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Most Businesses Use Social Nets for Hiring

By mike, Jul 14 in blog with 0 comments

Nearly three-quarters of companies recruit on social sites

Online job boards and third-party search firms may be losing out to social media when companies search for new employees, based on June 2010 research from recruiting platform Jobvite.

Nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed were using social networks for recruiting, and 58.1% said they had successfully hired a candidate found through a social network.

LinkedIn was the top social network looked to for hiring, used by nearly 80% of companies recruiting through social media. It also provided the most success, with about 90% of companies who had hired through a social network reporting they found the candidate on LinkedIn. While Facebook and Twitter were used for recruiting by about 55% and 45% of companies, respectively, they led to far fewer hires: 27.5% for Facebook and 14.2% for Twitter.

Success in this area is leading almost half of employers to increase recruiting program spending on social media. At the same time, more than a third of companies were lowering spending on job boards and search firms.

March 2010 data from online job board Monster.com painted a somewhat different picture: 42% of companies surveyed said social networks were useful for recruiting college students, while 82% said large, all-purpose online job boards&mash;such as Monster.com—were useful.

That study also found that only about a quarter of companies were advertising entry-level positions on social sites.

“While the economy begins to recover, companies looking to make new hires are seeking the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent,” said Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite, in a statement. “Job boards launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social networks are doing the same—but in a targeted way. Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best talent efficiently, without making a major investment.”

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.