According to the annual Social Recruiting Survey conducted by Jobvite, social recruiting has become an essential HR practice, with 92 percent of U.S. companies using social networks and media to find talent in 2012, up from 78 percent five years ago. LinkedIn continues to be a dominant recruiting network, while Facebook and Twitter have seen major adoption growth in the past year. Two thirds of companies now recruit through Facebook and more than half (54 percent) use Twitter to find new talent. Jobvite also found that employers scrutinize social media activity, noting more than half of respondents would have a negative reaction to seeing a spelling or grammar mistake in a social profile. Overall, social recruiting has become an essential resource in the war for talent as competition is fiercer than ever — 89 percent of companies report plans to increase hiring this year.

Conducted in June, the 2012 survey polled more than 1,000 human resources and recruitment professionals on their social recruiting activities and intentions. Now in its fifth year, the survey has revealed social recruiting usage trends since 2008, providing insights into how popular it has become, who is using it effectively and the results social recruiting produces.

Social recruiting adoption reaches all-time high. Social recruiting has moved from a trend, to a necessity with 92 percent of employers using or planning to use social recruiting in 2012. No longer exclusive to LinkedIn, all social networks are now fair recruiting game.

• 2/3 of recruiters use Facebook to find new talent, a growing trend since Facebook saw the biggest gain in usage, jumping 11 points from last year to 66 percent in 2012.
• For the first time, more than half (54 percent) of recruiters now use Twitter for their talent search, revealing the importance of watching what you tweet.
• LinkedIn remains the dominant recruiting network, used by 93 percent of respondents. (87 percent in 2011 and 78 percent in 2010).
• Seventy one percent of HR and recruiting professionals consider themselves moderate to exceptional social recruiters.

Employers like professional organizations but frown on drinking and bad grammar. Nearly 3 out of 4 hiring managers and recruiters check candidates’ social profiles — 48 percent always do so, even if they are not provided. New to the 2012 survey, Jobvite asked for their reactions to various types of profile content to see what recruiters like and don’t like to see:

• Eighty percent of respondents reacted positively to seeing memberships to professional organizations, while 2/3 like to see volunteering or donating to a nonprofit.
• Content that recruiters especially frown on includes references to using illegal drugs (78 percent negative) and posts of a sexual nature (67 percent negative).
• Profanity in posts and tweets garnered a 61 percent negative reaction, and almost half (47 percent) reacted negatively to posts about alcohol consumption.
• Worse than drinking, grammar or spelling mistakes on social profiles saw a 54 percent negative reaction.
• However, recruiters and hiring managers tend to be neutral in their reactions to political opinions (62 percent neutral) and religious posts (53 percent neutral).

Social recruiting delivers tremendous hiring results. Social Recruiting gained momentum because of results. It’s an effective way to take a comprehensive look at a large candidate pool and quickly bring in high-quality talent.

• More than 7 out of 10 employers have successfully hired a candidate through social media (73 percent). This is up from 63 percent in 2011 and 58 percent in 2010.
• Of those social hires, 89 percent of respondents have hired from LinkedIn, 25 percent through Facebook and 15 percent through Twitter.
• Since implementing social recruiting, almost half (49 percent) received more candidates to choose from.
• More than 4 out of 10 (43 percent) say the quality of applicants has improved.
• 1/3 of respondents see more employee referrals, which tend to lead to the most valuable hires.
• Twenty percent reported it takes less time to hire when using social recruiting.

“The rise in social recruiting has allowed both candidates and employers an easier way to find the best match,” said Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite. “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.”

Referrals are the highest-rated sources of new hires, and it’s far easier for employees to share jobs through social networks. Industry data shows people have an average of 150 social network contacts, so a company of 100 could have a social recruiting reach of 15,000 direct contacts, and 2.25 million second-degree connections. The survey notes that roughly 2/3 (65 percent) of companies seek to increase employee participation in recruiting by offering referral bonuses; more than 1/3 offer rewards of more than $1,000.

Source: Jobvite; www.jobvite.com.