human development

Social networking sites

Your popularity on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may help you bag a job as companies are increasingly looking for well-connected and influential people.

Social media and recruitment now largely go hand in hand.

While at the most basic level, companies check up on prospective employees to see if they make unsavoury postings online, they are also using LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to find new employees -- both by listing opportunities and by increasing the chatter between recruiters and the people looking for jobs.

"Social media has become an essential part of any organisation's recruitment strategy. It is easier to generate talent through social media. A lot easier than it was four or five years ago.

In a recent survey of 270 employers across New Zealand the company found that 64 per cent of employers used LinkedIn to find new employees, 50 per cent used Facebook and 10 per cent used Twitter.

Of those looking for jobs 74 per cent use LinkedIn, 24 per cent used Facebook, and 7 per cent used Twitter.

Tom Bates, the social influence director for digital strategists Contagion,  employers would look at a prospective employee's social media presence to validate what the candidate was saying about their online profile.

"If someone says that they are influential and they are not even on Twitter, or don't use social media well, then they are not being authentic or honest.