Social networks lead all other recruiting channels for planned investment by employers as the economy rebounds, according to a new survey by recruitment platform Jobvite.
The survey found 83 percent of respondents use or plan to use social networks for recruiting this year. LinkedIn (78%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (45%) are the most popular social recruiting platforms, while MySpace is used by 5 percent of respondents.
"While the economy begins to recover, companies looking to make new hires are seeking the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent. As our third annual survey shows, social network recruiting has become a mainstream channel for employers who need access to talent," said Dan Finnigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jobvite.
"Job boards launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social networks are doing the same — but in a targeted way. Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best talent efficiently, without making a major investment."
Other highlights from the survey include:
*92 percent of those actively hiring in 2010 currently use or plan to recruit via social networks
*Among this group, 86 percent use LinkedIn, 60 percent use Facebook and 50 percent use Twitter for recruiting
*In addition, 50% of hiring companies plan to invest more in social recruiting while only 17% will spend more on job boards and 36% will spend less