Using the Internet to Attract and Evaluate Job Candidates

Abstract

The development of the Internet affords new opportunities for organizations as they add talent to their workforce. Employers are using third-party job placement websites (e.g., Monster.com), virtual job fairs, social networking websites, and even massively multiplayer online games such as Second Life to recruit job candidates. Organizations are also using their own websites to both attract and to evaluate new applicants. Accompanying these trends is the use of Internet-based testing for evaluating job candidates. Such testing varies based on whether it is proctored or unproctored and whether it incorporates dynamic computer adaptive testing. Finally, many firms are using individual candidate’s social networking websites (e.g., Facebook) as a background screening tool for evaluating job candidates. These trends are described and research questions identified.

Getting social in selection: How social networking website content is perceived and used in hiring

“…The organizational practice of using online social networking website (SNW) information to learn about job applicants is rapidly increasing (Nauen, ), though it is generally not a part of the formal selection process (Ross & Slovensky, ). Because of a lack of research on SNWs in hiring, many have urged caution regarding the practice (Kluemper, Rosen, & Mossholder, ; Ployhart, ; Roth, Bobko, Van Iddekinge, & Thatcher, ; Smith & Kidder, ).…”