Originally published on eConsultancy and Jobvite

Social media is now central to every savvy job seeker’s armour, and recruiters are also switched on to using it to source great candidates.

For the former, it’s a source of information. It allows you to get the word out about your search, collate recommendations and connections into an online CV – and build a good reputation in the process.

As a recuiter, the same applies, but in the reverse.

To many marketers, this is fairly standard – but how do consumers feel about this? Are they using social media in their job search?

To answer that question, Jobvite commissioned a study of 2,049 adults aged over 18 across the US, asking them for their opinions on using social media when finding a job.

It discovered that though almost all of those surveyed seemed to be socially active, just 16% used social networks solely to find their most recent job – but a massive 54% have used Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in some way.

Other key findings from the study were that:

  • 45% of those employed were open to a new job
  • 86% of active and passive job seekers have a social profile
  • 40% are ‘super social’ with over 150 contacts