The term social skills has taken a new meaning. Recruiters are singling out candidates who are more active and aware of Social Media to be hired for prominent positions in several companies.

A job applicant's digital awareness and comfort in the online sphere is being taken into account to influence the recruitment procedure as companies believe, being able to operate and function in a virtual environment is a trait.

Ajoy Mukherjee, global HR head at TCS said, "A candidate might not know much about analytics and big data. But level of awareness about social media, ability to see the big picture, and ability to work smoothly in virtual teams is necessary."

Randstad, an HR firm conducted a survey over 400 employees in India to deduce that their social and digital skills are more important now than five years ago.

Technology research firm Gartner Inc has data that reveals that on-site job requirements are set to increase three times by 2016 and candidates' digital 'literacy' and proficiency will be taken into account.

Reproduced from DNA Bangalore