A recent survey published by leading graduate recruiters has indicated that Facebook is the first website visited by students and recent graduates when they log on to a computer in the morning. 84% of this demographic make the social networking site their first visited website. Journalism.co.uk suggests that graduate recruiters might heed the convincing net traffic of the site and make more efficient use of Facebook by taking out adverts for positions within their company.
Only 29% of those surveyed stated that they use social networking sites to promote themselves. However, this does not mean that they will not respond to the promotion of graduate jobs in which they might be interested. Facebook enjoys a popularity amongst students and young graduates that is unparallelled by any other website. Advertising might foster an important symbiosis between graduate employer and the demographic at which they aim to serve. It would demonstrate that graduate employers are responding to the digital revolution and the way in which their young demographic are involved in this revolution. Journalism.co.uk states that 81% of those surveyed said that they would use Facebook and LinkedIn for professional as well as personal purposes, were they given guidance on how to do so.
It seems that there is a link missing from the online chain between graduate and employer. Furthermore, currently, students and graduates recycle scare stories about potential employers deconstructing your Facebook page to make decisions about your employability. Photos are de-tagged and comments moderated for fear of deterring recruitment spies who don't want to know how you spent your Saturday night (and allegedly won't want to employ you if that's how you spent your Saturday night). A greater use of Facebook advertising, although unlikely to altogether allay these fears, might detract from paranoid tales of online surveillance. Geoff Newman, chief executive of Recruitment Genius, is sceptical about the utility of Facebook as a graduate recruitment tool: 'Recruiting via Facebook takes a considerable amount of time and money to create compelling content that can create a community'. But Facebook is an existing and growing community, and compelling content, timely and costly although it might well be, would be offset by the benefits of extending the talent pool at which positions are advertised.
Furthermore, it would signify an evolution in the way in which recruiters use social media, and demonstrate their understanding of their target audience.
Phoebe, GRB Journalist
