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The Use of LinkedIn for ICT Recruitment

2019; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-030-16181-1_16

2194-5357

Guilherme Pinho, João Victor Silva Arantes, Tiago A. Marques, Frederico Branco, Manuel Au‐Yong‐Oliveira,

Human Resource and Talent Management

LinkedIn is undoubtedly a market leader when it comes to social networks that are aimed for professional use, demonstrating over time that it is a highly valued instrument used by recruiters, as well as a successful way to complement/replace organic recruitment. One of the areas with the most current demand and specific requirements/skills is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and, as in all scientific fields, there is a huge focus on recruiting the best candidate in the shortest time possible. The key goals of this article are to understand the relevance of LinkedIn use by an ICT recruiter taking into account the specific requirements/skills often desired by companies, to perceive if ICT students and workers with an updated LinkedIn profile are contacted by recruiters, and comprehend if it is true to say that recruitment via a social network is faster and does not detract from the quality of the hired candidate, compared with organic recruitment. A survey was performed focusing on students and workers in the ICT field and two semi-structured interviews were conducted in a consulting firm as well as in a software house. The results obtained suggest that LinkedIn is an essential recruitment tool for the ICT companies/consulting firms, but it is important to emphasize that most companies combine organic recruitment with LinkedIn recruitment. In our study, 89% of the respondents with an updated LinkedIn account have already been contacted by recruiters, proving that LinkedIn can certainly increase the probability of being hired.