The Social Media Talent War: Is There Even a Competition?

I recently stumbled across an infographic outlining which social media outlets companies are using most for recruitment. I thought to myself, “is there even a question?” The answer seems to be so clear: LinkedIn.
While in turns out I was correct, I did learn that more companies actually gravitate towards other outlets often than I thought. Also, it’s important to remember that LinkedIn has the smallest user-base with Facebook at 1.06 billion, Twitter at 500 million, and LinkedIn at a measly 200 million (others include Instagram at 90 million, Pinterest, at 10 million and Google+ at 100 million).
But it’s who those users are and what they’re using the platform for that makes the difference.

View the full infographic here.

Why LinkedIn is the Best Platform for Social Recruitment

#1 LinkedIn

As far as social recruitment goes, LinkedIn is the front-runner and for good reasons:

1. The site was created for professionals to network, which has easily transitioned into a hub for networking and looking for your next career.
2. LinkedIn is a favorite among recruiters and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Recruit Loop (the company behind the infographic) found that 93% of recruiters use LinkedIn to discover talent and 89% have made a hire from LinkedIn.

#2 Facebook

Coming in second is Facebook, with 66% of recruiters using it for sourcing, and 26% having actually utilizing it to make hires. I understand why Facebook is a decent recruiting option for some — you do have a profile to work with and companies are in fact using Facebook more and more to get their name out there. But it is still very much a personal rather than professional social site, and a lot of people don’t want prospective employers looking at their Facebook pages at all.

#3 Twitter

Third is Twitter with 54% using it to find candidates and only 15% having made hires via it (kind of hard to condense an offer to 140 characters, right?). The constrictions and forced brevity of the platform means you’re not going to get a lot of information as a recruiter or a candidate.
For that reason, Twitter is probably best for marketing job openings and convincing candidates to apply, or marketing your company so that prospective candidates know who you are and what you do.

Instagram and Pinterest

Now, what I thought was really interesting was Instagram and Pinterest – how do company’s use those social media outlets for hiring? My first thought was “maybe they take pictures of job descriptions.” But that doesn’t make sense. So I looked a little deeper.

Starbucks’s Instagram isn’t very active — they post about once every 1 to 2 weeks — but they have over 1.2 million followers. The posts range from congratulating new partners or awards to pictures of coffee tasting. Every once in a while they will post a picture of a new store or a construction site with comments like, “140 new opportunities #tobeapartner coming to our #Augusta Georgia Soluble Plant. Visit ‘Roasting Plant Careers’ on starbucks.com/careers to learn more. #manufacturing #engineering”.

Net-A-Porter’s career page on Pinterest has 60 pins that include the career page on their website and articles about what it is like to work there, recognition they have received, and growth they have experienced.
Okay, I get it, but I would be curious to know how effective this is. These sites are pure social sites — people browse them to get away from work, not to look for new work. I can see them catching some people’s attention to get them interested, so it can’t hurt, but I’m not sure it will ever become as useful for hiring as LinkedIn or Facebook.
We all know social media is taking over the business world – especially in hiring and marketing. If you aren’t using any outlets in your recruiting efforts you should start now!

What platform do you think is the best for social recruitment? Who are the best companies using their social profiles to recruit?