shutterstock_151044215

A survey, undertaken by Oilandgaspeople.com, the world’s leading Oil and Gas jobs board, has shown that 82% of employers have looked up potential candidates on social media sites, while some 64% have rejected a job application after viewing a candidate’s social media profile.

The survey found that 88% of recruiters used LinkedIn for candidate recruitment, with 25% using Facebook, 8% using Twitter, and 33% preferring industry-based job boards. 77% of those interviews said the reason for recruiting via social media is that it gives them better access to more candidates, and 33% said it is the most cost-effective way to find candidates, with 41% saying it gave them better insight into whether candidates were suitable.

The survey highlighted Job boards and LinkedIn as the two most important tools to recruiters, with Facebook also making a contribution to a candidate’s profile.

Another notable highlight in the survey includes the fact that 63% of recruiters said that they considered social media as more effective than traditional print ads when advertising jobs.

“Social media is now a powerful recruitment tool for getting the right person in position faster and cheaper than traditional forms of advertising,” explains Kevin Forbes, CEO of Oilandgaspeople.com. “As a leading Job Portal, we have always integrated with social media. Our LinkedIn groups are among the largest on LinkedIn and between LinkedIn and Facebook we are able to market jobs posted on Oil and Gas People to over 1.5 million candidates in the oil and gas industry. That’s over double the reach of our competitors that don’t utilise Social Media. There are reports that highlight how social media is being deployed from anywhere between 30% to 90% of large UK companies.”

Kevin continues: “The Oil and Gas Industry is currently enjoying a small boom and it is becoming increasingly hard to source the right candidates. Being such an innovative industry, it comes as no surprise that recruiters are turning to social media to find top talent.”

LSBF’s Head of Career Services & Employability, Nadim Choudhury comments: “This is an interesting statistic. It would be interesting to find out more about the types of social media that used when rejecting applicants. I’m not surprised that  71% of UK recruiters are successful in using social media to hire staff, LinkedIn is becoming the number tool among recruiters in hiring professional staff and twitter is often seen as the first place where “just in time” roles are advertised with further links directed to LinkedIn. From the prospective of graduate recruitment, at LSBF, we encourage all our graduates to make sure that they actively use and brand their online profiles while keeping in check to ensure they have privacy setting in place for networks that they use for more social purposes. Social media is a fantastic tool to use to get employed but it also has it’s pitfalls”

Vincent Belliveau, SVP and General Manager, Cornerstone OnDemand: “It’s great to see that as many as 71% of UK recruiters and HR managers are successfully using social media to hire staff but this number should be closer to 100%. Traditionally, social media and HR have been naturally at odds with each other, and organisations have been keen to lock and block social media sites rather than utilise them but this report demonstrates that this is starting to change. Social media presents a great opportunity for HR managers to gain a better understanding of the person behind the CV providing them with more of an insight into what motivates and engages them, increasing the possibility of them recruiting a candidate who culturally fits into their organisation.

Social media allows organisations to be smarter with regards to how they approach recruitment, allowing them to remove expensive third party recruiters. Through LinkedIn, managers can see if a potential hire already has connections in their organisation, and discuss their capabilities with a member of staff that they trust.”

Charlie Ryan, MD of The Recruitment Queen has the final word: “The overall picture is that everyone is using social media in their recruitment in some way shape or form. Even identifying that someone isn’t on LinkedIn is influencing a recruiter, as much as having a profile on there can influence. The kind of role the individual is being recruited for will indicate the importance of social media.

“For example you would expect a Business Development Consultant in all areas to be utilising LinkedIn as a source of Lead Generation and if they don’t have a profile, you would have to question their success without a doubt. However an Accountant not responsible for networking or any business development in a Practice or company may not have a LinkedIn profile and not having one would not be seen as a negative, although a search is likely to be done.

“Recruiters are using the social mediums to help them build a profile of the individual, as well as assisting them to make some decisions as in the case above. Facebook and Twitter accounts are also playing a part although most candidates have more of a privacy awareness now and are ensuring their settings protect their more personal individual viewpoints. Twitter names tend to be so far removed from the actual name, that unless someone wants to be found you won’t find them. LinkedIn is the most utilised method and as I say it is a helpful and factual tool for recruiters and HR managers alike.

“It certainly can reduce recruitment fees for HR managers, but again recruiters use it with caution on their decision making. Endorsements and recommendations tend to be ten a penny and LinkedIn make it too easy for someone to endorse you. There is no credibility behind these which recruiters or any LinkedIn regular user will know well and therefore will understand, that LinkedIn as with a cv, has a part to play but once again it doesn’t take over or replace any part of the recruitment process. Social Media is part of a cv, the individual decides what is out there about them and they control it, therefore like a cv it starts the process of asking questions but has very little influence beyond that.

“The one thing social media does offer Recruiters and HR managers alike, is that of maintaining your contacts over the years allowing you to go back and find those you worked with or keep in with them for the future to find them again. Therefore where you know someone’s capability and you want to find them again the internet is a brilliant tool for this where it would have been impossible to find them years ago.”