MUMBAI: The social media has moved rapidly from being 'purely social' to a 'business tool' as more and more companies are now using the platform to recruit the right people for specific jobs and this trend is expected to grow by about 50 percent this year from 2013, according to experts.

"In day-to-day busy schedules, people only get social media platform to know about what is happening in the industry and their social network and they also update about their own status and change of roles. This trends began almost in 2010, and is growing by 50 per cent every year," leading executive search firm GlobalHunt Managing Director Sunil Goel said.

Most of the updates, he opined, gives the recruiter an information link to reach to the right people for the specific job of for their client companies. "Mid and senior-level professionals do not want to project themselves as easily available resources but by putting up their resume in job portals or an agency makes them easily available resources, which affects their role and compensation negotiations," he added. Sectors like IT, ITES, banking and financial have been recruiting across levels using this platform, he said.
However, even FMCG, manufacturing, power and energy, retail, automobile are also using the social media for mid to senior level hiring, he added. Specialist recruitment firm Michael Page's India Regional Director Alf Harris said social media is obviously a much-talked about aspect of recruitment and it undoubtedly offers individuals an excellent opportunity to access opportunities and for companies to reach out to talent.

"However, one must keep in mind that social media is part of the recruitment process. Once the recruitment process moves into the assessment cycle, there is limited impact from social media," he said. The advantage of social media is the ability to reach a significant number of people quickly and easily compared to traditional recruitment process, he said.
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