Spotlight for Career Services Professionals, June 8, 2011
 Spotlight for Recruiting and Employment Professionals, June 8, 2011   

Overall, just under 41 percent of seniors taking part in NACE’s 2011 Student Survey reported using some form of social media in their job search.  

Among that group, those with LinkedIn profiles and Twitter accounts are much more likely to use social networking in their job searches than students with just Facebook profiles. 

Facebook dominates the social networking landscape for college students—nearly 91 percent of  responding seniors indicated they have a profile—but less than one-quarter use Facebook as a job-search tool.   

Conversely, though fewer students report having LinkedIn profiles (31.5 percent) or Twitter accounts (22.7 percent), they are much more likely to use them. Nearly 70 percent of those with both a LinkedIn and Twitter account use them in the job search.  

The most popular uses? Roughly half of students using any kind of social media in their job search use it to discuss potential jobs, but those using LinkedIn in the job search are much more likely than their Facebook counterparts to distribute their profiles through the network (81 percent vs. 62 percent). Similarly, nearly half of those incorporating LinkedIn into their job search use it to research employers, compared to approximately 36 percent of Facebook users. 

The survey also found that student attitudes toward social networking in the job search are changing.   

Nearly 71 percent of Class of 2011 seniors said they expect employers to view candidates’ social networking profiles, compared to 66.5 percent from the Class of 2010 and 57.1 percent from the Class of 2009.  

Furthermore, although the majority of seniors remain unhappy at the prospect of employers viewing their profiles as part of the candidate assessment process, there has been movement toward acceptance. Approximately 34 percent of the current class thinks employers should view student profiles as part of the process, up from 29.4 percent in 2010 and 26.7 percent in 2009.    

The 2011 Student Survey was conducted mid-February through April 30, 2011. More than 50,000 students nationwide, including nearly 20,000 graduating seniors, took part in this year’s survey. Information in this story is based on data gathered from graduating senior respondents.