Social media has become more than just a platform to chat and finding friends, and is now a source to recruit staff and look for jobs, according to a survey by Hiring Bounty.
The South African recruitment agency has found that one in ten individuals have found work through social media.
Greg Schneider, managing director of Hiring Bounty, said the survey was targeted at those who work in the media, finance, IT and marketing industries.
Schneider said South Africans prefer to use referrals from peers as a method to find jobs.
Some of these referrals are done through Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin..
The survey showed 26 per cent found their current jobs through referrals, 19 per cent through online portals and 10 per cent through social media networks.
Schneider said that 52 per cent of job seekers have social media profiles on various networks, but use it in different ways.
He added: “Referrals are also preferred in the cyber domain, with over one third of respondents stating that they are more likely to apply for a job that has been posted or tweeted by a friend.”
Forty per cent of the applicants say it is important to be active in social media, while 13 per cent have modified their privacy settings for job seeking purposes.
More than one third (35 per cent) of respondents have said that social media has assisted them in finding a job, while only 2 per cent believed their social media activity has not landed them any work.
Current statistics show South Africa ranks in the top 20 countries most active on social media networks in the world.
