How social recruitment requires students to manage a responsible digital footprint

Today’s students are ideal candidates for recruitment via social media. As members of the Generation Y cohort that is almost always connected to the internet, these students are, however, particularly at risk of overlooking the professional impact of their digital footprint, a visible online record of all their comments and other content ever posted on the internet. As such, research has indicated that digital footprints containing images and comments displaying substance abuse, badmouthing, profanity and other offensive content, are reasons to dismiss the suitability of such students as job candidates. While social recruitment has become a mainstream channel for employers to select talent, literature suggests that students remain ignorant of how their digital footprint may jeopardize potential employers’ perceptions and thus such students’ capacity to secure internships and job placements. Although several studies have been conducted about students’ irresponsible social media habits, there is a dearth of literature on interventions that have successfully sensitised students to maintain responsible digital footprint. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate current literature in order to explore how co-operative and work integrated learning practices and programmes may support students in cultivating a responsible digital footprint