Temp-Team Finland: Social Media and Recruitment

Abstract

The role of recruiters and the forms of recruitment communication have undergone substantial changes in recent years. While the frequency of publishing job advertisements in print has decreased, recruiters are increasingly relying on social media for candidate search and top talent sourcing. These changing industry dynamics directly affect Temp-Team Finland, a private employment agency focused on recruiting contractual employees, and the commissioning party of this research.

The purpose of this research is to ascertain why the commissioning party should utilize social media in its recruitment processes and what other benefits it could derive through the use of social media. Furthermore, the research aims to find out which social media channels would be most useful for Temp-Team and what should be done in order to proceed with the suggested renewals.

The private employment agency industry, general recruitment processes and employer branding are examined in the theoretical background of the thesis. In addition, the concepts of social media and social recruitment, as well as the most common social recruiting channels, are covered in the theoretical sections.

The empirical part of this thesis was a qualitative research conducted through semi-structured interviews during June 2014. In order to attain responses for the research questions, the author interviewed four employees of Temp-Team, along with five social media and recruitment specialists.

The research results show that not only is social recruiting likely to improve the candidate search process but it may also have a positive effect on the company’s employer brand, competitiveness and customer relations. However, a social media platform in itself is not a shortcut to success. Continuous activity involving certain resources, such as time and personnel, are required to ensure that full potential is realized. In order to help Temp-Team to build its online presence, development proposals – such as formulation of a social media strategy and appointment of a person in charge – are presented in the last sections of this report.