What Does TikTok Mean for the Future of Hiring?

If you are a baby boomer, Generation Xer, or geriatric millennial (like I am), the thought that a social networking site would or even could be used for recruitment is almost unthinkable. Remember back in 2010 when all of the buzz was about how social media could so easily ruin your professional reputation and deeply negatively impact your future hiring potential? Today, little more than a decade later, it seems that perception has done a full 180-degree turn. 

So what has changed and how will the new social media giant, TikTok, impact the future of hiring? Well, since 2010, an entirely new generation of labor has entered the workforce—Gen Z—and they view the world entirely differently than previous generations. Let’s discuss the key points.

Reaching the Right Audience:

The post-pandemic job market is a great example of how companies are struggling to reach talent for their vacant positions. Because entry-level roles don’t necessarily need the experience or professionalism of more senior-level roles, it makes sense to target platforms that hold the attention of the target audience. Here in the US, TikTok reaches 62% of all 10-29 year olds, which when compared to the leading job board in the US, reaches 12 times more people a month. And TikTok specifically hits the target demographic Gen Z audience that is needed to fill many of the talent shortage roles.

TikTok is where the attention is and while companies once had all the power in that workers had to chase them to find gainful employment, that sense of urgency and culture has shifted and changed with Gen Z. They simply do things their own way and it seems companies have to now shift their marketing endeavors to attract the right labor force. 

The Resume Will Become Obsolete:

I firmly believe that the resume is a flawed source of information. It really does not provide the necessary information about a candidate needed to determine if that person is a suitable fit for a company. TikTok has created a generation of creators—people who are willing to spontaneously grab their camera phone and produce interesting content about themselves, typically for the purpose of entertainment. However, in reality, tweaking that content slightly to turn it into a video resume, could easily be done. 

TikTok themselves have recognized this and will begin to offer a TikTok video resume service—allowing its users to create video content about themselves explaining why they would be a good fit for a company. It’s a brilliant way of creating a new trend that will inevitably pave the way for employers and will eventually cause the conventional resume to become obsolete. 

Changing Behavior:

TikTok is a threat to the traditional ways of hiring online. Over the last two decades, companies have come to rely on a plethora of tools, such as job boards, LinkedIn, and applicant tracking systems. But the problem is that these tools only work if the target audience that the employers are looking for actually use them. LinkedIn is a great example of a platform that will face significant challenges in the future. It’s filled with spam and uses outdated processes to try and attract new talent. Can we actually imagine Generation Alpha embracing these antiquated methods as they begin to enter the workforce within the decade? I have my doubts.  

If companies get great results from the platform linked to TikTok it could present a new way of looking at hiring and how they hire. The more we have learned about people in the workplace, the more we have come to understand that culture and personality fit are quite possibly the most crucial aspects to successfully onboarding an effective workforce. The traditional method of applying with a resume on a job board really does not provide the initial information needed to make a hiring decision, especially about whether that person has the right personality and cultural fit for the employer. With all of this in mind, I believe linking TikTok to a hiring platform signals change and may be the beginning of a major shift in the onboarding practices used by companies. 

In Summary:

I’m excited about this change and I, for one, embrace it. It’s time to see new, more effective ways of hiring the best talent. Removing many of the outdated and formal barriers that are simply not reflective of today’s society, is the perfect place to start. TikTok is simply a pioneer in this process, and we may see more traditional platforms from the online recruitment industry embrace this way of onboarding. It’s important to note that the video resume is not a new idea and has actually been around since 2009. The platform CVSeeMe and its founder Keith Mabbutt were championing such innovation that the market and workforce were not quite ready for it, but today, with the rise of Generation Z, they certainly are.  

Arran Stewart is the Co-Founder and CVO of blockchain-powered recruitment platform Job.com. Arran has spent over a decade working to disrupt the recruitment industry with innovative, first-of-its-kind technology. His expertise on hiring, recruitment, technology, and macro job market trends has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Reuters, Wired, Fortune, and Nasdaq, among others.