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Who Got Their Last Job Through Social Networks? College Educated Ys and High-End Professionals

Short post today but good stuff nonetheless...

We hype social media and social networks a bunch as bloggers.  But does anyone really get a job through contacts and conversations had through social media? JobSeekerNation_293x280_7

As it turns out, yes.  But not everybody has the same level of success.

Jobvite just released "The Jobvite Survey: Job Seeker Nation 2010".  Go check it out, they're doing stuff like breaking down job hunters into three categories - Active job seekers, stationary employees and proactive career managers.  

Proactive career managers - the ones who aren't actively looking but would leave you like you had leprosy if the right job came along - make up 53% of all job seekers.

Good stuff.  But what I find most interesting in the survey is who has the most success finding jobs via social networks... Check out the chart to the right, and you'll see that those landing in $100K+ jobs and those landing in jobs paying $25-49K have the most success using social networks to find a new gig.

Which confirms what I thought I knew, which is as follows:

-100K candidates are most likely to use LinkedIn effectively, thus the effectiveness %...

-College educated Gen Ys (they'll make $25-49K out of the gate) know how to use all technology...

-Middle managers and middle career folks are slow to uptake new technology because they're comfortable, and it's just too much effort...

-The low end worker doesn't have the tools and perhaps the skills to compete in the digital world.

My observations based on the chart from the Jobvite survey to the right.  What's your take?  

Go check out The Jobvite Survey: Job Seeker Nation 2010 today...

Comments

Chris

While I don't disagree with the "digital divide" supply side story, I would like to see this chart show the percentage using online social networks as a percent of all networks. That way we can see if it's really a digital divide story, or if it's more about which jobs require networking skills.
Also, I wonder how much of this is a product of the demand side. Do employers fill different jobs differently?

Chris Walker

I don't think the small number for 'low end worker' has much to do with an 'inability to compete in the digital world'. Employers don't need to search for low end workers like they do at the top of the ladder, especially now. If anything, employers are trying to find ways to limit the number of applicants they get (anyone remember the Perry School District, Ohio $15 an hour janitor job that got 835 applicants in 2009?).

For all the hype regarding Social Media, the actual number of people who got jobs that way is incredibly small. According the the careerxroads Sources of Hire Survey:

'...hires are not easily attributed to social media and their numbers are barely reflected in this report. We asked respondents to enter the number of hires they could attribute to social networks and related SEM strategies such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Entice Labs, Jobs-2-Web and othesr. The total reported, fewer than 500 hires, represents less than 1% of externalsources. Hires attributed to LinkedIn represent 60% of all the hires that could be attributed to social media.'

1% of all hires doesn't get a lot of my attention.

Kevin Lane

I'm a bit confused...the stats are based on "household income" almost to say that socio-economic status was the factor in whether they got a job using a social network vs. the amount the job paid that they got. I could see the argument in families that make more money have more access to web-based phones, laptops, and technical tinker toys, while those in the 25-49K household range may be recent college graduates (the Y people). So still, kind of fits into what KD "thought he knew".

MDH

"Also, I wonder how much of this is a product of the demand side. Do employers fill different jobs differently?"

Smart employers go where the target audience is, so there can certainly be variance by job type. This is more pronounced in some industries/companies than others, of course.

There is also varience by geographical location. Recruiting for job X in Bismarck, ND requires different sourcing methods than recruiting for the same job in Tucson, AZ or New York, NY.

Kai

Interesting and good conclusions. Jobvites Job Seeker Nation study was well done, and LivingSocial has recently stated it finds its best candidates, especially in terms of cultural fit, by hiring from employees' social networks*.

Increasingly will the college educated Gen-Y demo will be using their social networks, ahem connected alumni, to see where job openings are and at which companies they know people to get them in. Tools like BranchOut.com and Jobvite are paving this path.


*http://www.inc.com/magazine/20101101/100-new-employees-in-100-days.html

John Paper

Can you write more about Who Got Their Last Job Through Social Networks? College Educated Ys and High-End Professionals..? I am making a list of the Who Got Their Last Job Through Social Networks? College Educated Ys and High-End Professionals..
John..

Keziah

But what I find most interesting in the survey is who has the most success finding jobs via social networks

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