6 Things You Should Know About Social Recruiting

Employers are optimistic about growth and hiring over the next 12 months, and yet they also expect that filling these new jobs will challenging. What are companies doing to attract talent and how can you position yourself for maximum visibility?

According to Jobvite's 2014 Social Recruiting Survey, conducted in August, almost 70 percent of recruiters expect hiring to become more competitive over the next year. This is good news for job seekers in engineering, information technology, operations and sales roles, which companies expect the need to fill.

Jobvite surveyed 1,855 recruiters and hiring managers from numerous industries and found that employers have strategies to compete in the war for talent. Close to three quarters of those surveyed plan on highlighting the company culture to win over candidates, and more than half the recruiters said improving benefits is an important priority. They will also be highlighting other perks, including higher compensation, flexible hours and working remotely. Here are more insights from the survey:

1. Referrals still reign supreme. The Jobvite study reported that the best hires came from referrals, internal transfers, direct sourcing and intern-to-hire. While you are familiar with how referrals, internal transfers and intern-to-hire happen, you may not be as familiar with direct sourcing. In recruiting terms, this refers to targeting specific candidates through research. Direct sourcing involves finding the right match of skills, traits and experience by searching résumé databases, social network profiles, personal connections, company directories, professional associations and other internet-based resources. Direct sourcing involves proactive outreach to members of a specific audience comprised of active and passive job seekers.

Quick Tip: Start identifying companies you want to work for and building inside connections who can serve as referrals. If you are in college, don't miss out on internship opportunities.

2. LinkedIn is the top social recruiting tool. Ninety-four percent of recruiters and human resources professionals surveyed by Jobvite credited LinkedIn as being the go-to source for recruiting. Facebook rose to second place, with 66 percent of hiring professionals using it as a source for recruiting, and Twitter placed third, at 52 percent.

Quick Tip: Make sure you are professionally active on LinkedIn. If you are on Facebook, check your settings and profile to see what is publicly visible

3. Social networks play an important role for recruiters. So why do recruiters use social networks? LinkedIn serves as a job board and résumé (profile) database, which allows recruiters to search, contact, track and vet candidates. More than 90 percent of the recruiters surveyed use LinkedIn for all these functions.

Facebook, however, has a slightly different role in a company's recruitment strategy. Recruiters say they are using Facebook primarily to showcase their brand, generate employee referrals and post jobs. Twitter is also seen as a platform to showcase employers' brands and post jobs, but to a lesser extent than Facebook or LinkedIn. Vetting candidates before and after the interview via social networks is a value of all three of these platforms.

Quick Tip: Connect with recruiters across all social networks after you've had an email exchange, so you can stay on their radar. "Like" a company's career page on Facebook, and follow target companies on Twitter. Keep an eye out for opportunities to share news, engage in discussions and ask questions.

4. Social profiles can offer insight about a candidate. Recruiters said they evaluate social profiles for professional experience, length of tenure, industry-related posts, mutual connections, specific hard skills, cultural fit and examples of work. While LinkedIn performs better at evaluating these assets, Facebook ranks high among recruiters to evaluate cultural fit and assess mutual connections.

Quick Tip: Make sure your profiles are consistent. They don't have to match your résumé word for word, but the experience details should match.

5. Some posts are surefire turn-offs. Is there stuff you just shouldn't post from your social profile? According to the Jobvite study, mentioning illegal drugs is a turn-off for 83 percent of recruiters. Posts making sexual references discourage 70 percent of recruiters, and 66 percent of recruiters have a negative impression of candidates based on spelling or grammatical errors. Profanity and references to guns and alcohol also negatively impact candidates.

Quick Tip: Your online presence is public. Pay attention to the details and realize that nothing is ever really private.

6. Social recruiting isn't going away. Recruiters credit social networks with improving the hiring process in several ways. Forty-four percent of recruiters said social recruiting increased both the quality and quantity of candidates; 34 percent said it improved the time to hire; and 30 percent said social networks improve employee referrals. These added benefits of social recruiting make it an effective method for filling roles.

Hannah Morgan writes and speaks on career topics and job search trends on her blog Career Sherpa. She co-authored "Social Networking for Business Success," and has developed and delivered programs to help job seekers understand how to look for work better.