Using Social Media to Recruit a Diverse Workforce
UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE
La Verne, California
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RECRUIT A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
A Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for MGMT 525 Management of Diversity
Mark E. Attew
College of Business and Public Management
Department of Business Management and Leadership August 13, 2010
Using Social Media to Recruit a Diverse Workforce
As organizations continue to search for ways to attain and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, many have begun looking more closely at how to best attract, manage and leverage one of their most precious resources, people (Sayers and Wilson, 1997). Studies of competitiveness throughout the world have found that societies that underutilize their educated minority groups by preventing them (directly or indirectly) from working in professional and managerial positions lose billions to reduced productivity and efficiency each year (Sayers and Wilson, 1997). Many organizations are becoming aware of the growing diversity in the communities they do business and are responding by developing strategies for hiring and retention in which diversity is linked to the organization’s mission and business objectives (Miller & Katz, 2002). Typically, the evolving mission is to increase market share with a diverse client base, enhance relationships with the diverse community, increase diversity within the employee population and enhance the success of existing employees through development and mentoring programs (Miller & Katz, 2002).
In terms of addressing employee diversity within their organizations, increasing numbers of organizations have begun to examine opportunities for recruiting employees presented by the growing popularity and ubiquity of Social Media. Social Media, Social Networking, Blogging and Online Communities are a few of the terms that collectively have become known as Web 2.0 (Leader-Chivée & Cowan, 2008). As Kaplan and Haenlin (2010) suggest,
La Verne, California
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RECRUIT A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
A Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for MGMT 525 Management of Diversity
Mark E. Attew
College of Business and Public Management
Department of Business Management and Leadership August 13, 2010
Using Social Media to Recruit a Diverse Workforce
As organizations continue to search for ways to attain and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, many have begun looking more closely at how to best attract, manage and leverage one of their most precious resources, people (Sayers and Wilson, 1997). Studies of competitiveness throughout the world have found that societies that underutilize their educated minority groups by preventing them (directly or indirectly) from working in professional and managerial positions lose billions to reduced productivity and efficiency each year (Sayers and Wilson, 1997). Many organizations are becoming aware of the growing diversity in the communities they do business and are responding by developing strategies for hiring and retention in which diversity is linked to the organization’s mission and business objectives (Miller & Katz, 2002). Typically, the evolving mission is to increase market share with a diverse client base, enhance relationships with the diverse community, increase diversity within the employee population and enhance the success of existing employees through development and mentoring programs (Miller & Katz, 2002).
In terms of addressing employee diversity within their organizations, increasing numbers of organizations have begun to examine opportunities for recruiting employees presented by the growing popularity and ubiquity of Social Media. Social Media, Social Networking, Blogging and Online Communities are a few of the terms that collectively have become known as Web 2.0 (Leader-Chivée & Cowan, 2008). As Kaplan and Haenlin (2010) suggest,