STUDY: The Social Job Seeker, The Mobile Job Seeker, And Facebook’s Role In The Process

Facebook is the preferred social network for job seekers, while recruiters still gravitate toward LinkedIn, according to the results of a recent survey by social recruiting platform Jobvite. Jobvite President and CEO Dan Finnigan said in an interview with AllFacebook: Over the past 20 years, there has been a change in how job seekers behave. People change jobs way more often than they used to. In my father’s generation, people averaged four jobs in a career, and in my generation, eight in a career. If you’re coming out of college now, you’re likely to have 15 or 20. Workers never stop shopping for jobs. Job seekers now know how to market themselves through social media. Jobvite offered the following profile of the social job seeker from its survey of 2,135 adults (aged 18-plus), 1,303 of which were participants in the U.S. labor force: 30 percent are men, while 70 percent are women. 30 percent are between the ages of 18 and 29, while 40 percent are 30 to 39, 22 percent are 40 to 54, and 8 percent are 55 or older. 33 percent have a high-school education or lower, while 17 percent listed some college, 5 percent graduated two-year colleges or vocational schools, 33 percent were four-year college graduates, and 13 percent did post-graduate work. 86 percent have accounts on at least one of these social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Subgroups that were more dependent on social media during their job searches included respondents aged 30 through 39 (25 percent), four-year college graduates (21 percent), and men aged 18 through 29 (19 percent). Four-year college graduates seeking information on companies’ culture went to: LinkedIn (23 percent), Facebook (19 percent), Google Plus (19 percent), Instagram (16 percent), and Twitter (13 percent). Four-year college graduates looking up contacts who were employees at prospective employers turned to: Facebook (24 percent), LinkedIn (23 percent), and Twitter (19 percent). 76 percent of social job seekers found their current positions through Facebook. The three most popular activities on Facebook were: contacts sharing job opportunities (27 percent), contacts providing employees’ perspectives on companies (25 percent), and sharing job opportunities with contacts (22 percent). As for LinkedIn: 40 percent were referred for jobs by contacts, 34 percent had job opportunities shared with them by contacts, 32 percent made new professional contacts, and 32 percent were provided with employees’ perspectives on companies by contacts. And on Twitter, 29 percent shared job opportunities with contacts, 28 percent were provided with employees’ perspectives on companies by contacts, and 28 percent had job opportunities shared with them by contacts. 46 percent of job seekers have modified their privacy settings, with 40 percent modifying their social media presences in some way, 17 percent deleting specific content, 17 percent deleting their accounts altogether, and 12 percent untagging themselves from photos. 93 percent of recruiters said they were likely to examine candidates’ social media profiles, and 42 percent have reconsidered candidates based on content in those profiles, in both positive and negative lights. 18 percent of respondents with education levels of high school or less admitted to using profanity on their social media profiles, while just 6 percent with more than a four-year college degree did so. 18 percent of respondents with education levels of high school or less admitted to being careless with spelling or grammar on their social media profiles, while just 6 percent with more than a four-year college degree did so. However, when it comes to photos depicting alcohol use, they were shared by 10 percent with a high school education or less, 11 percent with some college, 16 percent with four-year college degrees, and 14 percent with post-graduate degrees. The most popular social networks for job seekers were: Facebook (83 percent), Twitter (40 percent), Google Plus (37 percent), and LinkedIn (36 percent), while for recruiters, LinkedIn dominated at 94 percent, followed by Facebook (65 percent), Twitter (55 percent), and Google Plus (18 percent). Jobvite also offered its profile of the mobile job seeker: Android devices were the most popular, at 43 percent, followed by iPhones (36 percent), non-iPad or Surface tablets (26 percent), iPads (25 percent), BlackBerry devices (9 percent), and Surfaces (5 percent). 60 percent are men, and 40 percent are women. 38 percent are between the ages of 18 and 29, while 34 percent are 30 to 39, 22 percent are 40 to 54, and 6 percent are 55 or older. 36 percent have a high-school education or less, 31 percent listed some college, 22 percent graduated two-year colleges or vocational schools, 22 percent were four-year college graduates or above, and 10 percent did post-graduate work. 24 percent had annual incomes below $25,000, 22 percent from $25,000 to $50,000, 10 percent from $50,000 to $75,000, 13 percent from $75,000 to $100,000, and 19 percent more than $100,000. 43 percent of job seekers have used their mobile devices during the process, including: In bed, prior to sleeping or waking: 27 percent of all job seekers, 32 percent of passive job seekers (employed workers open to new jobs but not actively looking), 51 percent aged 18-29. In a restaurant: 16 percent of all job seekers, 23 percent who change jobs often (at least every five years). While waiting for the bus or train: 15 percent of all job seekers. While in their offices or at their current jobs: 13 percent of all job seekers, 17 percent of full-time workers, 21 percent of passive job seekers. In the restroom: 7 percent of all job seekers, 10 percent of active job seekers (employed or otherwise), 14 percent aged 18 through 29. 27 percent of job seekers expect to be able to apply for jobs via their mobile devices, while 37 percent of millennial job seekers expect career websites to be optimized for mobile. Job seekers listed the following as important: 55 percent want the ability to see job openings and listings without having to register; 27 percent want the ability to apply for jobs via mobile devices; 23 percent want websites optimized for mobile devices; and 11 percent want to be able to use their LinkedIn profiles or online résumés to apply for jobs. 54 percent of job seekers aged 18 through 29 own Android phones, while 43 percent owned iPhones. For those aged 30 through 39, 34 percent own iPads, versus 25 percent of all job seekers. 15 percent of mobile job seekers have updated their Facebook profiles with professional information on their mobile devices, while 11 percent have done so on Twitter, and 6 percent on LinkedIn. 12 percent have searched for jobs on Facebook on their devices, while 7 percent have done so on LinkedIn, and 6 percent on Twitter. Other findings by Jobvite included: 71 percent of the U.S. labor force is on the job market. 35 percent change jobs at least every five years, while 18 percent change jobs every six to 10 years, and 47 percent remain for more than 10 years. 51 percent of employed workers are either actively seeking new jobs or open to doing so (60 percent male, 40 percent female). 30 percent of those considering new jobs are aged 18 through 29, while ages 30 through 39 make up 28 percent, 30 percent are 40 through 54, and just 12 percent are 55 or older. 29 percent of those considering new jobs have a high school education or less, while 35 percent have some college or graduated from two-year colleges, 22 percent are four-year college graduates, and 13 percent attended graduate school. 16 percent of those considering new jobs have incomes below $25,000, while 23 percent earn between $25,000 and $50,000, 18 percent between $50,000 and $75,000, 12 percent between $75,000 and $100,000, and 26 percent more than $100,000. By region, 21 percent of those considering new jobs are from the Northeast, 34 percent from the South, 24 percent from the Midwest, and 21 percent from the West. Four out of 10 job seekers found their “favorite or best” jobs via personal connections, and other sources were: online social networks (21 percent), online job boards (20 percent), classified ads (19 percent), recruiters (10 percent), career fairs (7 percent), and college or university connections (7 percent). Recruiters rate candidates from the following sources as “highest-quality”: referrals (64 percent), social networks (59 percent -- Facebook 10 percent, LinkedIn 6 percent, and Twitter 5 percent), corporate career sites (59 percent). Readers: How have your job searches compared with Jobvite’s results? Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Social Pro Daily

STUDY: The Social Job Seeker, The Mobile Job Seeker, And Facebook’s Role In The Process

Facebook is the preferred social network for job seekers, while recruiters still gravitate toward LinkedIn, according to the results of a recent survey by social recruiting platform Jobvite.

David Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

David Cohen