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A new online survey of more than 21,000 people found that 75 percent of working-age Americans are looking for a way to get out of their jobs.
The hiring software company Jobvite conducted the 2012 Social Job Seeker Survey, which found that 69 percent of respondents said that they were either “actively seeking” a new job or “open to” a new job. Last year, 61 percent said so.
Despite these new job dreams, more then 60 percent of respondents said they felt finding a job had become “somewhat harder” or “much harder.” Meaning they have less confidence in the job market—and they have reason to be less hopeful. “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has added approximately 146,000 jobs a month in 2012, as opposed to 153,000 a month in 2011,” reports The Huffington Post. However, the long-term trend is turning positive, with the last two jobs reports showing unemployment declines.
Nevertheless, the Jobvite survey found that people are persistently seeking new jobs — often turning to social media to do so. “It found that 88 percent maintain at least one online profile, and that when it’s time to change jobs, many use their social networking accounts to hunt for a new position,” HuffPo adds. More than half (52 percent) used Facebook to job hunt, 38 percent turned to LinkedIn and another 34 percent used Twitter to look for a new job.
Employers too are using social media to not only find new workers but to research potential employees. “In a separate 2012 Jobvite survey of recruiters, 78 percent said they would react negatively to content about illegal drug use, 66 percent felt the same way about profanity, and 54 percent would frown on sexual content” the article reports.
