Social recruiting, using social networks to source and hire talent, isn’t new and it isn’t going away. To understand what recruiters and human resources professionals are doing to find people for openings, you just need to look at the newest Jobvite study.
Who Was Surveyed
Jobvite surveyed 1,855 recruiting and human resource professionals in August of 2014. This is the 7th year the study has been conducted. They chose a cross section of professionals from various industries, both customers and non-customers of the Jobvite social recruiting software.
Use of Social Networks Growing…(oops)
From 78% in 2008 to 93% in 2014, that’s the percent of recruiters/HR professionals using social networks to source talent. In a few short years, this has grown 15%! The oops is the fact that last year (2013) 94% said they were using social networks to recruit. Not a big slip, but I had to throw that in there.
Click here to see the full INFOGRAPHIC
What Are Recruiters Looking For?
Recruiters were asked what they were looking for when checking out candidates on two of the more popular social networks (LinkedIn and Facebook) . Here’s what they evaluated:
- Professional experience
- Length of professional tenure
- Industry-related posts
- Mutual connections
- Specific hard skills
- Cultural fit
- Examples of written or design work
Social Recruiting Is Growing Because It Works!
73% of recruiters surveyed said they have hired candidates found through social networks. Of the 73%, this is where they hired from:
- LinkedIn 79%
- Facebook 26%
- Twitter 14%
- Candidate blog 7%
Return on Investment
The reason social recruiting isn’t going away is because it is effective! The data speaks for itself! For recruiters who hired using social recruiting, they reported the following improvements:
- Quality of candidates 44%
- Quantity of candidates 44%
- Time-to-hire 34%
- Employee referrals 30%
Worried About Your Online Presence?
Don’t worry, evaluate it and fix it! Google yourself and make sure everything that shows up in page one search results is positive. Carefully review your status updates and social profiles to see what is viewable publically. It is never safe to assume that anything you share is private or amongst your friends only. Trust me on this. Never post anything to social media that you would embarrassed by! Spelling and grammar are important! Don’t overlook that small detail.
55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on these negative findings.
Ready, Set, Get Social!
Yes, you’re convinced this is important. Go spiff up your LinkedIn profile. More importantly, USE LinkedIn.
Is Your LinkedIn Profile Awesome? (includes a 20 point checklist of things to do to improve your profile)
10 LinkedIn Status Updates for Job Seekers
and more!
All image credit to Jobvite
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
