Can Social Media Help to Alleviate Skilled Worker Shortage? First Insights from the German Federal Employment Agency

Due to a growing skilled worker shortage ever more companies are looking for new and innovative ways of recruiting talent. While first companies have started using social media for recruiting, there is still a lack of research on this topic, in particular on the use of social media for active sourcing. Therefore, this paper investigates, based on a case study at the German Federal Employment Agency, how active sourcing via social media can help to alleviate skilled worker shortage. Our findings indicate that social media are a suitable means to staff open job positions for which the traditional recruiting process failed, in particular for job positions requiring a high-quality matching and applicants with an academic background. The creation of a modern brand and the strengthening of networking activities of employees are a positive by-product.