In two previous posts I discussed whetherLinkedIn will Replace Monster & Careerbuilder and shared 5 Ways Staffing Professionals Can Leverage LinkedIn. Here are some stats with regards to how many of your recruiting peers are using social media now or are planning to in the next 12 months. I hope you’re one of them!

Survey results from Jobvite’s 2010 recruiting survey found that 83% of respondents (over 600 human resources and recruitment professionals completed Jobvite’s online survey) use or plan to use social networking for recruiting in 2011. The big sites used: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Regarding candidate quality, respondents rates job boards worst, referrals best, and social networks somewhere in the middle

Some more interesting numbers from the survey:

• 46% of respondents plan to spend more on social recruiting in the coming year
• 36% will spend less on job boards and 38% will spend less on third party recruiters and search firms
• 71% of survey respondents are hiring
• 92% of those actively hiring currently use or plan to recruit via social networks

What does this all mean? I don’t know if the days of Monster and Careerbuilder are numbered – they still have significant databases, and Careerbuilder, at least, has enough money to advertise during the Super Bowl – but the enormous potential of the “big three” social networking sites for recruiting is definitely untapped as many recruiters and organizations still struggle with exactly how to incorporate social media into their marketing mix AND keep permanent records of all those conversations in their recruiting software.

The companies that are truly leading the field are using recruiting and staffing software that incorporates social media making it even faster and easier to stay connected with candidates and clients.

These numbers also mean that job seekers should definitely incorporate social media into their job hunting toolbox.

If you’re not sure how to use social media in recruiting, subscribe to this blog as I’ll be passing on tips for using social networking for recruiting. If you have some of your own, please share them in the comments section.