A study from Emlyon Business School suggests that people who search for new jobs excessively using professional social media platforms are less likely to be successful in their applications.
September is traditionally a busy time for the job market. However, this year more people are on the hunt for a new job than has been seen in nearly 8 years, with the rate of redundancies shooting up to 4.8 per 1000 employees according to the Office of National Statistics.
However, research led by Professor of International Human Resources management Nikos Bozionelos suggest that excessive job searching through these platforms may not be the best route to a new job.
According to the study lead by Professor Bozionelos, 78 per cent of recruiters do not feel that social networking sites are as useful for applying for jobs as they are for networking and creating opportunities, as reported by The Global Recruiter.
Despite this, 71 per cent of recruiters interviewed in the same study still say an applicant’s LinkedIn profile is important.
There are a couple of reasons for this, the first being logical and the other being a problem of selectivity.
Logically, an applicant who applies for more positions will receive more rejections than someone who applies for fewer roles, however, there is a problem with applying for jobs in bulk.
Without tailoring your applications to the specific job, recruiter or global rec2rec agency, it is not the best showcase for your skills and can be outshone by an applicant who crafted a very strong application.
The best advice is to work smarter, rather than harder. Search for the jobs you have a passion for and showcase yourself to them specifically.
