bullhorn reach: 2012 activity report | social media recruiting

THE 2012 SOCIAL RECRUITING ACTIVITY REPORTTHE DEFINITIVE LOOK AT SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE IN RECRUITINGG

WWW.BULLHORNREACH.COM@BULLHORNREACHFEBRUARY 2012

COPYRIGHT © 2012 BULLHORN, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TM

TM

TM

TM

THE 2012 SOCIAL ACTIVITY REPORT • FEBRUARY 2012 2

This report takes a look at the current social media activity of recruiters and job seekers across the “big three” social networks — LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The report

presents key findings and benchmark data pulled from the Bullhorn

Reach user network of over 35,000 recruiters. We will explore which

social networks are utilized most often and how effective each network

is for sourcing candidates. The following data does not represent a

subjective projection, but an objective summary of the actual activity

pulled from the Bullhorn Reach user database during calendar year 2011.

Since social recruiting has proven

to be a rapidly growing category, we

expect increased social engagement

from recruiters. This report evaluates

the current social network activity

among recruiters and suggests several

interesting insights. First, our findings

suggest that recruiters are connected to

all three social networks, but are using

LinkedIn and Twitter much more than

Facebook to recruit talent. While we

found that LinkedIn is driving the most

views and applications per job posted

on the “big three” social networks, our

analysis shows that Twitter followers are

much more likely to apply for a job than

connections on LinkedIn or friends on

Facebook. Overall, Twitter and Facebook

appear to be highly under-utilized

networks for recruiting, but we expect

that behavior to change during 2012.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

3

LIST OF FIGURES

1.0 HOW CONNECTED ARE SOCIAL RECRUITERS? 5

1.1 MEDIAN NUMBER OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS PER RECRUITER 6

1.2 MEDIAN NUMBER OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS: AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS 7

1.3 NETWORK SIZE DISTRIBUTION AMONG RECRUITERS 8

1.4 AVERAGE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS ADDED PER WEEK BY NETWORK 9

1.5 AVERAGE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS ADDED PER WEEK: AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS 10

1.6 HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE RECRUITERS TO DOUBLE THEIR NETWORK SIZE? 11

1.7 HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE RECRUITERS TO DOUBLE THEIR NETWORK SIZE? AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS BY NETWORK 12

1.8 RELATIVE COMPARISON OF VIEWS PER JOB POSTING BY NETWORK 13

1.9 RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER JOB POSTING BY NETWORK 14

2.0 RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER CONTACT BY NETWORK 15

2.1 RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER CONTACT: AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS BY NETWORK 16

THE 2012 SOCIAL ACTIVITY REPORT • FEBRUARY 2012

4THE 2012 SOCIAL ACTIVITY REPORT • FEBRUARY 2012

TWITTER EXCEEDS FACEBOOK FOR SOCIAL RECRUITING• Recruiters use Twitter more often than Facebook for social recruiting. Despite the fact

that recruiters have fewer connections on Twitter, 19% of recruiters are connected to

both LinkedIn and Twitter while 10% are connected to both LinkedIn and Facebook.

• Recruiters add more Twitter followers to their network per week than Facebook and

will grow their Twitter networks much faster than their networks on Facebook.

• Twitter drives almost twice as many job views per job as Facebook and three times

more applications per job.

LINKEDIN DRIVES THE MOST JOB VIEWS & APPLICATIONS• LinkedIn drives more job views per job than Twitter and Facebook, sending 3 times the

amount of views of Twitter and 6 times the amount of Facebook.

• Recruiters that post jobs on social networks are likely to receive more applications

from LinkedIn than the other two networks. LinkedIn drives almost 9 times more

applications than Facebook and 3 times more applications than Twitter.

TWITTER FOLLOWERS MOST LIKELY TO APPLY VIA SOCIAL NETWORKS• A Twitter follower is almost 3 times more likely to apply to a job posting than a

LinkedIn connection and 8 times more likely to apply than a Facebook friend.

• Recruiters receive almost 3 times more applications per contact from Twitter than

from LinkedIn and 8 times more than Facebook.

• Agency recruiters receive 11 times more Twitter applications and 3 times more

LinkedIn applications than corporate recruiters using the same channels.


KEY FINDINGS

While 21% of recruiters are connected to all three social networks, the

data shows that 48% of recruiters are using LinkedIn exclusively and are

not leveraging the other two networks for social recruiting. Known as the

“professional network,” LinkedIn has over 135 million active members who

use the site to search for jobs and manage their professional identities. Not

surprisingly, we found that LinkedIn is the most widely used network for social

recruiting, followed by Twitter and then Facebook.

Our data reveals that Twitter usage exceeds that of Facebook for social recruiting

and that recruiters are rapidly ramping up their use of the network. With more

than 100 million active users, Twitter has become the second most adopted

network among recruiters with 19% using it in combination with LinkedIn for

recruiting. Known as the world’s largest social network, Facebook is the network

least connected to by recruiters, with only 10% using it in combination with

LinkedIn for recruiting. Our data supports the fact that recruiters are using

LinkedIn and Twitter more often than Facebook for social recruiting.

Note: The chart above represents recruiters who have connected their Bullhorn Reach accounts to at least 1 social network

HOW CONNECTED ARE SOCIAL RECRUITERS?

21%1%1% 1%

48%

10% 19%

figure 1.0


MEDIAN NUMBER OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS PER RECRUITER

figure 1.1

The dataset above reveals that recruiters have the highest number of network

connections on LinkedIn versus Facebook or Twitter — the typical recruiter

having 616 LinkedIn connections, 245 Facebook friends and 37 Twitter followers.

LinkedIn, known as the “professional” network, was adopted much earlier

for recruiting, which is why recruiters have smaller networks on Facebook

and Twitter. Data that you’ll see further in the report reveals that recruiters are

adding fewer followers per week to their Facebook and Twitter networks, which

reflects a slower adoption rate for recruiting on these two networks (see Figure

1.4). Facebook is the second most connected network for recruiters, but has

the lowest adoption for recruiting. Although recruiters have a lower number of

network connections on Twitter, we still found that the social network drives

almost 3 times more applications per job than Facebook (see Figure 1.9).

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

245

616

37


MEDIAN NUMBER OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS:AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS

Looking at the median number of network connections among agency recruiters

versus corporate recruiters, we found the numbers to be fairly consistent.

Agency recruiters tend to have slightly more LinkedIn connections, while

corporate recruiters tend to have more Twitter and Facebook connections. In

this case, agency recruiters may rely on LinkedIn more than corporate recruiters,

who may rely more on other sources such as employee referrals to recruit talent.

Despite the numbers being similar, we found their network activity to be different.

For example, we found that agency recruiters generate more applications from

their networks than corporate recruiters do (see figure 2.1).

figure 1.2

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

568

36

209 228

610

37

Agency

Corporate


NETWORK SIZE DISTRIBUTION AMONG RECRUITERS

figure 1.3

For a deeper understanding of network size among recruiters, we looked at the

follower size distribution of each social network and found that:

• 75% of recruiters have 100 or less Twitter followers

• 28% of recruiters have over 1,000 LinkedIn connections

• 21% of recruiters have 50 or less Facebook friends

The distribution of size by network is extreme. As expected, recruiters are

hyper-active on LinkedIn. This data reveals that many recruiters have very small

networks and very few have large ones. This reflects the early stages of adoption

of these networks as a whole. Looking at each network individually, Facebook is

more evenly distributed, closer to a bell curve, which shows a more consistent

adoption rate. Twitter has a drastic downtick in distribution for recruiters that

have more than 11-50 followers, which again reflects early adoption. Lastly, a

significant number of recruiters have very large (1000+) networks on LinkedIn

due to the fact the network was adopted earlier and is used most heavily

by recruiters.

35% OF RECRUITERS HAVE BETWEEN 1-10 TWITTER FOLLOWERS

601-700

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

1-10011-

5051-

100

101-200

201-300

301-400

401-500

501-500

501-600

601-700

701-800

801-900

901-100

0

1001-200

0

1001-200

0

2001-300

0

3001-400

0400

1+


AVERAGE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS ADDED PER WEEK BY NETWORK

Despite earlier adoption among recruiters, LinkedIn continues to grow at the

fastest pace. Recruiters are adding significantly more connections to their

LinkedIn networks than Facebook or Twitter due to the fact they are using this

network most often. Recruiters tend to add twice the amount of Twitter followers

in a week than Facebook, adding an average of 1.5 Facebook friends, 3.1 Twitter

followers and 18.5 LinkedIn connections per week. This data is consistent with

the fact that LinkedIn and Twitter are the two networks used most often for social

recruiting and that Facebook is still being used primarily as a personal network.

figure 1.4

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

1.5

18.5

3.1

Con

nect

ions

(av

erag

e)


AVERAGE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS ADDED PER WEEK: AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS BY NETWORK

For a deeper understanding of the average number of social connections added

per week, we broke the dataset down by the number of connections being

added by corporate recruiters versus agency recruiters. One might think that

the average number of connections added per week would differ substantially

between agency and corporate recruiters, but once again, they are behaving

similarly in terms of ongoing network growth. We found that corporate recruiters

were adding slightly more Twitter followers to their networks each week, while

agency recruiters were adding slightly more connections to LinkedIn. However,

the numbers were very similar. This data is consistent with Figure 1.2, which

reveals that agency recruiters are using LinkedIn slightly more than corporate

recruiters, most likely because corporate recruiters rely on other sources for

candidates such as employee referrals.

figure 1.5

1.9

19.0

2.9 3.31.2

18.1

Agency

Corporate

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Con

nect

ions

(av

erag

e)


HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR RECRUITERS TO DOUBLE THEIR NETWORK SIZE?

The dataset above shows that recruiters will double their Twitter following and

LinkedIn connections in a much shorter time than they would their number of

Facebook friends. These values are a factor of a) the current size of someone’s

network, and b) how fast connections are being added. Recruiters will double

their LinkedIn network size in 7.6 months and their Twitter network size in just

2.7 months. It will take 33.9 months for recruiters to double their Facebook

network size. This data supports the fact that Facebook has the least amount

of usage activity among recruiters. Typical Facebook networks are moderately

sized, but friends are added slowly, whereas typical LinkedIn networks are larger

and grow faster. Twitter networks are growing the fastest of the “big three,” but

are small to begin with due to the fact it is still on the early side of adoption.

figure 1.6

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

33.9

7.6

2.7

Mon

ths

(Med

ian)


HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE RECRUITERS TO DOUBLE THEIR NETWORK SIZE? AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS BY NETWORK

While analyzing the time it would take for recruiters to double their network

size, we broke the dataset down by the length of time it would take agency

versus corporate recruiters to do so and found that the Facebook growth

rates varied the most. We found that it would take 38.0 months for agency

recruiters to double their Facebook network size, where it would take corporate

recruiters only 27.7 months. This analysis suggests that corporate recruiters

are more active on Facebook than agency recruiters, but still supports the fact

that LinkedIn and Twitter are used most often for social recruiting. Corporate

recruiters may be more active on Facebook leveraging their friends, alumni, etc.

for employee referral programs. Corporate recruiters are growing their Facebook

networks more rapidly than agency recruiters, but not necessarily

for professional reasons.

figure 1.7

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

27.7

7.6

3.0 2.8

38.0

7.4

Agency

Corporate

Mon

ths

(Med

ian)


RELATIVE COMPARISON OF VIEWS PER JOB POSTING BY NETWORK

In terms of overall effectiveness, LinkedIn is the most productive network overall

for driving job views*. Looking at relative views per job, the dataset above reveals

that jobs posted on LinkedIn receive more views than jobs posted on Twitter

and Facebook combined. For any given job posted on the social networks,

LinkedIn drives 3 times more views than Twitter and 6 times more views than

Facebook. Twitter drives almost twice the amount of job views than Facebook.

This suggests, not surprisingly, there are more job seekers looking for jobs on

LinkedIn than there are on the other channels. This data is consistent with the

fact that recruiters have larger networks on LinkedIn, which therefore drive more

views per jobs posted.

*A job view is defined as a job seeker’s view of a recruiter’s job on Bullhorn Reach, which requires a click-through on the associated job posting on the social network. A view, however, does not suggest an application.

figure 1.8

5.7x

1.9x


RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER JOB POSTING BY NETWORK

Looking at relative applications* per job, we found that for each job posted on

the “big three” social networks, LinkedIn drives almost 9 times more applications

than Facebook and 3 times more applications than Twitter. In terms of overall

effectiveness, LinkedIn is the most productive for driving job applications. Due to

the fact that recruiters have smaller Twitter networks than LinkedIn, the relative

number of applications per job is smaller. Based on the dataset above, LinkedIn

remains the most effective network overall for recruiting, but Twitter presents an

opportunity to break through the clutter more efficiently and reach potentially

high quality candidates using its search functionality. Facebook appears to be

the least effective network given the nature of this channel and lack of ability to

search for jobs already buried in the newsfeed.

*A job application is defined as an event on Bullhorn Reach where the job seeker makes a connection with a recruiter about a particular job.

figure 1.9

8.8x

2.9x


RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER CONTACT BY NETWORK

Taking network size into account, Twitter is the most efficient at driving

applications. Looking at the relative number of applications per contact, we

found that a Twitter follower is almost 3 times more likely to apply than a

LinkedIn connection. This may be a result of people re-posting jobs to Twitter

more often than to LinkedIn or it could also be the nature of the channel

— candidates can search for older job postings on Twitter more so than on

LinkedIn or Facebook. This suggests that a recruiter does not need a huge

following on Twitter for it to be effective. Therefore, increasing the network

size could be a valuable way for recruiters to focus their time spent on social

media. The data in this chart is consistent with the fact that Facebook is the

least effective channel for sourcing candidates.

figure 2.0

3.0x

8.4x


RELATIVE COMPARISON OF APPLICATIONS PER CONTACT: AGENCY VS. CORPORATE RECRUITERS BY NETWORK

Agency recruiters are more effective at leveraging their networks on LinkedIn

and Twitter than corporate recruiters. When comparing the relative number of

applications per contact for agency recruiters versus corporate recruiters, we

found their activity to be overall consistent across all three social networks as

they receive more applications via Twitter than LinkedIn or Facebook. Agency

recruiters do receive more applications per contact than corporate recruiters,

which could be a result of agency recruiters having a lot of connections that are

active job seekers (e.g. contractors/temps). As opposed to corporate recruiters

who may have more connections with colleagues and others who are full-time

employees, not actively engaged in a job search. The discrepancy may also be

a function of the volume of jobs managed and posted by an agency recruiter

versus a corporate recruiter.

figure 2.1

5.2x

16.5x

5.3x

2.2x

Agency

Corporate


LOOKING AHEADAs social networks evolve in 2012

and the world becomes even

more connected through the “big

three” social networks, agency and

corporate recruiters will develop

new strategies for recruiting

candidates through social network

connections. Based on current data

trends, recruiters could quadruple

the size of their Twitter networks by

the end of 2012 and potentially add

approximately 1,000 connections to

their LinkedIn networks. Currently,

Facebook has the least amount

of network activity among agency

and corporate recruiters. One

would anticipate them to alter their

strategies going forward to leverage

the power of the largest social

network (e.g. employee referral

programs). Also, as more job

seekers look to leverage Facebook

as a professional network, one

might expect Facebook to

grow as a recruiting network.

Companies may begin to harness

Facebook more to recruit potential

candidates (e.g. friends, alumni,

etc.) through their demographic

and geographic relationships

with current employees. Expect

to see an increase in activity on

Twitter among recruiters, especially

given the recent launch of the

new Twitter business pages, and

plan on a greater adoption of

social recruiting tools to manage

the forever growing networks

of potential candidates. Finally,

we expect more networks like

Google Plus to increase their

efforts for share of the recruiting

space or to develop strategies that

attract certain segments of the

professional population.

X18THE 2012 SOCIAL ACTIVITY REPORT • FEBRUARY 2012

ABOUT BULLHORN REACHBullhorn Reach is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) social recruiting

solution, designed to help agency and corporate recruiters leverage

social media to source candidates, identify potential movers and boost

referral programs more efficiently. Launched in February 2011, the

Bullhorn Reach social sourcing suite offers robust recruiting solutions

that empower recruiters to engage as thought leaders, enhance

their personal brands, and increase their visibility online. With over

35,000 registered users worldwide, Bullhorn Reach delivers advanced

technology that brings recruiters, hiring managers and job seekers

together more efficiently than ever before.

Bullhorn Reach is a division of Bullhorn, Inc., the global leader in

software-as-a-service for recruitment. Headquartered in Boston,

Massachusetts with offices in London, United Kingdom and Australia,

Bullhorn’s recruiting ATS/CRM and social recruiting products handle over

150,000 monthly job orders and placements for more than 5,000 clients

and 45,000 users across 35 countries.

33-41 FARNSWORTH STREET5TH FLOORBOSTON, MA 02210

[email protected]@BULLHORNREACH

TM

TM

TM

TM

bullhorn reach: 2012 activity report | social media recruiting

Technology

social recruiters

social recruiting recruiters

social networks linkedin

twitter networks

twitter applications

agency recruiters

factthat recruiters

social activity report