Social Media Recruiting Continues Growth Spurt

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.”