Do recruiters really use LinkedIn to find job candidates?

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In today’s digital world, it’s par for the course for people to have several social media accounts. Among the most used are Facebook and Twitter, where users comment, like, and share posts left and right. Then there are the sites that are often left in the background. When Google+ first came out it was hailed as the new Facebook, but now the social media site is seen as all but dead to anyone who doesn’t work for Google.

Where most social media sites are used for social interactions, LinkedIn goes one step further. LinkedIn is a networking site where users can basically list their resume and relevant experience, as well as add additional criteria such as volunteer experience and recommendations from peers. Users can also follow industry leaders and businesses who post content related to their industry.

While Facebook and Twitter may dominate the social sphere, LinkedIn is no small contender. The most recent data, which was collected at the end of 2015, shows that LinkedIn currently has around 414 million users. The sheer amount of active users on the site allows job recruiters and hiring managers to search for potential job candidates. Even before someone has turned in a resume, recruiters can look at peoples’ profiles to see if there are any possible fits for the position they’re looking to fill.

A Jobvite survey from 2013 found that 94 percent of recruiters who use social media use LinkedIn. Recruiters use the site to look for, contact, keep tabs on and vet potential job candidates before setting up an interview. While Facebook and Twitter come in second and third place, LinkedIn still reigns supreme as the number one social recruiting site.

Where does this leave the avid job seeker? The answer should be obvious by now: create a LinkedIn account (if you don’t already have one). While using sites like monster.com and careerbuilder.com are helpful for finding a job, LinkedIn not only helps the job seeker but the job recruiter as well.

This means that you want your LinkedIn profile to really shine. While including the minimum amount of information may help, many career coaches suggest that filling out your profile as much as possible gives recruiters a better sense of your career and accomplishments and gives you greater visibility both on LinkedIn and on google searches of your name. Many sites offer tips on how to create a killer LinkedIn profile, like this article from the Huffington Post.

More and more employers (80% to be exact) are googling potential job candidates. This means that people looking for a job need to build their online presence. While it certainly helps to have a Facebook and Twitter account, LinkedIn is where you really show what you’re made of.

So what’s the next step in building your online presence and looking ideal to recruiters and hiring managers? I’ll let you answer that question.

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