“As hiring managers say they use social media to find candidates, job seekers need to create social media profiles that highlight expertise and experience to stand out from the competition.” Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (PRWEB)
May 10, 2023
Social media could be a standard recruiting tool for American companies, as a majority of hiring managers report that they currently use it to find, research and screen candidates.
That’s according to a recent study by The Harris Poll, commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.
Approximately 2 in 5 US hiring managers (41%) believe that social media sites are among the best places to find candidates, and 7 in 10 companies (70%) report using them to research potential job candidates. However, only 17% research every candidate this way.
For those who use social media sites to research candidates, the majority (80%) do so directly (ie their company or someone in their company actively researches job candidates on social media sites, as opposed to from using a third party service to do the survey).
Some companies also rely on social media as a way to screen their candidates. Three in five (60%) say employers should check all applicants’ social media profiles. Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) also believe looking at candidate social media profiles is effective.
Interestingly, job seekers seem concerned about how social media affects their employment prospects. A recent survey of job seekers revealed that two-thirds (66%) believe that a candidate’s social media profile(s) should not affect the candidate’s likelihood of being hired.
It may be reassuring for job seekers to know that about half of US hiring managers (51%) report that they have never found content on a social media site that caused them not to hire a candidate.
Although companies use social media, not all candidates may have it and use it. Fortunately for these candidates, a majority of hiring managers (86%) report that they are likely to consider a candidate who does not have an online presence.
Selection of candidates
“Social media has become a huge source for our recruiting efforts,” said Nancy Reed, Express franchise owner in Texas. “Communicating with candidates through social media is more personal and the relationship is stronger from the start, rather than responding to an online job board.
“We create daily Facebook posts to engage with followers and build relationships, so it’s amazing to see the added benefit of retention. On the other hand, LinkedIn is a great way to connect with other professionals and grow your network. We’ve had success with candidates responding to a LinkedIn post and even direct messages leading to new business.”
In Georgia, Express office manager Elizabeth Mobley says that although her office has a large online presence, she finds social media more helpful for brand recognition than a consistent recruiting tool.
“We’ve had the most luck finding more advanced candidates in social media, such as administrative roles and skilled sales positions,” she said.
Candidate reviews
To fill internal positions at her Express office, Mobley says her staff uses a social media screening process, but waives it for entry-level candidates requested by clients.
“We value our reputation and expect high standards from our internal staff,” she added. “This was reviewed in our initial interview as well as our first week on board. However, we do have a few mum and dad companies that will research social media before making a permanent hire decision.”
When he reviews the online accounts of internal candidates, Mobley says he looks for any content that would be a disservice to our company’s culture — demeaning others, vulgar content, excessive abusive language, etc.
“We had a client terminate someone’s assignment because they posted a picture with alcohol and used a caption that was racist in nature,” she said.
It’s unusual these days for job seekers to have no social media presence, but Reid says that while it’s strange not having a digital footprint, employers seem to respect the decision.
“What a candidate posts affects the outside world’s perception of their character, values and morals,” she said. “They should be interested in the content of social media posts because it stays online forever and employers will find it.”
Despite the potential pitfalls, a professional digital presence can boost employees’ careers if done right.
“As hiring managers say they use social media to find candidates, job seekers need to create social media profiles that highlight expertise and experience to stand out from the competition,” said Express Employment CEO International Bill Stoller. “It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that personal and private life should be separate, but this study shows that employers may not feel the same way.”
Research methodology
The Job Insights survey was conducted online in the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between December 1 and December 15, 2022, among 1,002 US employment decision makers (defined as adults over the age of 18 in US who are full-time employed or self-employed, work in companies with more than one employee and have full/significant involvement in their company’s hiring decisions). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to align with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this study were selected from among those who agreed to participate in our surveys. Sampling precision of online Harris polls is measured using a Bayesian confidence interval. For this study, the sample data are accurate to within + 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the study population of interest.
The omnibus survey was conducted online in the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from December 13-15, 2022, among 2,041 adults age 18 and older. Data are weighted, where appropriate, by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income, and propensity to be online to align with their actual share of the population . Respondents for this study were selected from among those who agreed to participate in our surveys. Sampling precision of online Harris polls is measured using a Bayesian confidence interval. For this study, the sample data are accurate to within + 2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
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If you would like to arrange an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, at (405) 717-5966.
About Bill Stoller
William H. “Bill” Stoller is Chairman and CEO of Express Employment International. Based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor franchises Express Employment Professionals and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading international staffing company with franchise locations in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
About Express Employment Professionals
At Express Employment Professionals, we are in the people business. From job seekers to corporate clients, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international franchise network offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and more than 10 million since inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.