IES Blog

Study: Social media now an acceptable recruiting strategy

Posted on March 26th, 2013 Read time: 1 minutes

With the prevalence of social networking sites, many HR administrations are finding that social media can be an important resource when looking for a new recruit to put on the payroll. A new study discovered that acquiring talent through social sites is up from previous years and may continue to rise as more hiring managers use the networking platform to procure new employees. 

Recent research conducted by Penna Plc, a human resource service site, found that 70 percent of recruiters and HR professionals support social media as a valuable recruitment channel and 43 percent describe themselves as social media experts. Of the networking sites, recruiters tend to rely on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter the most, only using blogs and videos on certain occasions. The study follows a social media report in 2010, when 51 percent were wary of social networking sites and were uneasy using them as a recruitment strategy. For Graeme Wright, head of strategy at Penna, the study confirmed his previous suspicions. 

"It's no surprise to hear that social media usage has increased among recruiters and HR professionals, but what's interesting is the shift in attitudes towards it, from a general reticence or fear, to embracing and recommending," Wright said. "It's clear that having a social media strategy is now considered 'the norm' within the industry."

Related Articles