
Jobvite, the recruiting platform for the social web, has released the results of its annual Social Recruiting Survey and introduced the Jobvite Index which tracks actual social recruiting results.
The survey reports that social recruiting continues to grow among U.S. companies with 89% planning to recruit through social media this year, up from 83% in 2010. This is an even higher number than the SHRM survey I mentioned earlier this week.
The survey also reports that using social networking sites to recruit is working. 64% of survey respondents have hired through social networks in 2011, up from 58% in 2010. 55% will increase their budgets for social recruiting and 30% for referrals, while only 16% will spend more on job boards.
Survey respondents continue to rank referrals as the most highly rated source for candidate quality and the Jobvite Index data reports that 1 in 10 referral candidates are hired compared to 1 in 100 general applicants.
To date, and Google+ may be a factor in the future, the top three sites employers are using are LinkedIn (87%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (47%).
To be competitive in a social hiring environment it's important to position yourself to job search where companies are hiring. If you're not ready for a social job search or you need to brush up your online presence, here's how to get started with social job searching, how to ask for a referral, and how to job search where companies can find you.
Related: Social Recruiting | Top 10 Social Media Do's and Don'ts | Social Job Searching
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Image Copyright Jobvite


One quick thought – as long as Linkedin is considered a “Social Media” site – the number of clients using and hoping to use “Social Media” will continue to grow.
Remove Linkedin and you’ll (most likely) find the numbers somewhat disappointing.
It’s interesting, because even if you don’t include LinkedIn (and consider it professional networking vs. social media) in the Jobvite survey Facebook is still over 50% (58%) and Twitter close to it – at 47%.
The SHRM survey had similar results with 95% of companies that use social media websites recruiting on LinkedIn, 58% on Facebook, followed by Twitter at 42%.