London Job Hunters are Embracing Social Media [infographic]

Employers and recruiters using social media, especially LinkedIn, will not be news to many people. But now professionals are turning to social media to proactively search for vacancies.

Anyone with a LinkedIn profile has probably received, and perhaps even say have been annoyed by speculative emails from recuiters with roles to fill. What may be news is that social media is now establishing itself as a media for professionals to use proactively in their search for a job.

New research by London job website London Loves Jobs, based on a survey of 500 business leaders and 500 other working adults in London, showed that 43% of Londoners now consider social media a good place to find a job.

Breaking this down further reveals more insights. Among those using social media to look for jobs, 30% of business leaders said they would look on LinkedIn. And men were far more likely to look on social media than women - 52% of men versus just 33% of women surveyed said they would search for jobs on social media. 

What does this mean for employers? The figures from the infographic below show that people are using social media as well as, not instead of more 'traditional media' (if you can call a recruitment website traditional).

These websites, or 'job boards' are the most popular places for Londoners to look, with 67% of those surveyed citing them as source for job vacancies. This would suggest that employers need to be looking to social media in addition to advertising their roles as they have done before. But surely a shift towards social media is a good thing for employers who are able to pull together a strategy to use social media, and in doing so cut the cost of recruitment?

A good start would be to advertise roles on their own website and use this as a hub around which to market jobs down social media channels, in much the same way as digital marketers are becoming well versed for marketing other content. But only 43% of employers told the survey that they advertise jobs on their own site. From there, translating referral incentive schemes to employees' social networks could open up hundreds or thousands of prospects.

LinkedIn groups, either hosted by employers and recruiters, or as a forum for talking about their vacancies are a good second step. And Twitter feeds provide a means for keeping good candiates (internal and external) up to date with positions.

These are only my conclusions. There's a lot more to chew over in the infographic below, please let me know what you find striking and what you think this means for us marketers and the future of recruitment!

Source: LondonLovesJobs.com article "How To Advertise A Job".