amazon

20 Searchscout IMDB Internet Movie

Note 1: The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data, and is a combined measure of page

views and users (reach).

Note 2: Due to the way Alexa assigns language, multilingual Wikipedia, which is in global top 20, is not shown in this list.


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Social networking got a boost by factors such as high broadband penetration alongside readily

available and affordable Internet-enabled multimedia devices. Social networking is being used by

consumer products companies and enterprises to reach and satisfy their customers. It is also attractingadvertisers. It is worth noting that visitors to social networking sites view more pages per visit as

compared to any other category of Internet sites.

The popularity of social networking has further increased as it has found yet another application

social networking as a recruitment source. Given their huge membership, social networking sites are a

big source of manpower. For instance, LinkedIn, considered the market leader of social networking,10

has a total of 42 million members as of June 2009 and employers can access its data base for an annual

fee of $60,000.11

Using social networking as a recruitment source means connecting an employer with an employee

through the medium of various contacts in the network. There are several social networking sites,

which cater to the professional needs of users (Annexure I). They are being used by employers to

identify talented professionals to fill vacant job positions. Ernst & Young, for instance, hires 3,50012

graduates every year through a career group on Facebook. There, it posts information about the job

and even answers the questions of prospective employees individually.

Similarly, several companies in India use social networking sites for recruitment. These include

Sapient, Electronic Arts, Wipro Technologies, Cisco Systems India Private Limited, Impetus

Technologies and Anantara Solutions Private Limited. Although the use of social networking sites as

a recruitment source is still in its infancy in India, the trend is fast catching up. Notably, India is

believed to be LinkedIns largest and fastest growing countries, recruitment being a major contributing

factor.13

Yogesh Bansal, founder & CEO of ApnaCircle.com, a professional Indian social networkingsite, observed, Users are beginning to realise what professional networking is and now about 70 %

of our users use the site for professional reasons.14

Realising the importance of social networking, professionals are also increasingly signing up with

the social networking sites. MySpace for instance has around 162 million global profiles registered

and it has almost 100 million unique monthly visits.15 Through social networking, job seekers can

promote themselves online and differentiate themselves from the crowd. They can upload their

profile on these sites giving information about their past work experience, their key skills and expertise.

The job seekers thus stand a chance to be noticed by prospective employers and improve their

10 Social Networking: Facebook for Suits, http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12304861,

September 25th 2008


12 Not a Site, but a Concept: Tapping the Power of Social Networking, http://www.wharton.universia.net/

index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1550&language=english,July 23rd 2008

13 Gupta Vinita, Using Social Networking Sites For Hiring, http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20080317/

technologylife01.shtml, March 17th 2008

14 Shinde Shivani, Update Your Status, Update Your Job, http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/update-your-status-

update-your-job/360353/, June 8th 2009

15 Barrett Michael, The Rise of Social Networking and the Lessons for Brands, Content and all Media Business, http://

www.accenture.com/Global/Services/By_Industry/Communications/Access_Newsletter/Article_Index/gcf07_barrett.htm


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careers. They are also able to stay connected with people in their industry thereby opening up career

avenues for each other. At the same time, individuals can update their knowledge and be aware of

the industry trends and happenings.

From the employers perspective, using the social networking sites, they can fill positions faster

as compared to the job sites. For instance, a position that takes approximately 6 months to fill can be

filled in a month using the social networking sites.16 One more advantage of the social networking

sites is that users can share their online rolodexes. An employer is thus able to access and view a

large network of candidates. Employers believe that an individuals connections in a social network

are an indication of the individual himself.

Using the social networking sites, employers can also approach the so-called passive candidates

talented candidates who already have jobs. These people need not apply for jobs as they can easily get

many good job offers. But they are not willing to leave their current positions and it is hard to convince

them to change their jobs. Therefore, it is difficult to find the resume of such people on job sites. Given

the benefits, employers are increasingly using the social networking sites for recruitment. Maureen

Crawford-Hentz, recruiter for Osram Sylvania Inc., the global lighting company, observed, Social

networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting ever.17

According to a survey conducted by careerbuilder, 22%18 of the employers surveyed confirmed

that they used social networking sites while evaluating the candidates for a particular position. Also

an additional 9%19 of the employers surveyed conveyed that they intended to use social networking

sites to evaluate the candidates. For instance, employers commonly check the profiles of applicants

on social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn. This indicates that employers would like to

know more about the candidates and go beyond the resume in assessing the candidature. The socialnetworking sites help in assessing candidates on parameters such as cultural fit and levels of

professionalism (Exhibit III).


17 Langfitt Frank, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/

story.php?storyId=6522523, November 22nd 2006

18 Hargis Mike, Social Networking Sites Dos and Donts, http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/11/05/

cb.social.networking/index.html, November 5th 2008

19 Ibid.


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Exhibit IIIInteresting Findings About the Use of Social Networking

as a Recruitment Source(On the Basis of Profile of Candidates on Social Networking Sites)

Note: The survey was conducted online among 3,169 hiring managers and human resource

professionals in MayJune 2008

Areas of Concern for Hiring Managers Factors Influencing Hiring Decision

Fake qualification details The background of the candidate supported

his/her qualification for the job in question

Inappropriate information and photos Candidate fitted well into the culture of the company

Poor communication skills Excellent communication skills

Negative talks about previous employers The candidate had been referred to buy

or colleagues. Sharing of secret many professionals

information of the ex-employer

Information about drinking habits and use Candidates showed varied interests

of drugs or criminal behaviour

Discriminatory attitude towards race, Awards and accolades in the candidates profile

gender, religion, etc.

Unprofessional screen name Creative profile of the candidate

Compiled by the author from Employers Using Social-Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, http://

www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/employers-using-social-networking-sites-to-research-job-candidates-5998/,

September 15th 2008

Moreover, hiring managers believe that hiring a candidate through a contact is any given day

better than going through hundreds of resumes and selecting one candidate. It is also believed that a

person found through contacts is more reliable than an unknown job seeker.

Further, as more and more employers want their prospective employees to be comfortable working

in the digital world, social networking as a job hunting tool gains significance for job seekers. An

individuals presence on LinkedIn is an indication of the person being up to date as well as digitally

upgraded. According to Rosemary Haefner, VP of Human Resources at careerbuilder, Hiring

managers are using the Internet to get a more well-rounded view of job candidates in terms of their

skills, accomplishments and overall fit within the company...As a result; more job seekers are taking

action to make their social networking profiles employer-friendly.20

20 Employers Using Social-Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/

employers-using-social-networking-sites-to-research-job-candidates-5998/, September 15th 2008


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Of late, employers are using the social networking sites to advertise the job openings as well as to

connect with the prospective employees. Some of the social networking sites provide tools for finding

jobs. For instance, on Twitter there is a service called TweetMyJobs wherein users are updatedabout new job openings in a given field either on their cell phones or on Twitter itself. Further, to

counter the scepticism about privacy of information uploaded on the Internet, social networking sites

such as LinkedIn have privacy controls wherein the member can decide the extent to which his/her

profile can be viewed.

However, social networking sites as a source of recruitment pose several challenges for recruiters.

For instance, identifying and hiring the right candidate may be a time consuming process as against

quick results generated by jobsites. Also, very specific search may not be possible using the social

networking sites. Moreover, to be able to use the social networking sites effectively, the recruiters

need to develop special skills suited for the purpose.

Another limitation of the social networking sites is the authenticity of information. There is likelihood

of recruiters viewing and relying on inaccurate information available on the social networking sites.

It is difficult to prevent dishonest people from forging information in their resumes such as details of

past work experience, positions held etc. Further, while the recommendations are a key feature on

social networking sites, they might prove worthless when actual referral check of the candidate is

done. Thereby, the use of social networking sites may not prove to be successful always.

Nevertheless, social networking sites have gained popularity after the onslaught of the US

Financial Crisis (2008) and the ensuing recession. Due to the fear of layoffs, more and more

individuals are becoming members of professional social networking to be able to win jobs for

themselves in case they lose their current jobs. For instance, in 2009, it took about 15 days forLinkedIn to garner 1 million new members whereas the same task took 1 month just a year

before.21 Consequently, while companies across the world suffered due to recession, LinkedIn

and other social networking sites prospered. Such has been the popularity of social networking

sites such as LinkedIn that it is affecting the business of job sites like monster.

Monster.Com and Other Job Sites: Losing Out to Social Networking?

The concept of social networking has matured over the years. Due to the advancement in social

networking, they have become specific in nature and can be classified as general social networking

and professional social networking sites. Some of the professional social networking sites such as

TheLadders and BlueSteps are niche sites and target high earning individuals. LinkedIn, which canbe called as a storehouse of online resumes was designed for professional purposes and predominantly

caters to young professionals with more than average income (Exhibit IV). As is evident from its

home page, it helps members both for business networking and in finding jobs.

21 Joining the Club, http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13914661&CFID=68925522&

CFTOKEN=22933323, June 25th 2009


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Due to its attributes, members are willing to pay, thereby making the site profitable. The most

common way of generating revenues among social networking sites is through advertising, which

was a $45 billion industry in 2008, growing at an annual rate of 20%.22 LinkedIn earns revenues from

job postings, advertising and by licensing its software to various companies to enable internal

recruitment. There is also provision of premium subscription for members, which helps LinkedIn

earn revenues from that quarter as well. Though not officially revealed, the revenue for LinkedIn in

2008 was $100 million23 and it was believed that large portion of this revenue came from headhunters

and companies that searched its database for candidates.

Users can post their profiles on LinkedIn, make connections and gather references from these

connections for the prospective employers to view. Apart from networking, LinkedIn has a section on

questions and answers where people share knowledge and expertise, get to know each other better

and improve their chances of being noticed. Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn describesthe profile of its members in terms of who seeks what on LinkedIn. According to him, 10% seek a

former colleague, 10% seek an industry expert who would be willing to talk about industry-related

issues, 30% seek business partners and 50% seek talented professionals to be hired.24

Exhibit IVLinkedIn Home Page

Source: www.LinkedIn.com

22 Lagace Martha, Social Media Leads the Future of Technology, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, November

2008

23 Social Networking: Facebook for Suits, op.cit.

24 Need a Job? How about a Date? Networking Services Want to Help, http://www.wharton.universia.net/

index.cfm?fa=printArticle&ID=782&language=english


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Given the favourable circumstances, LinkedIn is also gearing up to cash on the advantage of

being a preferred e-recruitment source to employers as well as job seekers. In this context, an

interesting feature called talent advantage was introduced on LinkedIn in 2009. It is an amalgamationof all the tools, which it had earlier been selling to the corporate hiring departments. The advantage

of using LinkedIn to companies is that they receive a gamut of services against payment of some

fees. The hiring managers get a jobsite suited to their needs and have the option of approaching the

qualified candidates individually or in groups. They also have the option of buying job postings.

However, if the candidate that the employers are trying to contact is not interested in the said

job, he can pass on the information to other qualified personnel. The outcome is that employers

are able to get good quality candidates at reasonable prices. According to Scott Morrison, director

of global recruiting programme at salesforce.com, This is a gold mine for us.25 Quite similar to

LinkedIn, many other social networking sites such as Twitter are fast catching up in the area of

job search and recruitment.

Thus, as the social networking sites such as LinkedIn make revenues and gradually gain popularity

among the job seekers and talent hunters, they are jeopardising the business of various job sites. The

shortcoming of recruitment through job sites is sarcastically referred to as the post and pray process

wherein employers and job seekers have to post jobs and resumes respectively and pray for the

outcomes. The social networking sites score above the job sites, as people believe that social

networking sites are more promising. However, if employers stop posting jobs on the job sites, then

the job sites will suffer heavy losses, job postings being their main source of revenues.

Given the circumstances, among various job sites, monster in particular is in a troubled situation.

Paradoxically, monster was one of the pioneers in online job recruitment and it changed the way jobseekers hunted for jobs. Monster had the first mover advantage as it had an initial base of job

seekers and employers. Monster developed a two-sided network of business wherein on the one

side were the employers and on the other, job seekers. As the network grew, participants on both

sides of the network joined the site on their own. While employers had to pay fees to be a part of the

network, job seekers could post their resumes free of cost. This way monster grew rapidly.

Monster was able to initiate a trend of recruitment via the Internet and took the trend away from

print ads. It gradually became the largest Internet job site.26 The main contribution made by monster

to the recruitment industry was speeding up of the hiring process on the one hand and increased

accuracy of the process of searching a job. The popularity of monster can be gauged from the fact

that it gets an average of 12 million27

unique visitors every month and has a database of approximately80 million28 resumes. While job sites like monster have experienced hay days, they are facing

competition from social networking.


26 How Online Recruiting Changes the Hiring Game, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=314&CFID=

5734808&CFTOKEN=42612827&jsessionid=a8308af31e76af9fa7e62c1de6b7b35654d1, February 22nd 2001


28 Ibid.


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Monsters share of job listings among the top three job sites has gone down from 40% in December

2007 to 34% in May 200929. At the same time, its revenues have also been declining. Though

monster faces competition from other job sites such as careerbuilder and hotjobs, it is believed thatthe battle between monster and other job sites is a regular battle among competitors for market

share. It is also believed that this competition is not much of a worry for monster as it has a large

network and it is well established in its field. The real threat however, for monster and other job sites

comes from LinkedIn and other social networking sites. According to David Flaschen, managing

partner, Flagship Ventures, Monster.com can help you find people who are looking for a job, or

people who are out of a job. But social networks can help you find people who are not looking for a

job, but are a perfect match for what you have available. Social networking moves you beyond the

obvious connections.30

In addition to the threat from social networking, worldwide recession resulted in industry-wide

layoffs. While job seekers still thronged the job sites due to layoffs, job sites such as monsterfaced problems, as there was a dearth of jobs in the market. However, the job sites are trying to

fight back. Monster, under the leadership of its CEO Sal Iannuzzi, for instance, has undertaken

several measures (Exhibit V).


30 Need a Job? How about a Date? Networking Services Want to Help, op.cit.

Exhibit VMeasures Undertaken by Monster to Fight the Competition

Compiled by the author from Boyle Matthew, Recruiting: Enough to Make a Monster Tremble, http://

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_27/b4138043180664.htm, June 25th 2009

Reduced costs by $400 million

Reduced the prices for some of the important customers

Hired additional sales personnel

Reworked its websites thereby reducing the number of steps required to upload ones resume

from 20 to 4

Introduced the career mapping feature which will help job seekers shift from one field to the

other (in applying for jobs)

Improvised its service

Introduced plans such as monthly payment option

Added video to its online job recruitment product

Trying to introduce features such as contextual search

Monsters one-size-fits-all which is considered to be a drawback is being worked upon.


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Other job sites are also trying to improvise their services. For instance, in June 2009, HotJobs

introduced the pay-per-performance service. The job sites are also trying to provide more services

that are distinct.

While there is much hullaballoo about social networking being the new recruitment source, tiding

over the jobsites, critics believe that the days of the job sites are not yet over. Michael OConnell,

one of the recruiters from Los Angeles, believes that LinkedIn is not yet so big that it can replace the

likes of Monster. Many others have suggested that social networking is a passing fad and it is just a

matter of a few years when social networking will be a thing of the past.

Further, critics believe that social networking will be popular as long as users do not have to pay

the fees. They believe that with time, many social networking sites will disappear and many others

will be gobbled down by bigger websites. They will use these social networking services as ancillary

products for the existing customers. The example of Zero Degrees, a Los Angeles-based social

networking service, which was consumed by Interactive Corp., is apt in this context.

At the same time, it is believed that job sites would include social networking in their existing

sites, filling the void and countering the threat. Monster for instance added the networking feature

to its website conveying to the users that the networking service would help them connect with

the right people.

Also, while the fight between job sites and the social networking sites for gaining the attention of

job seekers and employers heats up, the significance of recruitment via other sources such as campus

recruitment, internship, corporate education programmes and employee referrals cannot be undermined.

Further, it is alleged that personality is still more important than technology in accomplishing

recruitments. Under such circumstances, the future of social networking as a source of recruitmentis debatable. Will the social networking sites indeed prove to be detrimental for job sites or will they

themselves lose lustre with time?


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14

Annexure ISome of the Professional Social Networking Sites

Compiled by the author

LinkedIn.com (LinkedIn)

LinkedIn was founded in 2002 in the Silicon Valley by Reid Hoffman. It targets professionals in the age

bracket of 2565 years. It helps users connect with people in their present or previous jobs as well as

with their former batch-mates. Using LinkedIn, people can connect with their contacts for professional

reasons such as finding about a company where they are applying for a job or finding some good

reference, etc. It is considered to be a good repository of senior professionals

Xing.com (Xing)

It is one of the main rivals of LinkedIn. Xing was founded in 2003 by Lars Hinrichs in Hamburg,

Germany. It is a German networking site and is popular among German speaking countries. It helps

people connect with each other and also helps them find jobs. It also offers a personal brandmanagement option wherein people can decide as to what will show up when their name is typed in

Google. It is a fast growing social networking site of Europe

Wealink.com (Wealink)

It was founded in 2004 and is often described as a social capital bank. Members get both entertainment

and business as they can find jobs as well as maintain their digital profile on the website. Mandarin is the

language of operation of Wealink

Doostang.com (Doostang)

It is an invite only site and was founded in 2005. It targets people in the age bracket of 2035 years from

the top schools and companies in the US. It helps people connect with each other as well as find jobs. It

claims that over 500,000 elite young professionals use Doostang to get hired. Many companies such asGoogle, MTV and Apple have hired people from Doostang

SiliconIndia.com (SiliconIndia)

It connects Indians from across the world for professional reasons. It offers apprentice and mentoring

programmes and caters both to the young and the old. It also organises career fairs in India and abroad.

Some of the companies which have hired people using SiliconIndia include Microsoft and Cisco

Facebook.com

It is used both for general purposes as well as for professional purposes. It offers some business-

friendly features such as lending or borrowing money using contacts or buying and selling. It also offers

some privacy features such as the ability to control the viewability of ones profile

Viadeo.comIt is a French-owned website and is professional in nature. It helps users in networking with their

contacts, enhancing business and careers

Twitter.com (Twitter)

Twitter helps in communication as well as networking on the basis of status at the moment. With

Twitter, members can answer questions on the web or over SMS and the responses get shared between

contacts. The messaging service on Twitter is a combination of text messaging, blogging and random

thoughts. It is also called as micro-blogging as it gives the real time picture of the activities of its users.

Documents

HRM0067 - Social Networking