Where Do Your Best Candidates Come From? Survey Says: Social Media

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It's well-known that some of the best talent today is found via the Internet, but more specifically these folks are found via social media networks. Companies are using social media more and more to recruit top talent within their industry, which is why your company should be doing the same. For the modern recruiter, social media plays a major role in the success they have with finding top talent and hiring that talent.

A recent survey indicates that social media’s positive impact on recruitment efforts may be stronger than you currently imagine.

Social Media Ready for Takeover

Aberdeen Talent Acquisition performs a survey every year for businesses and how they find talent. In the 2013 survey, released in May, Aberdeen found that social media has climbed one spot from three to two when it comes to companies using this medium to find candidates for open jobs. Social media was ranked at number three back in the 2012 survey.

There are three categories within the social media spectrum:

  • Searching for specific jobs
  • General job post browsing 
  • Uploading a LinkedIn profile to apply for a job

These three categories saw significant increased from the 2012 survey to the 2013 survey and should see another increase from 2013 to 2014. In the search for jobs category, 64 percent of respondents said they use social media for this task compared to 58 percent in 2012.

In the job post browsing category, 61 percent of respondents said they use social media for this task compared to 50 percent in 2012. In the LinkedIn profile building category, 57 percent said they use this social media task compared to just 38 percent in 2012. The LinkedIn category enjoyed the largest jump, almost 20 percent, from 2012 to 2013.

Based on the survey from Aberdeen, social media is very close to taking over as the leading source for recruiting of new employees.

The survey looked at four methods, of which we have listed them in order of finish in the survey from one to four. They include employee referral programs, social networking sites, corporate career pages and internal job boards.

Recruiters Using Social Media to Their Advantage

More often than not, recruiters are using social media sites to their advantage and it parlays into success on the recruitment front. Recruiters are able to stay in almost constant contact with candidates when using social media, which means that you can always be in a candidate’s ear about the company. 

Review our Crystal Clear Predictions for Recruiters in 2014

One of the best advantages of social media recruiting is the fact that recruiters do not have a limit as to how many times they can contact a candidate. This is much like schools when trying to recruit student-athletes at the collegiate level.

A word to the wise: Recruiters also do not want to spam their targets, so there is a very thin line when using social media for a recruiting project. Anytime you contact a candidate through social media you want it to be with fresh content and new information, nothing repetitive.

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What does our team do?

At Social Hire, we don't just do social.

Our specialists are a team that assists our partners improve their presence online by giving online marketing on a regular basis.

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