Recruitment Software: How Important is Social Media Integration?

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.”