New surveys released through three of CareerBuilder's niche sites -- MiracleWorkers (which caters to health care workers), WorkinRetail (serving the retail industry) and Sologig (focused on contract and freelance positions) -- reveal the information workers value most on an organization's social media pages (and which social media moves they despise).
More than 500 workers nationwide in each of the above industries participated. Here's a look at the results:
Health care
Fifty-three percent of health care workers who use social media are interested in seeing information on company social media pages, according to the survey from MiracleWorkers.com.
What health care employers should post...
-- Job listings on company pages (wanted by 40 percent of health-care workers)
-- Fact sheets or Q&A about the company (26 percent)
-- Career paths within the organization (26 percent)
-- Employee testimonials (22 percent)
-- Something that conveys fun about working for the organization (19 percent)
...and what they should avoid:
-- Company communication that reads like an ad (a peeve for 35 percent of health-care workers)
-- Failure to respond to submitted questions (33 percent)
-- Failure to regularly post information on social media or blog entries (23 percent)
-- Filtering or removing social media comments (20 percent)
Retail
Fifty percent of retail workers who use social media are interested in seeing information on company social media pages, according to the survey from WorkInRetail.com.
-- Job listings on company pages (wanted by 33 percent of retail workers)
-- Fact sheets or Q&A about the company (27 percent)
-- Employee testimonials (18 percent)
-- Something that conveys fun about working for the organization (18 percent)
-- Pictures of company events (13 percent)
-- Video of a day on the job (13 percent)
-- Video of new products and services (13 percent)
...and what they should avoid:
-- Company communication that reads like an ad (a peeve for 43 percent of retail workers)
-- Failure to respond to submitted questions (38 percent)
-- Filtering or removing social media comments (27 percent)
-- Failure to regularly post information on social media or blog entries (24 percent)
Information technology
Fifty-one percent of IT workers who use social media are interested in seeing information on company social media pages, according to a new survey from Sologig.com.
What IT employers should post...
-- Job listings on company pages (wanted by 39 percent of IT workers)
-- Fact sheets or Q&A about the company (32 percent)
-- Career paths within the organization (24 percent)
-- Something that conveys fun about working for the organization (21 percent)
-- Video of new products and services (17 percent)
-- Employee testimonials (16 percent)
...and what they should avoid:
-- Company communication that reads like an ad (a peeve for 53 percent of health-care workers)
-- Failure to respond to submitted questions (32 percent)
-- Inconsistency in company messaging in different social media venues (26 percent)
-- Failure to regularly post information or blog entries (25 percent)
Employers must lead the social media pack
Despite this interest, very few workers on social media (18 percent of IT workers, 12 percent of health-care workers, and only 9 percent of retail workers) currently use it as a means to research jobs. Representatives from each site say social media users are waiting for companies to take the lead.
"Social media communication is a two-way street," says Bill Meidell, product director of WorkinRetail.com. "Retailers need to keep their pages active and respond to as many fans and commenters as possible in order to see a positive return on their efforts."
"IT workers are not only interested in learning about new career opportunities, but willing to refer jobs to friends or people in their professional networks, as well," adds Jamie Carney, senior product director of Sologig.com. "Forty-one percent will pass job leads along to others, according to the survey, making social media the perfect vehicle for improving a job listing's reach."
Rob Morris, product director of MiracleWorkers.com, echoes this sentiment, saying, "The referral process makes social media a great avenue for career information. We found that 30 percent of health-care workers on social media pass job opportunities to friends or people in their professional networks."
Source: careerbuilder
Source: careerbuilder