With the 2012 Presidential Election less than three weeks away, we’ve officially entered the dreaded zone of back and forth debates, non-stop trash talking commercials, and endless political posts on Facebook. Even though this time of year can be annoying, there are some things that recruiters can learn, especially from the Presidential debates.

Americans don’t simply let someone walk into the White House without an intense screening process, the same way that you shouldn’t hire new employees without knowing all that you can about them. While the vetting process isn’t quite as intense for normal job candidates, there are still a lot of similarities.

Here are five things recruiters can learn from the Presidential debates:

  1. Interview your candidates thoroughly. Just as Americans want to know as much as they can about each Presidential candidate before they make a decision, recruiters should learn as much as they can about each potential employee before choosing who to hire. Keep in mind that it usually takes more than one interview to learn everything you need to know about a candidate – you not only want to know about their experience and their skills, but their attitude and how they will fit in with your company culture – so it helps to have a series of different types of interviews with different people in the company.
  2. Understand what each candidate’s strengths are. By thoroughly reading through their resumes and conducting several interviews, you should eventually be able to pinpoint what each candidate’s strengths are. Once you know each candidate’s skills and abilities, you can more easily decide who’s talents align with the job and your company as a whole.
  3. Understand what each candidate’s weaknesses are. Just as you need to know what each candidate’s strengths are, you also need to know what each candidate’s weaknesses are. You can unveil a job seeker’s weaknesses by simply asking them what they think their own weaknesses are and by asking a number of other behavioral-based questions. You shouldn’t always discount a candidate because of their weaknesses, but instead ask yourself how you might be able to help that job seeker overcome their weaknesses and whether or not they’re willing to grow and learn within the position.
  4. Check the facts. Just like Presidential candidates, most job seekers will say almost anything to make themselves look good, which is why you need to check all the facts. Make sure you verify a potential employee’s education and employment history, try to speak to a few references about the candidate, and maybe even conduct a thorough background check so you can be assured the person is who they say they are.
  5. Pick the person that’s best for the job. Once all the interviews are complete and your fact-checking is done, you might be left with several candidates that you think have enough experience and are qualified for the position. This is where you need to use your gut instinct to pick who will be best for the job at hand, not necessarily who has the most experience or the most education.

A huge number of Americans are currently looking for new job opportunities – is your recruiting team ready?

Earlier this week, Jobvite released its Social Job Seeker Survey 2012, which found that a whopping 75 percent of Americans in the workforce are looking for new job opportunities. This is a 6 percent increase from last year.

The survey polled more than 2,100 adults – 1,300 of which are considered to be in the workforce, meaning they are either employed or unemployed and looking for a job. Of those who are employed, 69 percent are looking for a new job, up from 61 percent last year.

Some other interesting findings of the survey include:

  • About 33 percent of job seekers are less optimistic about finding a new job this year.
  • 61 percent of job seekers think finding a job is more difficult this year.
  • 41 percent of job seekers think they are overqualified for their current positions.
  • 83 percent of job seekers use Facebook to look for work, a slight jump from 82 percent in 2011.
  • The number of job seekers using Twitter to look for work increased from 37 percent to 46 percent over the last year.
  • The number of job seekers looking for work on LinkedIn grew from 32 percent to 41 percent between 2011 and 2012.
  • 88 percent of all job seekers have at least one social media profile, while 64 percent have two accounts, and 44 percent are using three or more networks.
  • 24 percent of job seekers have been asked for social media info when applying for a job.

“With fierce competition for jobs, which now includes a majority of employed people on top of active job seekers, social media has become a critical tool for job hunting and career growth,” Dan Finnigan, President & CEO of Jobvite, said in a press release. “One in six job seekers polled credited a social network for leading to their current/most recent employment.

“Maintaining your online presence and keeping employment top-of-mind at all times are vital to professional success,” he continued. “With technology and social networking rapidly evolving, those who don’t engage through Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Twitter will quickly find themselves falling behind.”

A lot of things can affect an employee’s happiness, but some cities just seem to have happier employees than others.

CareerBliss recently unveiled its list of the “Top 20 Happiest U.S. Cities for Young Professionals for 2012.” This year, six California cities appeared on the list, with three taking hold of the top spots.

The list is based on data from more than 38,000 employee reviews completed between 2011 and 2012 by young professionals, or those with less than 10 years of experience, throughout the country.

Employees were asked to rate 10 key factors that affect workplace happiness (including: work-life balance, compensation, company culture, overall work environment, company reputation, relationships with managers and co-workers, opportunities for growth, job resources, daily tasks, and job autonomy) on a scale of one to five.

The 20 happiest cities include:

  1. Los Angeles, Calif.: 3.952
  2. San Jose, Calif.: 3.951
  3. Sunnyvale, Calif.: 3.950
  4. Indianapolis, Ind.: 3.942
  5. San Diego, Calif.: 3.884
  6. Irvine, Calif.: 3.866
  7. Atlanta, Ga.: 3.857
  8. Boston, Mass.: 3.845
  9. San Francisco, Calif.: 3.833
  10. San Antonio, Texas: 3.828
  11. Las Vegas, Nev.: 3.820
  12. Seattle, Wash.: 3.784
  13. Irving, Texas: 3.783
  14. Philadelphia, Penn.: 3.779
  15. Orlando, Fla.: 3.763
  16. Pittsburgh, Penn.: 3.743
  17. New York, N.Y.: 3.716
  18. Plano, Texas: 3.705
  19. Miami, Fla.: 3.679
  20. Houston, Texas: 3.679

If you need some help recruiting happy employees, check out PCRecruiter.

If you’re not using social media to complement your hiring efforts yet, then you’re seriously falling way behind the trend.

Earlier this summer, Jobvite unveiled its annual Social Recruiting Survey, which found that social media has become an essential recruiting tool for successful HR teams. Currently, 92 percent of companies are using social media to recruit new employees, which is up from 78 percent five years ago.

Survey results are based on answers from more than 1,000 human resources and other recruitment professionals who were asked about their social media recruiting activities and intentions.

Some key findings of the survey include:

  • LinkedIn remains the most popular social network among recruiters, with usage increasing from 87 percent in 2011 to 93 percent in 2012.
  • 66 percent of recruiters are using Facebook, up 11 percent from last year.
  • 54 percent of recruiters are using Twitter.
  • 73 percent of employes have successfully hired a candidate through social media, up from 63 percent in 2011 and 58 percent in 2010.
  • 89 percent of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn, 25 percent through Facebook, and 15 percent through Twitter.
  • 49 percent of recruiters have seen the size of their candidate pools increase since adopting social media.
  • 43 percent of recruiters think social media leads to better quality candidates.
  • 20 percent of recruiters say hiring through social media is quicker than through traditional channels.
  • 71 percent of recruiters consider themselves moderate to exceptional social recruiters.
  • 48 percent of recruiters always check a candidate’s social profiles.
  • 80 percent of recruiters like candidates who belong to professional organizations.

“The rise in social recruiting has allowed both candidates and employers an easier way to find the best match,” Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite, said in a press release. “We continue to see social recruiting gain popularity because it is more efficient than the days of sifting through a haystack of resumes. It also increases quality referral hires, which our own data on Jobvite proves are hired faster and last longer.”

How does your small business recruit? Recruiting can be filled with endless requirements that can eliminate some of the dynamic potential of the process.

Taking a look at advice from Johnny Laurent, vice president and general manager for the Sage Employer Solutions business unit, there are “six rules of wise recruiting” that can help small businesses manage such an important process:

  1. Look back to go forward: Take a look at how your business used to hire talent. What did and didn’t work? These lessons can help you learn from the past, improve what’s broken, and move away from what needs to be forgotten.
  2. Hire for attitude, train for skills: Laurent advises businesses to observe the dynamic potential of an interested employee. After all, you can always train an employee on the changes in software, but their attitude toward work probably won’t be so amenable.
  3. Past performance does predict future behavior: Take a deep look at the prospect’s background and remember that “unclear answers from former employers shouldn’t be accepted.” Laurent also advises you to ask what the person was like in a particular situation.
  4. Become the employer of choice: The “number one recruiting strategy,” according to Laurent – is a goal that your business should strive to be recognized for in recruitment. When resumes start coming to you, Laurent says, you know you’re on the right track.
  5. Put them in the book – it’s important to keep a reference guide: Pay attention to who’s in your business right now. Keep tabs on your current employees and the directions they’re moving. You can keep tabs on your own organization as well as others.
  6. Hire hard, manage easy: Laurent uses this quote from Alan Davis, chairman and co-founder of Alan Davis Strategic Recruiting. If the right amount of energy is put into CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE, the rest “is a breeze,” in Laurent’s words.

Take these tips from Laurent and use them in your own recruitment process. Blending dynamic potential and conventional wisdom, the advice merges the best of both worlds for organizational success.

Recruiting those really exceptional, ‘extraordinary’ people won’t ever happen if you stick to legacy notions of simply matching skill levels to the company’s job description.

What’s important is what Geoffrey James, a staff writer for Inc’s SalesForce column, came away with from a leadership conference attended by numerous “CEOs and sales execs.”

“How to Hire Extraordinary Employees: 7 Rules” is not a randomly acquired list; the thoughtful tips go beyond the traditional skill-matching process to incorporate a deeper understanding of the applicant’s desires, wants, and even disappointments.

  1. Define your “Extraordinary Employee” – This step requires you to focus on the successful employees in your organization and understand their “talents and skills.” Interview questions around these traits will bring out any skills and character attributes that look to be “exceptional in your specific organization.”
  2. Always be Interviewing – Instead of waiting for the day you need to fill that opening, always be looking ahead and creating an inventory by “interviewing candidates all the time.” Use this along with your social media channels – and email – as a way to find applicants who look like they have that something “extraordinary” to contribute.
  3. Ask Questions That Reveal Character – Don’t throw them the ‘ol soft-ball question, like “What was your greatest achievement?” Get deep-in-the-weeds with this one and ask them to bring up “achievements from grade school, two from high school, two from college 
 ” and make sure they can tie-in a business-related achievement as well.
  4. Seek People Who Have Overcome Disappointment – You’re looking for those telling and “defining moments” that show they possess resiliency, which is crucial to assessing how they will cope in your business environment.
  5. Don’t Confuse Success with Motivation – How many times have you heard that almost-clichĂ©-type phrase, “self-starters”? Make sure the “self-starter” mantra is only working when heavily supervised.
  6. Hire for Attitude, Not Experience – Hiring based on the applicant’s past track record is not enough; instead you should decide if they have the right mojo and the right attitude to contribute to the company’s future.
  7. Get a Real Reference – Step away from the candidate’s resume when checking references and do your own sleuthing to find the references you need 
 ”rather than simply calling the ones on the 
 resume.”

HR departments are historically considered to be boring and conservative, but some of the cutting-edge policies being created in big companies are giving recruiters a new reputation.

It’s hard enough to find – and keep – good employees in today’s world, and having a good recruiting team and good recruiting software (https://www.pcrecruiter.net) is no longer enough, so a lot of companies are going above and beyond the ordinary tactics to draw potential candidates. From unlimited vacation to bolder branding ideas, employers are pulling out all the stops to bring new people on board.

Here are five of the craziest policies that are setting some companies apart:

  1. Extraordinary benefits – Most companies offer some form of medical, dental, and vision insurance, but some companies are going way above and beyond to make sure their employees are well taken care of. Take Google for example – if an employee dies, the company’s life insurance policy will pay their spouse or domestic partner 50 percent of that employee’s paycheck for the next 10 years.
  2. Unlimited vacation – Employees of most companies – especially the bigger, more corporate ones – typically only get a couple weeks of vacation each year. However, newer companies like Netflix and Foursquare allow their employees to take an unlimited amount of vacation. These companies realize just how much emphasis the younger generations place on the importance of work-life balance and how much they value their time off.
  3. Better health incentives – A lot more companies are focusing on the skyrocketing cost of healthcare and are finding new and innovative ways to keep their employees healthy. Some of the top companies have employee exercise spaces or group classes on-site, while others offer monetary incentives for employees who improve their health and in turn drive down the company’s overall insurance costs.
  4. Intrinsic benefits – We’re seeing a lot more companies acknowledge the importance of intrinsic benefits and implement new ways to appreciate their employees – including everything from setting up game rooms and snack lounges where employees can take a much-needed break throughout the day to offering telecommuting opportunities so employees can work from the comfort of their own home.
  5. Referral bonuses – Some of the best new hires come from the networks of your existing employees, and companies are beginning to place a higher value on this. It’s not unusual for companies to offer a referral bonus of $100 or so, but some companies are offering bonuses in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

It takes a lot of work to find the best employees for your company, but that goal can be met a lot easier if you have a great recruiter on your HR team.

So what makes someone a great recruiter as opposed to a mediocre one? In fact, there are several qualities that set high-performing recruiters above their lesser-performing counterparts.

Here are four essential qualities of a great recruiter:

  1. Good salesperson – Part of your job as a recruiter is to sell your company and your company’s job openings to potential candidates. You have to sell the idea of working for your company in the same manner that you’d sell someone a new product or service, which means you need to have the ability to prove why your company is so great and why someone will want to work there.
  2. People person – As a recruiter, it’s inherent that you’ll be dealing with people on a consistent basis, so you need to be comfortable interacting with all different types of people day in and day out. Since you will most likely be the first point of contact for a potential employee, your attitude and demeanor will essentially provide a first impression of the company, meaning that you need to be able to put on a happy face regardless of what might be going on in your personal life.
  3. Organized – There is a lot going on in the world of recruiting, from writing up job descriptions and reading resumes to calling people for interviews and conducting background checks on potential hires. So as a recruiter, you need to be extremely organized in order to keep track of all of these things, so you can ultimately get the job done.
  4. Technologically inclined – As we mentioned above, there are a lot of tasks that fall at the feet of recruiters, but luckily there are some great technologies out there to help them stay on track. Whether you’re using your company’s applicant tracking system (pcrecruiter.net) to review resumes, scheduling interviews through Google Calendars, or conducting a background check, you need to know how to use the latest technology in order to make your job more efficient.

Keep these important qualities in mind when hiring your company’s next recruiter. With any luck, you’ll snag someone who can entice some of the best employees out there to join your company.

Sometimes employers become overly egocentric when it comes to recruiting, deciding that in a weak economy they have the pick of the litter when it comes to job seekers. However, job seekers are often no better at focusing their resumes around the old-fashioned idea of an objective and expecting employers to meet their personal needs by offering them their dream job.

The fact of the matter is that recruiting needs to be a give-and-take situation. That doesn’t mean one side gives and the other takes. It means there should be a balance on both sides.

In the article, “The Importance of the Give-and-Take Job Interview,” writer and human resources consultant Deborah S. Hildebrand suggests
that:

… job seekers (and employers) should focus on creating the type of give-and-take environment that naturally lends itself to a quality fact-finding session. Because that is what job interviews are supposed to be all about. It’s just business professionals gathering information.

In a truly idyllic job interview, both sides would feel confident in what they bring to the table and be able to discuss openly the benefit of what they each offer. It would be, as Hildebrand suggests, a more level playing field.

For employers, writer and speaker John Picoult sees it this way in his Monster.com article, “Does your Hiring Process Sentence Applicants to Hard Labor?” Employers need to consider how their company treats customers and apply these same rules to job seekers. After all, customers are just job seekers on their day off.

Consider this: if you make the shopping experience uncomfortable or difficult for customers, they are likely to stop patronizing your business, right?

The same principle applies in the recruiting arena. If it’s unreasonably difficult and onerous for candidates to interact with your firm, they’ll be inclined to look elsewhere for employment. (And no matter what the state of the job market, talented people will always have other alternatives.)

Making the recruiting process as free of stress and friction as possible should be your goal. It’s our goal. That’s why we offer a complete recruiting software solution for your applicant recruiting, sourcing, and tracking needs. Check out PCRecruiter for more.

If you’re not using social media as part of your recruiting efforts yet, here’s some motivation: revenue from social networking sites is expected to rise a whopping 43.1 percent this year, hitting a total of $16.9 billion.

That’s according to a new forecast on social media revenue from Gartner, which examined past revenue from sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and asked analysts how that revenue will grow over the coming years.

What does this have to do with recruiting? It means that more people are going to be using social media sites and more companies are going to figure out how to monetize the actions from those users.

So it only makes sense that you establish a presence on all the popular social media sites now, so you can interact with the online community and find some great candidates by advertising your jobs or tapping into your networks’ connections.

Here are some interesting facts from the report:

  • Social media revenue is expected to rise from $11.8 billion in 2011 to $16.9 billion this year, making for an increase of 43.1 percent.
  • Revenue from social networking sites should reach $34 billion by 2016.
  • Advertising accounts for the largest portion of revenue from social media sites, expected to hit $8.8 billion this year, followed by social gaming at $6.2 billion, and subscriptions at $278 million.
  • The number of people using social media will grow at a moderate pace as competition and new technologies keeps people engaged.
  • Marketing departments are going to spend more of their advertising budgets on social media sites.

“New revenue opportunities will exist in social media, but no new services will be able to bring significant fresh revenue to social media by 2016,” Neha Gupta, a senior research analyst with Gartner, said. “The biggest impact of growth in social media is on the advertisers.

“In the short and medium terms, social media sites should deploy data analytic techniques that interrogate social networks to give marketers a more accurate picture of trends about consumers’ needs and preferences on a customized basis,” she added. “In the meantime, however, they should also continue to exploit other channels of revenue like mobile advertising and social commerce.”

The Olympic Games are a time-tested tradition enjoyed throughout the world, but beyond the athletes and the competition, it’s the employees behind the scenes who keep the event running smoothly.

Traditionally, the Olympic Games are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter events. The host city changes for each event as well, with this year’s games being hosted in London.

The Olympics regularly attract participants from more than 200 nations around the world, which means there is a huge influx of visitors to the host city. It is estimated that the London games will cost $14.8 billion.

But that cost is well worth it for the city, which will see plenty of business before, during, and after the games take place. Obviously, Olympic Park itself will see most of the business, but patronage will flow all throughout the city as guests book rooms at local hotels, make reservations at local restaurants, and tour around local landmarks.

Given the amount of business the games will bring to the city, it’s imperative that local businesses ramp up their hiring efforts in order to meet demand. That means figuring out a way to hire a large number of talented employees within a small period of time.

To help with the hiring efforts, game officials have established a program that will help unemployed people and students find a job related to the games. A total of 100,000 people are expected to nab paid positions in catering and hospitality, cleaning and waste, event services, retail, and security.

“The vision of London 2012 is to use the power of the Games to inspire lasting change. Part of that vision is inspiring lasting change in London’s communities, particularly in the east of the capital where much of the Games is being held. Getting people into work – some of whom might have been unemployed for a long time or may have never had a job before – is a key element of the area’s regeneration.”

Opportunities are also available with the ceremonies department, which is in charge of putting together the actual opening and closing ceremonies, and the London 2012 Organizing Committee.

What this country needs is more small businesses. So the U.S. Department of Labor recently announced it was providing $35 million for states to help develop, enhance, and promote Self-Employment Assistance programs to encourage unemployed Americans to realize their dreams of business ownership.

The program allows “participants who are currently receiving or eligible for federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits” to receive “financial assistance equal to their Unemployment Insurance benefits while they receive important entrepreneurial training and resources to help launch their own businesses.”

Small Business Vital to Recruiting

Small businesses not only create opportunity for their owners, but they create opportunities for other small businesses, as well as job seekers in the community. As the Small Business Administration suggests:

“
 The overall importance of the small busi­ness community has been well documented and the importance of new venture creation is widely recognized.”

And nowhere is this more important than in the creation of new jobs. In fact, as of 2010, the SBA reported that small businesses (fewer than 500 employees per the SBA) accounted for 75 percent of net new jobs in the U.S.

Additionally, a study conducted by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) suggested that entrepreneurship is a major factor in any country’s well-being in both economic and job growth.

Technology Makes Small Businesses Competitive

However, the difficulty for many small businesses and entrepreneurs is in competing with larger organizations. That’s where technology can provide an advantage.

Technology makes small businesses competitive. As Stephanie Faris suggests in her article, “Technology Helps Small Businesses Restore Competitiveness to U.S. Economy”:

“Thanks to technology, those smaller companies can now compete with the largest corporations in the country. Cloud services are leveling the playing field, allowing small and mid-sized businesses to tackle larger projects 
”

And one such large project is managing the recruiting function. That’s where PCRecruiter can help.

We offer tools that enable human resource and other business professionals to manage the entire recruiting process, from requisition approval and submission to resume database management and diversity tracking. Whatever you need to streamline staffing, we have the recruiting software tools that are right for your current needs.

The applicant tracking system market is continuing to grow, and as providers offer newer and better solutions, many companies are thinking about switching the service they currently use.

That’s the most important information to come out of “Talent Acquisition Systems 2011: Market Realities, Implementation Examples and Solution Provider Profiles,” a report released last year by Bersin & Associates. The report looked at survey responses from HR professionals and recruiters from organizations of all sizes and in all major industries.

According to Sarah White, who works as principal analyst of talent acquisition for Bersin & Associates, a lot of companies are choosing to work with providers that offer better support and a higher level of integration, and ATS companies that offer a large selection of products are doing the best. It’s commonly accepted that applicant tracking systems are just as important to the recruiting and onboarding process as interviewing and social networking.

Here are some key figures from the survey:

  • The ATS market increased by 11.1 percent to $837 million during 2010, which was slightly lower than the $861 million originally predicted by experts. The difference can be attributed to the slowing economy.
  • The survey predicted that the ATS market would grow by 12 percent to $937 million by the end of 2011, as high-end companies consolidate and low-end companies continue to expand.
  • About 50 percent of companies were planning to switch to a new ATS provider over the year, as new options and new technologies emerge.
  • The amount of time it takes to convince a company to commit to an ATS provider has increased from six months to up to three years.
  • A large majority of ATS providers offer a mobile solution in order to keep up with growing popularity.
  • More and more ATS companies are merging in order to offer a more robust suite of solutions to customers, such as search engine optimization or video services.
  • As social networks continue to become more and more popular, most ATS companies are offering the ability to integrate with LinkedIn, Facebook, or other sites.
  • Analytics have become more important than ever in evaluating a company’s application, interviewing, and hiring process.
  • Learning Management Systems are growing by 10 percent per year, while Performance Management and Succession Management Systems are increasing by 12 percent.

So, as you can see, applicant tracking systems and other similar technologies that make the recruiting and onboarding process easier, cheaper, and more efficient aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. If you’re not already using this technology, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon!

It’s common practice for employers in certain industries to place a strong emphasis on a potential candidate’s work history in order to prevent high turnover numbers. It’s long been thought that candidates who have held several positions in a short period of time will make worse employees and will be more likely to quit.

However, a recent white paper by Evolv shows that work history has very little effect on a candidate’s abilities or likeliness to stay in a position. That means one of the factors employees place a strong emphasis on – in their applicant tracking systems, in the interview process, and in the hiring process – is mostly wrong.

The white paper, entitled “Does Previous Work History Predict Future Employment Outcomes?”, looked at applicant data and employment outcomes of 21,115 call center agents.

Key findings of the white paper include:

  • Almost half of all applicants had two or three jobs in the last five years, while 45 percent had none or one job, and 7 percent had four or more jobs.
  • 56 percent of applicants said they hadn’t held any jobs for less than six months.
  • Survival curves, or the probability that agents reach a given point in time, were almost identical for all groups, regardless of the number of jobs held in the last five years or the number of short-term positions.

“These results indicate that an applicant’s previous work history is actually a poor predictor of employment outcomes,” the white paper notes. “In fact, there is other assessment content that is much more strongly predictive of both attrition as well as performance on the job.

“Clearly, a more nuanced understanding of the applicant as well as his or her personality, aptitudes, work style, technical skills, and fit for the position are necessary to make more informed recruiting decisions,” the paper continues. “Previous work experience must be viewed holistically and placed within a much broader context in order to ensure that a given employer is recruiting the best possible talent.”

By now, most companies know how important it is to have a good recruitment software system in place. But how does your company value that software’s ability to integrate with social media?

Last year, Jobvite released its annual Social Recruiting Survey and introduced the new Jobvite Index, both of which unveil how recruiters are using social media. The data prove that social media is becoming more and more important in the recruiting process.

Overall, the number of companies planning to recruit through social media increased from 83 percent to 89 percent last year. At the same time, 64 percent of companies were using at least two social networks for their recruiting efforts.

“The data show that recruiting departments, like marketing departments, are reaching and engaging their targets in multiple social networks,” Dan Finnigan, Jobvite president and CEO, said in a company press release. “The fastest moving companies increasingly use the richness of profiles in LinkedIn, the power of online connections in Facebook, and the instant reach of Twitter to develop valuable talent pools and make new hires.”

Some other key findings of the survey include:

  • The number of companies that have hired through social media increased from 58 percent to 64 percent between 2010 and 2011.
  • Although companies still claim referrals bring the highest quality candidates, only 30 percent were planning to increase their referral budget, while 55 percent were spending more on social recruiting. Only 16 percent were paying more for job board postings.
  • As we previously noted, 64 percent of companies use at least two social networks for recruiting, while 40 percent of companies use at least three.
  • About 73 percent of social hires come from LinkedIn, while 20 percent come from Facebook, and 7 percent come from Twitter.
  • The fight for jobs isn’t expected to die down anytime soon, as 77 percent of companies anticipate an increase in competition, and 61 percent plan to recruit from their competitors.

“Jobvite’s new data confirms our research that social recruiting has become an essential element of today’s corporate recruiting strategy,” Josh Bersin, president and CEO of Bersin & Associates, said. “The data also points out that referral-based recruiting is a new ‘secret weapon’ for talent acquisition. Companies that focus heavily on referral strategies, enabled by social networks, are delivering the highest quality of hire at the lowest overall cost.”