Social media use on the increase in job-hunting

Social media plays an important part in the social lives of students, but our recent research finds that it is being used more and more as a practical resources. This is especially true in the jobs market.

743 of the 1,085 students asked in whether they use social media, for careers advice for the Big Choice Summer Survey 2012, answered yes.

In terms of the most popular social media platform Facebook, students view it as an ‘informal’ media and so are more likely to use it to directly ask employers for advice and questions on certain jobs. 698 of the student surveyed said that they would trust a job advertised on Facebook.

Twitter remains the second most used platform, but Linked In has enjoyed a growth in popularity over the last two years with more and more young people realising its potential for networking with people who could give them a job.

This use of social media is being mirrored by universities and employers. The majority of university careers offices now use social media platforms to communicate with their students and employers are more likely to provide information on places like Facebook.

Our research shows that social media continues to change the way people look for jobs and that employers are following this trend.