Jobvite Gets $15 Million in New Investment

Jobvite, the company that helps recruiters tap the referral power of employees’ social networks, got a $15 million injection of new capital that it will use to accelerate its already rapid growth.

Announced this morning, the Series C funding round brings to just over $30 million the company has received in investor financing since its founding in 2007.

Jobvite has been on a tear since introducing its first product, the eponymous Jobvite Hire. The first iteration of Hire sent job announcements to a company’s employees, encouraging them to pass on the notice to their qualified friends and associates. No matter how far along a Jobvite was forwarded, a recruiter always knew who the original employee was whose chain of contacts resulted in a successful referral.

Almost as soon as the first Jobvite was sent, the company upped the value by connecting with Facebook and LinkedIn. Now, recipients of a Jobvite can tell who among their contacts is a good match for the position. In the two years since introducing the apps, Jobvite has continued to release features — market-driven features, not simply more bells and whistles. Today, the company has two major product lines: Jobvite Hire, which is an ATS with a strong social media sourcing focus and useful, user-friendly metrics; and Jobvite Source, a social media sourcing and candidate contact tool that automates such routine tasks as job posting and profile matching.

The company also offers a free, stripped-down version of its sourcing service, called Jobvite Share.

Already claiming a growth rate of 600 percent in two years, it’s hard to see how Jobvite can kick it up even another notch. The announcement of the new financing says Jobvite now has about 500 clients, including Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, Zappos.com, Inc., Yelp, and Twitter. However, social media itself is still growing, and recruiter interest in leveraging connections shows no sign of abating. LinkedIn is a clear case in point. It’s market valuation, when it IPOs Thursday, is anticipated to end up around $3.3 billion, much of it based on the expectation that its recruitment revenue will continue to power the company.

John Zappe 

May 17, 2011, 2:05 pm ET

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The Job Hunt Gets Social

More companies mining LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for 'social recruiting' effort

August 14, 2011|By Gus G. Sentementes,
The Baltimore Sun

Gary Bacon spotted a Web designer job posting online several months ago and shot an email to a recruiter at Medifast Inc. But that was just the beginning.
Bacon connected with a recruiter, Caitlin Goldstein, and the conversation moved to Twitter. They tweeted back and forth, and Goldstein got to know Bacon, found links to examples of his work — and eventually felt confident enough to invite him to Medifast's Owings Mills headquarters for an interview.

Welcome to the brave new world of recruiting, which has expanded into social media. Just a few years ago, much of the action took place on online job boards, but now social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have supercharged the experience for recruiters and job-seekers alike.
"Everyone is using LinkedIn, and if you aren't, it's probably a little bit of a concern," said Jessica Lee, vice president of talent acquisition at the Washington communications firm APCO Worldwide and editor of Fistful of Talent, a popular blog about recruiting.

LinkedIn's many online networking tools have struck a chord — and opened a source of revenue — for the company in the recruiting industry. The company, valued at more than $8 billion after going public this year, derives much of its income from job ads and tools it sells to companies and recruiters looking for talent.
While job boards still fill a major need, such sites tend to attract mostly active job-seekers. Recruiters, always on the prowl for top talent to poach, are using social networks to better identify top professionals in their fields, connect with them through "word-of-mouth" approaches and lure them away with job offers.
Nowadays, a typical executive might have a resume posted on LinkedIn, a Facebook and Twitter account, a blog or their own website — and recruiters are busily mining those sites, Google and more for the right candidates.

Recruiters often are directed to find "passive" candidates — working professionals who are employed and who might not have considered changing jobs until they were made the right offer.
"LinkedIn is a gold mine for passive candidates," said Jay Feeley, practice leader and account executive at MRI GlobalSearch inTimonium.

Read More @ The Baltimore Sun

Survey results are in! Social Media Trends in the Trades InfoGraphic

Employee referrals not coming from where you think

No doubt about it, social networking is the hot new medium for finding employees. 

A June survey of 800 HR and recruiting professionals by Burlingame, Calif.-based recruiting vendor Jobvite found that nearly 90 percent of U.S. companies plan to recruit through social media this year, up from 83 percent last year. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) use two or more social networks. 

But of the three major social networks -- Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter -- which one generates the most employee referrals who were actually hired by companies? Surprisingly enough, it's Facebook, not the more career-focused LinkedIn. 

That's according to an aggregation of social-recruiting data from Jobvite's 500 corporate clients, which include Starbucks, Whole Foods and Zappos.com. 

LinkedIn did generate the lion's share of total new hires found via social networking, accounting for 73 percent of such hires within the last six months, according to Jobvite's data. Just 20 percent came from Facebook and 7 percent from Twitter. 

However, Facebook accounted for 43 percent of new hires generated from employee referrals, compared to 41 percent for LinkedIn and 16 percent for Twitter. 

"I was surprised that Facebook is generating as many referral hires as it is," says Dan Finnigan, founder and CEO of Jobvite, which builds tools to help companies recruit via social networking. And yet, it makes sense, he adds.
"Peoples' connections on LinkedIn tend to be with people whom they may never have personally met," he says. "But their Facebook connections tend to be people they actually do.. [read full article]

State of Social Recruiting - an Infographic

SHRM Research Spotlight: Social Networking Websites and Staffing

SHRM conducted a series of surveys with members in the employment/recruiting job function and asked about the use of social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, etc. in sourcing and recruiting job candidate. 
 

Other sections of this research focused on organization policies, employees access to social networking websites, and the use of online search engines during work hours.  Also examined was how these websites are used by organizations to communicate internally as well as with audiences outside the organization. 

For the purposes of this survey, social networking websites refer to sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, etc. and online search engines examples include Google, Yahoo, Mozilla, Bing, etc.

[read report]

wow - job fair on Twitter

Nearly 90 percent of employers are using social media to connect with potential employees

Friday, July 15, 2011, By Jennie L Phipps | MLive.com Contributor

MLive.com
If you're not using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to  help you find a job, you're missing the boat.

According to a survey of U.S. companies released this week by Jobvite, which provides companies with recruiting software, 89 percent plan to recruit through social media this year, up from 83 percent in 2010.

About 64 percent say they use more than one social media website. But if you feel like you have to pick just one, make it LinkedIn. The survey found that 73 percent of all social media-based hires came from LinkedIn, with only 20 percent from Facebook and 7 percent from Twitter.

On Tuesday, July 19 at noon, a website called TweetMyJobs.com is having a job fair on Twitter. It doesn't cost anything to sign up for the site or the job fair -- and who knows, you might make a connection.

New Survey Finds That 89% Are Using Social Media in Recruiting

by John Zappe on Jul 12, 201
No longer just the shiny new object in the toolbox, social media recruiting has become an integral part of hiring.

A new Jobvite survey, titled Social Recruiting Survey 2011, found that 89 percent of the respondents to its poll (most of them not Jobvite customers) said they are either already using some form of social media in their recruiting or will in the next year. They are also having success; 64 percent said they’ve actually hired people through a social network.

None of this is surprising to anyone who has followed the development of social media. From their roots as a teenage clubhouse, social media networks today have become so ubiquitous and so much a part of American life that half of all adults use at least one of the sites. The Pew Research Center says that last year, 48 percent of those over 35 are on a social network.

 

LinkedIn’s older, educated demographic

Facebook is far and away the most popular network. Pew says 92 percent of everyone using a social network use..[read full report]

Jobvite Source Lets Recruiters Post Trackable Job Links to Facebook Accounts of Employees

July 7th, 2011 By Josh Constine
Jobvite Source is a social recruiting platform that helps recruiters reach high quality job candidates cheaply by allowing them to distribute trackable job posting links to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Employees of a company can give Facebook permissions to Jobvite Source, and a recruiter can then post links on their behalf. Jobvite Source also offers Page tab app that can allow companies list job openings.

Other companies such as BranchOut and Monster are building full fledged professional network apps within Facebook. Jobvite doesn’t believe companies need a middle man to reach Facebook users, though, and that news feed stories posted by friends return  [read more]

Five Ways Social Media Can Help Your Recruiting Efforts

Hiring activity is predicted to increase for the second half of 2010, so recruiters must have their candidate pipelines primed to compete for talent. Here's why social media, such as blogs and social networking sites (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook), should be part of your recruiting strategy:

Blogging drives traffic to your site and builds brand recognition
If you have the resources, i.e. the time, energy and a bit of skill, regularly blogging about your industry or about career-related issues can generate significant brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. A blog on your domain can attract links, attention, publicity, trust and increase your site's search rankings. (Because blogs are generally updated more frequently than regular website pages, they can rank higher in searches.) Offering comments that add value to someone else's blog is another way to generate a following.  [Read more]

Using Social Media for Your HR Needs

According to the Linked press centre, 1-in-20 of all LinkedIn profiles are held by recruiters.

Additionally, Oracle’s Chief Finance Officer Jeff Epstein was headhunted for the position via his LinkedIn profile.

And with 80% of companies using LinkedIn as a recruitment tool, it’s clear to see that social media (at least from LinkedIn’s side) is a great tool for any recruiter or human resources department to find their next employee (or for employees to find their next position).

But what about the other main networks and platforms? How could you use them as part of your employee needs, current and potential? [Read more]

Global Social Media Statistics.. Comparing Major Job Boards vs Networks

May 10, 2011 at 8:23PM | Harpaul Sambhi 

Many individuals have requested the insight both Careerify and comScore gathered when writing Social HR. Today, I will share some of the data to you.

The common misperception about social media websites is that only people under age 25 use them. In February 2010, 1.2 billion people used the Internet at least once, according to data from market research company comScore from our book Social HR. Usage statistics show Facebook is most popular among Internet users aged 15 to 24, with about 42 per cent of this age group accessing the [read full article]

Social Media and ROI: Likes and Follows Only Go So Far

There is an ongoing conversation within the Social Media industry that is recently becoming a global consensus; the number of fans/likes on Facebook or the number of followers on Twitter do not provide enough metric data for brands to prove that their information is doing it justice. Instead, it's the number of connections and engagements that are truly needed.

The beautiful thing about Social Media is that it has the ability to engage customers and stakeholders, facilitate stream-lined interactions and potentially lead to increased sales. The only problem is that with the platforms that exist right now there is a major gap between consumption and creation. [Read full article]

Social Media Expanding As A Marketing Tool

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 59% of American Internet users say they use at least one (1) social networking site (SNS). And apparently marketers are taking note as more and more companies, both here and abroad, are using social media to acquire new customers.

Everyone knows social media with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube leading the way, have become a part of our lives, for better or worse. I surely don't need to start throwing numbers around. [Read full article]

Facebook used in so many ways...

Here's a local example of Facebook being used for employee recruiting.

5 Social Media Recruiting Tools for Small Business

May 23, 2011 by Donna Wells
Back in the day, I ran big organizations with fat budgets and spent a lot of money on recruiters — sometimes with good results. Now, in my fifth startup, I want and have to do recruiting personally. 

Since time is the only resource more scarce than dollars, I’m always on the hunt for slick new tools and apps that can address the labor-intensive process of finding and hiring great people. With the advent of social media and cloud apps, there are some great new solutions out there. From automated applicant responses to upgraded versions of old recruitment standbys, there’s a new guard of socially focused recruiting tools designed for your every hiring need. Here are a five to take note of.

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1. The Resumator

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What it is: Applicant tracker, social recruiter, email replacer
How it works: This tool helps hiring managers keep real-time tabs on where their job listings are posted and who’s looking at them. Upload a job description to the site and it automatically posts it to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. After that, The Resumator tracks candidate resumes, and applies its own algorithm to rank applicants on a five-star scale. Better yet, it takes care of a part of the hiring process that often gets shortchanged — sending automated email replies when resumes are received and when a candidate must be declined. It also has a Twitter-like “What Makes You Unique” feature, where applicants describe what sets them apart in 150 characters or less. It’s a great way to quickly get a sense of the candidate’s personality.
Cost: $49 to $399 per month, based on volume

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2. Jobvite

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What it is: End-to-end social web recruiting and tracking tool
How it works: Jobvite is an SaaS platform that delivers a seamless and social recruiting process before, during and after the interview. It leverages the very best source for great hires — your own employees — by allowing them to see your company’s open jobs and send targeted invitations to their friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Once their friends or contacts get into the pipeline, the referring employee can track the interview process. The tool also matches..[read more]

Marriott creates Facebook game for international recruitment

The gamification trend has been going strong in recent months, but until just recently we hadn’t seen it applied to recruiting. Sure enough, though, none other than hospitality giant Marriott International is now using a Facebook game to try to fill some 50,000 open jobs by the end of this year.

At My Marriott Hotel on Facebook, gamers begin by managing a virtual hotel restaurant kitchen, including buying equipment and ingredients on a budget, hiring and training employees, and serving guests. Much like in the wildly popular Farmville game, players earn points for happy [read full story]

PS -- best part of this story is that I heard about it on Twitter - hr tools gone socially viral :-)

Using Social Media During Hiring Process Could Lead to Bias Claims

from Human Resources Report

While social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow employers to learn vast amounts of information about job applicants, hiring managers who even casually use these tools to gather information about a prospective employee could expose an employer to legal risks, attorneys and employment consultants told BNA.

They warned that applicants denied employment based on something they posted online could sue claiming they were not hired based on age, race, religion, sex, disability, or other protected characteristics.
“Be extremely careful and cautious to make sure you're not using private information people are posting publicly to [read full report]

Employment Site Monster Starting a Network on Facebook

by Todd Wasserman

Monster is adapting its job search functionality to social networking with BeKnown, an app that lets users set up a professional network on Facebook.

BeKnown, set to go live on Monday, will let Monster users import their data to Facebook and set up professional networks there as well. Matthew Mund, global vice president of product for Monster, reasons that since Facebook has around 700 million members, most people are on it already. “This is the path of least resistance,” Mund says. “You can manage your professional identity and your social identity in one place.” BeKnown will also be targeted at [read full article]

Social Business Readiness: 5 Questions for Human Resources

Posted June 23, 2011 by Vanessa DiMauro
Human resources are the people finders and keepers. Responsible for more than just hiring and exiting employees, they are often chartered with creating innovative projects to shape organizational culture. And while social media initiatives are usually welcomed, they can also disrupt the organization on a number of fronts.

For example, effective intranet projects often help bubble up overlooked go-to people within the organizational network, which can create additional burdens on star staff. Hiring managers sometimes use the social channels to research and recruit employees and contractors to fill difficult positions. It is not uncommon for job dissatisfaction to "leak out" on social media sites, especially those where personal and professional disclosure is often intermingled -- think [read full article]