The use of Social Media for Job Placement in Career Centres of Four European Universities: Opportunities and Risks

Abrastact. The process of interaction between individuals, through the use of social media, is one of the most complex problems that theorists have had to analyse in recent years (Richards, 2007; Kolbitsch and Maurer, 2006; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; ecc.). Social media tools are becoming an important presence in recruitment processes, transforming them. Today many organizations are facing a challenge: they must choose in order to allow their operators to use this new method of communication with their students and with firms or forbid it. The rapid changes that the diffusion of social media has had in the communication processes would undoubtedly impose a drastic change: the use of social media allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that could be translated in a new way (additional) to "recruit" workers. Although there are many benefits and promises from social media several risks are associated with their use. The ambiguity related to legal and ethical issues (for example individual privacy) of social media, at the same time, contains the enthusiasm related to the potentialities that social media offer. In particular this chapter intendes analyzing the perceived risks and benefits of social media in job placement of Universities in four contries (Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany). The chapter aims at providing an analysis of the phenomenon of social recruitment in Universities through the analysis of the percentage of presence and survival of these social networks and the use of this instrument for the placement of graduates in companies. It can be useful for managers of universities and firms to understand whether the presence of Universities on social media by students and firms is positive or not.