65% of graduate recruiters are wary of using social media and one in seven perceives it as “dangerous.” Even so, nearly half of employers (44%) surveyed in Penna Barkers’ new Social Media Audit, have some kind of presence on Facebook and a third have uploaded graduate recruitment videos to YouTube.
Phill Lane, Head of Planning at Penna Barkers, says: We’ve found that graduate recruiters generally fall into two camps – those that are reticent about using social media to reach out to students, and those that actively embrace these channels.”
“A common concern is that social media allows potential and unsuccessful candidates to post comments that are detrimental to employers’ reputations. Such comments are available for all to see, even when they are unfounded or incorrect.”
“Our Social Media Audit found that 95% of organisations believe it is important to keep abreast of this online chatter to fully understand the impact it has on the brand, however 60% of organisations feel they simply haven’t got the time to do this. Indeed, more than half (56%) of organisations feel unable to monitor their reputation well and more than a fifth (21%) don’t do this at all.”
Social Media novices
Nearly a quarter of graduate recruiters (23%) described themselves as novices when it comes to using social media and, although a further 23% thought themselves confident users, nobody considered themselves an expert in their use and knowledge of it.
Phill Lane adds: Graduate recruiters are often being asked to use social media as part of their day jobs in a way that is very different to their private use of the same channels. They are nearly twice as likely to blog on behalf of their employer as they are to blog on their own behalf and almost three times more likely to Tweet professionally, so it’s no surprise that some of this usage is outside of their comfort zone.”
“It’s also clear that graduate recruiters attach different values to information they view online. We found that they are far more comfortable using traditional recruitment channels to review candidates. Despite the fact that there has been a number of concerns over how much people lie on their CVs, graduate recruiters believe a CV is two and a half times more reliable than information posted on LinkedIn in allowing them to form an opinion of a candidate and eight times as reliable as a Facebook profile.”
“What we are trying to do is work with recruiters to develop coherent plans, both for monitoring their reputation online, and also for managing it alongside the rest of their communications channels. By treating social media as part of the channel strategy, offering guidance and training, we are helping employers navigate these challenges and taking away the feeling that getting involved in social media is a risky business.
Other findings:
- 7% of graduate recruiters are evangelical about the use of Social Media, a further 27% “try not to be too bureaucratic” towards it
- 90% of graduate recruiters think it’s important to use Social Media to manage their reputation
- 27% of organisations maintain a blog as part of their graduate recruitment strategy
- 75% of graduate recruiters are concerned that line managers might be using Facebook to screen candidates
- 30% of organisations don’t know whose responsibility it is to monitor their reputation
