Only just over a third of IT professionals are using social and professional networking sites to help them find their next IT position, new research has found.
The survey of 620 respondents by IT job site www.theitjobboard.co.uk found that 62.5% have not yet used such channels to help them find a job. The research also found that over half (57.4%) don’t see networking sites as being helpful to the development of their career.
When it came to the 37.5% of respondents who have used social networking sites to find IT vacancies, 91.4% stated that this was in addition to other job-hunting methods. 86.2% of those said they expect their use of social networking sites to find an IT job will increase in the future.
Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board, said: “Online job boards have changed the face of recruitment in the UK, and taken the emphasis away from offline. This is a sector that will continue to evolve, as candidates begin to supplement their job search with new tactics, such as social and professional networking sites – particularly in the IT space.”
Farrell said against this backdrop it is important for the online recruitment industry to “embrace Web 2.0”, and identify emerging trends to work out new ways of engaging with their target audiences.
“We are continually adapting our business and marketing models to ensure we interact regularly with our candidates,” said Farrell, “for example, implementing content generation campaigns and using the social web.”
