Penna Barkers Social Media Audit

Graduate recruiters think Facebook is “dangerous”

65% of graduate recruiters are wary of using social media and one in seven perceives it as “dangerous.”  Even so, nearly half of employers (44%) surveyed in Penna Barkers’ new Social Media Audit, have some kind of presence on Facebook and a third have uploaded graduate recruitment videos to YouTube.

Phill Lane, Head of Planning at Penna Barkers, says: “We’ve found that graduate recruiters generally fall into two camps – those that are reticent about using social media to reach out to students, and those that actively embrace these channels.”

“A common concern is that social media allows potential and unsuccessful candidates to post comments that are detrimental to employers’ reputations. Such comments are available for all to see, even when they are unfounded or incorrect.”

“Our Social Media Audit found that 95% of organisations believe it is important to keep abreast of this online chatter to fully understand the impact it has on the brand, however 60% of organisations feel they simply haven’t got the time to do this.  Indeed, more than half (56%) of organisations feel unable to monitor their reputation well and more than a fifth (21%) don’t do this at all.”