How Common is Social Recruiting? Jobvite Survey Reveals the Answer

Leading recruitment software provider Jobvite has published a report revealing that 92 percent of companies use social media for recruitment purposes; this number is up 14 percent from 2007 where 78 percent reported participating. The most used social network continues to be LinkedIn with 93 percent of respondents preferring it over other networks. However, Facebook, and to a lesser extent Twitter, are closing the gap. About two-thirds of survey participants reported using Facebook and about 50 percent reported using Twitter for some level of recruitment activity.

And social platforms are being used for more than simple headhunting with almost 75 percent of hiring managers/recruiters using social profiles for screening purposes. The report found that social media has become a beneficial tool for businesses by substantially opening up candidate pools. Indeed, 73 percent of polled employers reported to having successfully hiring a candidate through social media in 2012; up 10 percent from 2011 and 15 percent 2010. A further 20 percent of HR pros said that social recruiting takes less time than traditional methods. Many employers (43 percent) even suggest that social recruiting has improved the overall quality of the candidate pool, and this view seems to be rising in popularity.

The survey included a poll of over 1,000 HR and recruitment professionals who were interviewed about their social recruiting activities and intentions.