Recruiting is Social: Jobvite Explains How Social Media Affects Recruiting

by TMT Editor

Recruiters have flocked to social media in growing numbers over the past few years. Although this is common knowledge, the subject deserves attention, not the least because recruiters share several intuitive reasons in common for embracing social media; these reasons stem not only from current economic circumstances, but also from recruiters' day-to-day needs.

By virtue of their very nature, social media tools are filled with significant advantages for recruiters. For instance, sites such as LinkedIn present incredibly low entry-level costs, especially coveted during economic recessions -- and other tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, are free. Furthermore, the yield on these low costs is significant: easy access to large pools of qualified professionals, potential new hires who would otherwise reside outside a recruiter's network.

The following article by Anne Murguia, vice president of marketing for Jobvite -- provider of social recruiting products and recruiting software -- explores the advantages of social media as it relates to recruitment.

Social Recruitment: Why it’s right, right now
by Anne Murguia, Vice President of Marketing for Jobvite

Recruiting at its core is a social practice. Employers network to find candidates, candidates network to find jobs, and people collaborate within the company to choose the right hire. With a critical mass of jobseekers and companies using social media, this social nature of recruitment has naturally migrated online. The dramatic growth in the availability of online profiles and professional information on the Web has changed the hiring landscape, giving companies a new opportunity to improve the quality of their recruiting and reduce costs through social recruitment.

The practice of social recruitment encompasses a wide range of activities that use social media to research, engage and ultimately hire people. Asking contacts in your network to pass on information about job openings, having employees speak positively about your company to their social networks and using social networks to find and connect with qualified candidates is all social recruitment.

So why does social recruitment make sense now? There are several factors driving the growth and adoption of social networking including the amount of people joining online networks and the influence these networks have on people’s attitudes and opinions. Social networks have also proved to be a valuable method to reach the ever-illusive passive candidate. And in these economic times when budgets are under fire and recruitment staffs have been slashed, social recruitment provides a cost effective way to target quality candidates. 

People from all age groups are spending more time on social networking sites, using them to build both social and professional networks and gather real-time information.  According to a Nielsen study, social network usage now exceeds Web-based e-mail usage. In addition, 42 percent of adults in the U.S. with Internet access maintain a profile on a social networking site, according to Forrester Research. Social networks aren’t just for kids anymore either. People 35 and over are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, and the majority of Twitter users are between 25 and 54 years old. If people are on social networks already, it just makes sense to go where they are spending their time to find and recruit them. 

Not only are people increasingly gravitating to social networks, but they also hold more influence than ever before. People trust their networks and look to them to shape their opinions. According to a study by DEI Worldwide (link opens a PDF), 70 percent of consumers have visited social media sites to get information and 60 percent of people said they are likely to use social media sites to pass along information to others online. People look to their network for advice on where to work, just as they do for advice on what car to purchase or what movie to see. Instead of searching job boards with boilerplate job descriptions that lack context, people would rather find out about a job from a friend or friend of friend through their social networks. 

That’s why companies can find great candidates (and reduce recruiting costs) by involving the whole company in hiring and engaging employees to tap their own networks for referrals. Study after study has found that referrals, through social networks or personal connections, produce the highest quality hires at the lowest cost. 

We are already seeing that many of the companies who are ramping up social recruitment activities are also decreasing money spent on more costly methods. Jobvite’s annual Social Recruitment Survey of 2009, found that 72 percent of companies plan to increase their use of social networks while a majority say they will invest less in more costly sources, including job boards, third-party recruitment and campus recruiting.

Social recruitment is also a practical way to find highly valued passive candidates. As the economy slowed, passive candidates became even harder to hire as people became wary of changing jobs. New online sources – including social networks, blogs, online resumes and profiles – give recruiters more inexpensive ways than ever to research passive candidates and connect with them. 

According to a recent poll by LinkedIn, the social network is ripe with passive candidates. Results show that at least 36 percent of LinkedIn members (15 million people at the time of the survey) are employed, not actively looking, but still open to good job leads. While these people might not be combing job boards, they are keeping an eye on companies that interest them and an eye out for new opportunities. 

Why social recruiting? While these methods are new, the business drivers that make social recruitment so important now are classic – high quality hires for a small investment. Many companies, big, small and growing, already hire successfully through social networks. Social recruitment is a practical, high return-on-investment recruitment strategy that any company can adopt now.