Commentary

More Jobseekers Use Facebook than LinkedIn

There’s more than one way to skin a cat (or so I’ve been told) and there’s more than one social network you can use to find a new job. Indeed, while you might think LinkedIn is the logical first choice, Facebook is actually used by more Americans looking for new jobs, according to the 2012 Social Job Seeker Survey, a poll of 2,108 U.S. adults performed for Jobvite by The Polling Company.

There are plenty of people on LinkedIn, of course, with 38% of jobseekers surveyed saying they use the professional social network this year -- up from 30% last year. But an even larger proportion -- 52% -- said they are using Facebook to look for new work, up from 48% last year. Twitter came in third, with 34% of respondents saying they use the microblogging site to look for work, up from 26% last year.

In terms of activity, 20% said a contact had shared an employment lead with them on Facebook, which was even with 2011. Meanwhile 19% said someone had shared a lead on LinkedIn, up from just 8% in 2011, and 11% said someone told them about a job via Twitter, compared to 7% last year. 14% of those surveyed said they have searched for jobs on Facebook, 11% said they searched on LinkedIn, and 10% searched on Twitter.

Generally speaking a large proportion of American adults are either seeking work or open to the idea of a new job, according to the Jobvite survey. Overall 75% of currently-employed workers surveyed say they are actively looking for a new job, or are receptive to new job offers -- up from 69% in 2011. By the same token, they are also somehow less optimistic, if that’s even possible, with 61% saying finding new work has gotten harder in the last year.

 
2 comments about "More Jobseekers Use Facebook than LinkedIn".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Steve Sarner from if(we), October 11, 2012 at 4:58 p.m.

    Erik - you forgot to mention the #1 way people search for jobs on Facebook - with the BranchOut App. It turns Facebook into Linkedin and more with 1 simple down load and is likely the main reason how and why people use Facebook for job searches. Jobvite failed to mention that part I guess. :)

  2. Craig Schinn from Actable, October 11, 2012 at 7:43 p.m.

    Perhaps a contributing factor to US unemployment woes and soaring under-employment?

Next story loading loading..