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Labor market and recruitment >> Update >> News

11/01/10

Social media becoming a platform for employers


Rotterdam, December 3 2009 - Social media is becoming more important as a tool for orientation in the labor market. A sixth of the working population looks up an employer via LinkedIn or Hyves, before applying for a job. Next to that, a quarter of the candidates invited for an interview researches the recruiter online. Social media is becoming a platform for employers to present themselves. This results from the Arbeidsmarkt GedragsOnderzoek (AGO) of Intelligence Group.

As a prelude to a more detailed research on social media 552 people were asked about their orientation behavior by Intelligence Group. Figures show that Google and a person's network are the most important sources of information when considering applying for a job. However, the impact of social media should not be underestimated. 19 Percent of the working population does research on LinkedIn. This is even more among respondents of higher (master degree) educational level (30 percent). Hyves shows the opposite trend. One out of five respondents of primary and secondary educational level look for a company profile on Hyves.

Table 1  Research results Intelligence Group

Imagine you are considering applying for a job, will you look..

Yes

No

on Google?

91%

9%

if someone in your network works/ has worked at this company for more information about the company as a employer?

87%

13%

on LinkedIn?

19%

81%

if the company has been discussed on panels (like fok.nl)?

19%

81%

if the company has been rated by companyrating.nl or other rating sites?

16%

84%

on Hyves for a company profile?

15%

85%

if there are videos of the company on Youtube?

11%

89%

Source: Labor Market Behavioral Study, November 2009, n=552

Hyves and LinkedIn are not the only online social media. Also rating sites and discussion panels get many viewings when one is looking for information about the company. Especially the age category 35 - 44 seems to be susceptive for this trend. 20 percent of this group visits rating sites to see the scores of a company. A quarter searches on discussion panels for relevant information. Furthermore Youtube is a relative important information source for young people. 17 percent of the age category 15 - 24 looks up videos of the employer on Youtube.

The figures show that social media are partly taking over the purpose of recruitment sites. An important aspect is the perceived credibility. Researcher Hans Hoekstra says: "Interesting group discussions were held as a preliminary study about this subject. It seems that steered communication is not believable. One knows that recruitment sites are made to perfection by communication agencies. Part of the (mostly young) people therefore prefer to look for information on social media." Intelligence Group will soon start a detailed quantitative research on social media.

More information
For more information about this press release:

Geert-Jan Waasdorp
T: 010 - 280 90 10
E: geert-jan@intelligence-group.nl

Technical justification
The figures of this press release are based on the Arbeidsmarkt GedragsOnderzoek (Labor Market Behavioral Study), dated November 2009. Respondents who are part of the working population of the Netherlands (N=552) were asked to respond to positions related to orientation behavior when considering applying for a job.