Adecco just published findings from their first ever global study on social recruiting, and things are changing.

Job seekers now have a whole new way to search for jobs. Social media has brought more opportunities and advanced career options to the playing filed, and it has become a valuable tool for not only job seekers, but recruiters as well.

Adecco ran the study between March 18 and June 2, 2014, collecting responses from over 17,000 candidates and 1,500 recruiters from 24 countries on how they use social media in the recruiting process. The results demonstrate how social media has become a valuable tool that is changing the way recruiting and job seeking is done.

The study looks at a global, regional and local level on the areas of

• The use of social media
• The effectiveness of social media in matching job seekers with open positions
• The importance of web reputation
• The social capital of individual candidates
• How recruiters explore the web when looking for a candidate

The study found that Recruiters focus on candidates social media reputation. LinkedIn remains the most highly used at 68%. Facebook is also used quite a bit at 52%. Recruiters use the platforms to scope out candidates and search for relevant experience, professional awards, and other achievements that could be useful for the job candidates are applying to.