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Research asserts that an established web presence may positively influence job recruitment and personal job-fit to keep reliable employees. In a paper published by The Journal of Business Strategy (2013), Natasha Allden, who holds a Master’s in Digital Marketing, and Lisa Harris, the Programme Director for the MSc in Digital Marketing at the University of Southampton’s School of Management, say “...embarking on or developing their (businesses) e-recruitment activity is to adopt the philosophy of a positive candidate experience and place it at the centre of their e-recruitment strategy” (p. 45). This claim states that if a company, such as Jackson Realty, invests in a positive experience for their candidates, then the chance of recruiting reliable employees increases. In another study published by the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2017), Chih-Lun (Alan) Yen, a Professor at Ball State University, states, “...it will be more effective to achieve the objective of recruitment, finding the right person to fill the position and enhancing the overall organizational performance, when fits are properly assessed by both job seekers and hiring managers” (p. 2). Employers should develop a personal connection with their potential employees to establish a harmonious “fit” so that reliable employees continue through the recruitment process. These authors clearly assert that a well developed web presence, along with a clearly stated job-fit, is able to increase job recruitment and the likelihood of hiring reliable employees.

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A number of research shows that new tactics need to be put into place to be able to recruit a new generation of job seekers, specifically millennials. In a Dissertation Manuscript (2017), author Christi Ellington, a Northcentral University PhD student, suggests that “....not only Generation Y is attracted to organizations that utilize e-recruitment technology in their candidate searches, but all candidates seem to be migrating toward technology in their job search as it provides a more productive job search” (p. 83). Ellington stresses the need of a well-designed recruitment process to incorporate e-recruitment technology techniques such as Facebook and LinkedIn to better reach millenials (p. 97). In a similar study published by the journal E+M Ekonomie a Management, author and Professor of marketing at the University of West Bohemia, Dr. Ludvík Eger, states “a focus on employer branding campaigns and recruiting activities should be used not only towards instrumental attractiveness of an employer but also towards symbolic traits of an ideal employer to effectively communicate with Generation Y” (p. 234). Eger places an emphasis on how companies create ideal traits for future employers, such as “outgoing”. His focus is on how these tactics contribute to connecting with Gen Y and how they are also employed during the recruitment process. Both authors assert a clear confidence on the benefits and ways in which companies can reach out to millenials, and how this generation is beneficial to the recruitment process.

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Experts state that with the boom of the Internet, choosing an effective sourcing tool is crucial. Multiple studies conducted in the last year suggests that social media has become the primary tool used for job hunting. In an article published in the Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness(2018), Pirić, Masmontet, and Martinović say, “In regards with the usefulness of social networks to search for and apply for a job, LinkedIn is more relevant than Facebook in terms of looking for a job.” (p. 40). People seeking jobs primarily prefer consulting their network on LinkedIn. In support to that point, in an article published in SA Journal of Human Resource Management(2018), Koch, Gerber, and de Klerk, members of the Department of Business Management at the University of Stellenbosch South Africa, says,“ Jobs posted on LinkedIn receive more views from potential candidates than those on Facebook and Twitter combined, and these posted jobs garner twice as many applications per job advertisement in general.” (p. 4).As LinkedIn is being regarded as the professional network that people looking for jobs turn to, a boost in marketing on LinkedIn would increase the likelihood of desirable candidates coming across the job opportunity.

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Recruiting college students through multiple media could be an effective way to find a qualified candidate for a job position. According to an article published by Strategic HR Review(2018), Shahid Wazed, an employee at RECRUIT Fast Media, and Eddy Ng, a professor at Rowe Business School, say,”Within the context of college recruiting, employers can adopt a similar Facebook strategy, by constructing a fan base of college students who will apply for a position with the organization following graduation from college” Having a strong social media presence can attract the more tech-savvy students. Carolyn Wiley, a professor at Roosevelt University makes an argument for the most traditional form of job recruiting during college. In an article published in International Journal of Manpower(1992), Wiley says, “Through college recruiting and job fairs, unlike other methods, prospective employees and company representatives meet personally. In particular, on-campus recruiting provides the necessary personalized, face-to-face contacts between educators and employers, and between employers and student applicants.” Many students still prefer the traditional method of job fairs to be a form of recruiting for jobs after college. Whatever the media may be, companies reaching out to college students will increase the chances of having competent workers.

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The traditional recruitment process has changed as social media influences more into the lives of people every day. Websites, such as LinkedIn and Indeed.com, have created a new type of tool for users on both sides of the hiring process. In a paper published by the Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences (2017), Mary Beth McCabe says, “Resumes are no longer enough to become a successful candidate for a position. LinkedIn.com uses the metric that with a completed profile, the candidate is 40 times more likely to be found when companies do searches of the database” (p. 88). McCabe claims that recruiters are searching LinkedIn profiles for specific skill sets for job opening that are working to fill. In an article from Business Source Complete out of eWeek magazine (2012), author Nathan Eddy writes about a study conducted in March 2012 by Research Now on behalf of Jobscience that states, “LinkedIn, which caters specifically to people actively employed or seeking employment, still dominates the landscape. 86 percent of respondents said LinkedIn was the social network that matters. Facebook followed, with 51 percent, while rival Google+ trailed in third place with 26 percent. Perhaps due to the limited amount of information users can post on microblogging site Twitter, that platform ranked as the least important social network for recruiting, mentioned by only 16 percent of respondents” (p. 1). The study supports the claims made by both McCabe and Eddy that LinkedIn, and other social media platforms, are the main source for job recruiting in today’s workforce.

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Social media is changing how businesses search for talent as U.S. corporations are beginning to believe that social networks are an important venue for businesses to attract candidates. Mary Beth McCabe, author published in the Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences (2017), says, “In the past, students set up interviews and applied for jobs that they saw advertised in job boards, career centers, and classified sections of the newspaper. Today’s job seekers and recruiters alike are sophisticated as to who they seek as candidates and who is interviewed. In some circumstances, social media helps brand the candidate and the company, connecting the job candidates with positions, thus cutting out the middleman” (p.86). McCabe claims that the new way of recruitment by social media helps connect the candidate and the company faster, without the use of a middleman. Making the traditional process almost obsolete. Focus article writer, Samantha Sine, talks about how contracting companies have begun using the LinkedIn recruiting process to start filling positions they have had problems filling the traditional way. Sine agrees with McCabe that online profiles have become the main way to recruit, as she says, “While classified ads in newspapers and supermarket job postings once served as the primary source for employers and applicants, that isn’t the case anymore” (p. 1). According to both authors, these online job applications and position postings have begun to take control of the recruiting process.

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Finding dependable employees is a challenge that most companies have to face in the hiring process and this is a challenge that can be dealt with if effective hiring strategies are used. IUPUI Libraries contains numerous databases with articles containing useful information pertaining to the hiring process. An article from one of the databases states, "This paper examines two such aspects, information‐task quality and context collapse, and their collective impact on ambiguity when making an assessment of a job candidate" (Pike. Jacqueline, Bateman. Patrick, Butler. Brian). This article will be very useful because it shares the problems with finding good candidates and some possible ways to filter out the unwanted candidates in an efficient manner. Finding good candidates for a company can be very stressful but filling the position with someone just to have the role filled can hinder a business even more than taking the time to find good employees. According to Zach Seybert, "Employers might be hiring candidates for the sole purpose of hiring someone. They need to fill a position, so they rush to do so. This, however, can lead to costly mistakes" (Seybert, Zach). Seybert has many ideas and solutions to provide for businesses on how to effectively hire candidates without just filling the role. These sources provide very useful for researching information on the hiring process of decent workers and this will be useful for providing Jackson Reality with recommendations on what to do to hire good Project Managers and Superintendents.

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In the new modern age there are more and more ways to recruit candidates for the job. The internet is the main source for job recruitment. IUPUI Libraries has provided many sources on how the internet is helpful in the hiring process. McCabe and Mary Beth, Authors of an article that talk about Linkedin, state, “Social media has disrupted traditional recruitment strategies by examining how students use these tools to find jobs that advance their careers.” The article is mainly researching how students and employers are able to better find a job or candidate due to all of the extra information that social media provides for both parties. The old way would have been a wanted ad in the newspaper with just a small description but now there is more to explain and the wants and needs of both parties are clear before the interview. “In some circumstances, social media helps brand the candidate and the company, connecting the job candidates with positions, thus cutting out the middleman.” (McCabe, Beth). This will help back up our recommendation to expand the linkedin website Jackson Reality is using. Amanda Cameron not only writes that social media improves the job search and the candidate search but also writes about how to improve the search. Cameron writes, “To stand out from the competition, create a great candidate experience. Start with writing an effective job description. Be sure to note the benefits, salary, and perks your client is willing to offer.” Not only should Jackson Reality expand their social media but they should make sure to be specific in their job descriptions to hire the right people.    

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Upon researching how effective and how much easier social media has made job searching and job hiring, I have found that as we move forward social media will be a major asset to hiring new employees compared to traditional way of hiring people. John G. Joos 2008 article, Social Media: New Frontiers in Hiring and Recruiting, talks about how as time goes forward social media becomes more of the chosen tool to use when recruiting and looking for candidates to hire. As explained in John G. Joos article, technology is changing the world entirely and as we continue to change with it so is social media usage. As John G. Joos explained how social media hiring is on the rise so did Adele Ladkin and Dimitrios Buhalis in their study, Online and social media recruitment: Hospitality employer and prospective employee considerations (2016). Adele Ladkin and Dimitrios Buhalis both are both professors in the Schools of Tourism at Bournemouth University. They found that there was a difference in hiring those with private profiles to those who have public profiles. Also, something that comes into play is one’s online profiles and their footprint on all types of social media sites and the internet in general. Altogether, social media is helping candidates find jobs and and companies find candidates who are meeting all their standards and requirements.

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Experts in the field of recruiting, through social media, have discovered both the positive and negative effects in finding those key traits a company is truly looking for a candidate. In a research study, A multi-modal recruitment strategy using social media and internet-mediated methods to recruit a multidisciplinary, international sample of clinicians to an online research study (2018), Cliona McRobert, Jonathan Hill, Tom Smale, Elaine Hay, and Danille Van Der Windt, all of which are College Based Researchers and Professors, conducted research in which they discovered that incorporating social media recruitment was an effective way of hiring individuals for the needs of the company. Of course, hiring people through social media can have its negatives as McRobert et al. found out it was better explained by McNamee who worked at Facebook and has experienced the lack of effort at Facebook to stay in the lead as a service industry leader. McNamee explained in his article, How to Fix Social Media Before It's Too Late an Early Investor on How Facebook Lost Its Way (2019), how Facebook was at one point in time was a leading social media site and has now fallen so far back to where they are taking others ideas and having to put their own twist to it. McNamee stated “I got involved with the company more than a decade ago and have taken great pride and joy in the company's success … until the past few months” (Para. 1). Both sources explain how social media has its positives and negatives in the hiring and recruiting process, but in the end it comes out that hiring and recruiting through social media has been found effective.

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Recent research shows that there is a link between a positive relationship between job seeker’s actual and perceived fit, and the customization of job ads towards effective online recruitment. In a dissertation manuscript from 2003 written by Brien R. Dineen, a PhD student at the University of Ohio, found that, “...people are attracted to organizations and jobs that appear to have people or characteristics similar to what the job seeker stands for, needs, and can demonstrate” (p. 15). This means that a job seeker must be able to align their values, beliefs, and responsibilities with the company that they are applying to. Dineen also suggests from his study, “...that job seekers are able to relate their actual, measured level of fit with organizations on three fit dimensions (values, needs, and KSAs) to their perceptions of P-O and P-J fit” (p. 158). These three dimensions need specific focus from Jackson Realty & Builder’s Company to effectively target their audience and deliver a clear message on their values and goals that will align with potential client’s values and goals.

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With the introduction of social media in the past decade, many companies and firms are looking towards social media to improve their marketing strategies. This new online resource has proved to be incredibly effective in creating brand familiarity and growing personal connections with consumers. In a study published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, authors Thornhill, Xie, and Young Jin Lee conclude, “We argue that in order for a brand’s Facebook presence to add value, firms must be very tactful and subtle in their marketing attempts”. For Jackson Realty & Builder’s Company to market their brand through social media, specifically Facebook in this example, they need to be tactile and subtle. In many cases, a certain brand can cause “overflow” into another. Although this is a good thing for both parties, they both get consumers, one brand may be forgotten because they are directed towards another. This is stated in, “a 90 percent confidence level, we find evidence of spillover effects in owned media that will benefit competing brands”.

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​Many businesses have social media platforms that they rely on to provide a way to communicate with their audience, but some find social media to be untrustworthy. In an article from NZ Business and Management, author Sarah Pearce says, “... Trust in social media has fallen … yet despite these findings, social media can still provide a strong platform and voice for your business, it just needs careful handling, education, some user savvy, and readiness to adjust to the changing climate” (p. 1). Pearce explains that a strong social media platform is possible, if done efficiently. Author of an article from Crain’s Detroit Business, KC Crain, agrees that businesses have a responsibility to show that their company is liable using social media. He says, “Other companies have failed miserably by missing the opportunity to build loyalty through listening. Their inability to connect with their customers can destroy brain equity. Customers want to feel like they can trust the brands they do business with” (p. 8). According to Crain, customers want a listener they can trust and give feedback to. By providing a trustworthy social presence a business can succeed in being there for their customers.