© 2019 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved. www.discoveryjournals.org OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE Page158 PERSPECTIVE Use of social media for job search and application: a perspective from the job seekers in Bangladesh Md. Al-Amin 1 , Shohel Md. Nafi 2 , Md Al Amin 3 This paper explores the impacts of social networking sites on job aspirants in Bangladesh in terms of job search and application as well as the different perspectives from the job seekers’ point of views. Using a mixed method approach, this cross-sectional study collected basically primary data through questionnaire survey and In-depth Interview with the stakeholders. Data obtained from the sources showed that the prevalence of using social media for job search is high among Bangladeshi job seekers and they are mostly using Facebook (84.2%) and LinkedIn (9.8%) for it. Many applied (77.0%) for jobs getting the advertisement from social media and only 70.8 % of them get contacted by the employers. Of the interacted candidates, 46.8% were offered the job and only 21.6% of them joined at their desired job. The study identified that there were many reasons why candidates were leaning away from joining at the jobs and not much get interested in social media use for the purpose of job search. Though there were found a bunch of constructive advantages of using social media for job searching like; cost reduction (94.6%), fair playground for all (49.5%), easy way (70.7%), user-friendly (55.2%), fewer formalities (35.9%), and direct response and flexibility (39.8%) etc., there were also found some challenges for it; insecurity (22.8%), fake recruitment (38.6%), deception (21.7%), unsecured or betrayed (29.7%) and hiring for a short time (11.4%) are mentionable. However, if the trust, credibility, and authenticity in whole recruitment processes and eradication of fake advertisements, security threats and betraying behaviors –could be identified and addressed, social media will be a powerful catalyst for job search and application –which will definitely lead to a proper, effective and efficient recruitment gateway in Bangladesh. INTRODUCTION Social media or social networking sites are regarded as vital sites on the internet. They offer broad methods of communication and individual networking systems by giving more opportunities to job seekers for networking. Besides, social networking sites are considered an important medium for human resources professionals for job advertising and getting information about job seekers in effectively and efficiently (Nikolaou, 2014). In the age of the information, everyone uses social networking sites as a common and the most important platform for online communication where people can share personal information and develop a professional contact. There are many social networking sites available for communication but we basically focus on the most popular social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.. Most of the fresh graduate and job seekers in Bangladesh find their job advertisement on Facebook and LinkedIn and other popular social networking sites. Today, job seekers of Bangladesh spend maximum time on Facebook and LinkedIn for finding their expected job rather than newspapers. There are a variety of reasons for using social networking sites for job searching purpose by the Jobseekers of Bangladesh like Social Networking sites are easy to use, Jobseekers get many job advertisements on a single platform, Jobseekers can save money as they do not need to purchase any printed newspapers. Nowadays, employers are posting their job advertisements in their social networking sites and some other third parties posting the job advertisements of different organizations in their own social media pages or groups intentionally to make the advertisement open for all. Furthermore, the job seekers are also scrolling their social networking sites for having job advertisements within an easy, accessible and inexpensive way. In fact, there are found some positive and negative externalities and impact on using these social media for job search. Thus, the study is important for the uniqueness of the aims and of the significance in the broad array of the job seekers and job markets thus the stakeholders could get a proper channel and information about the context to make their decisions. The main purpose of this research was to find out how does social networking sites impacts the job seekers of Bangladesh. We also tried to find out what extent of Job seekers of Bangladesh is searching for their desired jobs through Facebook and LinkedIn and other social networking sites. The research also explains the relation between the use of social networking sites and the change in the behavior of Job seekers of Bangladesh. PERSPECTIVE 55(281), May 1, 2019 DISCOVERY ISSN 2278–5469 EISSN 2278–5450 1 Department of Management Information Systems, Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU), Noakhali-3814, Bangladesh; 2 Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali-3814, Bangladesh; 3 Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh  Corresponding Author: Md Al Amin; Address: FF#7, Prince Tower, 135/A, Elephant Road, New Market, Dhaka-1205; Contact number: +8801821475770; Email: mohiuddinkhanalamin@yahoo.com