Possibilities of Using Social Media in Human Resource Management

The presented study focuses on online social media and possibilities of their use in human resource management. The aim of the study is to define recommendations for a more effective application of social media and their tools in HR management, based on an analysis of social media tools and evaluation of results of a research carried out among Czech organizations. The study also attempts to identify the potential use of individual online social media in the respective HR activities. The study consists of a theoretical and an analytical part. The theoretical part first describes social media as a whole and then presents a description of the most common social networking services. The analytical part comprises three chapters. One chapter includes an analysis of social media tools and their potential use in the respective HR activities, while another chapter contains a description and analysis of the results of a research examining the use of social media in HR practice of Czech organizations. The final chapter presents a comparison of the outputs of both analyses. Recommendations for a more effective use of social media in HR practice are then defined based on this comparison. The outcomes of this comparison include the finding that practical use is in accordance with the defined potential only in the case of LinkedIn, which is by far the most used social networking service in Czech organizations. Facebook is the second; however, the extent to which it is used does not fully match the possibilities it offers. This also holds for other social media, particularly in terms of their use for recruitment and HR marketing, the most suitable HR activity for social media. The recommendations defined for using social media in HR practice of Czech organizations therefore mainly include greater diversification of the range of these tools used in recruitment and HR marketing, leading to addressing different types of job candidates and to better employer branding, and screening job candidates on various social networking services, using as many resources as possible.