Survey Results on How Organizations Use Social Media in the Hiring Process

The fact is social media is here to stay!  Today, the U.S. workforce consists of 36% of millennials (30 years of age and younger) and they will account for 75% of the global workplace by 2025 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).  This group has grown up actively communicating via social media.  Therefore, use of social media is, and will continue to be, a workplace communication mainstay.

 

Organizations currently use social media for public relations, branding, marketing, internal and external communications, recruiting, organization learning and, more recently, for screening potential job applicants.

 

The subject is so prevalent for organizations, that social media engagement was the subject of a SHRM 2013 survey.  I think you will find the results interesting.

 

• 77% of organizations surveyed use social networking websites to recruit potential job candidates.
• 20% of organizations surveyed use social networking websites, such as Facebook, for screening potential employees.
• 57% of organizations surveyed have no formal or informal policies regarding use of social media for job screening.
• 28% of those organizations plan to implement a formal policy in 2013.

 

Social media offers many benefits to organizations but there are currently no definitive best practice standards. The EEOC is currently getting involved.  But, to minimize risk until best practice standards are developed, organizations should remember that the same compliance, legal and ethical principles that apply to other employment practices should also apply to social media.

Supported By WordPress Database Support Services