Jobvite ’s survey showed that the majority (78%) of companies use social networking and social media to find and attract candidates. The most common method of social hiring is leveraging employee networks through referrals – 75% of companies surveyed do so. Also popular among many recruiters (64%) are online social networks, predominantly LinkedIn and Facebook. When asked which techniques they plan to use more next year, 68% of recruiters said they will increase their use of referrals and employees ’ networks. Overall, responses show that recruiters are already engaging in social recruitment using a range of methods, both online and offline.

However, the survey revealed that many employers are not fully utilizing their employee bases for talent acquisition. Eight out of ten (80%) said that fewer than half of employees refer candidates.

Most companies spend less than $25,000 annually on referral bonuses, despite the fact that most jobs carry a referral bonus, with the most common bonus size being between $1,000 and $2,500. What ’s more, nearly half (45%) track referral bonuses manually and only 32% have an applicant tracking system in place. While employers place a high value on employee referrals, many companies do not have systems in place to encourage recruiting involvement and reward employees for talent acquisition. 

“In a talent crunch, such as the one many companies with professional staff face today, your employees are the most valuable asset you have for recruitment, ” said Jesper Schultz, chief executive officer of Jobvite. “Recruiters are natural networkers and recognize the value of using new social tools and leveraging their employee networks. However, our survey shows that companies are losing out by not fully communicating recruitment priorities to the whole company. By enabling and motivating employees to participate fully, employers can leverage the connections of the whole company in talent acquisition." 

Jobvite ’s survey focused on the recruiting habits of small and medium sized businesses. The survey was completed by 115 human resources and recruitment professionals, the majority of which (81%) had between 1-1,000 employees at their company.

Survey results are available at www.jobvite.com/Recruiting/Jobvite-Social-Recruitment-Report.aspx.