In the Gen Y space, social media recruiting (aka facebook, twitter etc) comes up in just about every conversation we have with recruiters these days. It seems everyone, I mean everyone, is jumping on the bandwagon.

As a new media company that strives to connect employers with Gen Y talent using innovative methods, we just had to find out for ourselves.

For starters, we polled our audience and found out that most Gen Y still rely on school resources, job boards and company web sites to find out about open positions (our survey runs until mid-Oct so these results are preliminary; stay tuned!) .

If that’s the case, then why all the hubbub about social media and recruitment?

One aspect that we discovered is that social media, in this case Twitter, is good for maintaining relationships. We used our @hiringbeat Twitter feed. With ~250 followers and approximately one tweet per day, we are getting as many as 20 clicks on some tweets. That’s equivalent to an 8% click rate, which is pretty good. Average email marketing open rates hover around 13% (according to Mailermailer) and click rates are a fraction of that (say 13% open an email and 10% click, that is equal to a 1.3% click rate).

What we also seeing is that our tweets, if they are good, are being retweeted by our followers, further extending our reach, touching people who may have never heard of us before.

So if you get your Twitter following up to 1000, then each time you tweet you could have hundred people or so viewing your jobs and finding about your events - a great way to maintain relationships with candidates!

To learn more about Gen Y using social media, download our whitepaper.

“Gen F.” Have you heard of or seen this term? A colleague recently shared an insightful post from Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 blog on WSJ.com, The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500, which spells out how the Facebook Generation – a.k.a. Generation F – will ultimately change the face of the workplace. Companies that don’t get it, Hamel argues, will miss out on attracting the best and brightest and may be setting themselves up for a harsh reality if the Gen F contingent is missing.

Gen F, Gen Y, the Net Kids, Millennials. Whatever you call them, the next generation workforce will comprise half of employers’ headcount budgets within the next 10 years. And if you’ve been reading my last few Talent Insights posts, you’ve also gotten the (not so subtle) sense that these young professionals thrive on social media and new technology. Add these considerations together, and I think Hamel pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Last month, more than 250 college students and young grads took our Web 2.0 Technologies Survey and told us some pretty telling things. The survey focused on collaborative and community-based online media – social and professional networking sites, widgets and gadgets, wikis, blogs, podcasts, video, etc. – and their role in the workplace.

Nearly all respondents, at 94%, reported using social networking sites. Yet when it comes to other new technologies, the largest numbers of Gen Y spend only an hour or less each week on sites liked LinkedIn, blogs and micro-blogs (think Twitter) and video chat apps like Skype. Interestingly, 20% of respondents said they use new media to make new business contacts or learn about career opportunities.

Factor in work and the numbers get more compelling, and employers especially should take note. Forty-two percent of Gen Y told us they use or plan to use social networks at work. A substantial 90% of this same group believes Web 2.0 technologies will make them more or just as productive at work, and nearly the same number – 82% – said they’d be happy to coach their older counterparts on new media if the training was needed. (Incidentally, our Facebook Fan Page members told us just as much, too.)

With cost control being top-of-mind for just about all of us, and given the tendencies of the Facebook Generation, employers have an opportunity to potentially boost productivity – and save money – by setting Web 2.0 and social media standards at the workplace. At Experience, for example, we all rely on Skype for IM and video conferencing. Personally it saves me time when I can just fire off a quick question to a coworker who resides two floors below me. Not that IM is cutting-edge revolutionary, but you get the point: simple measures add up and make a difference.

Earlier in the month, I hosted a presentation at Experience’s client conference that focused on the so-called “Net Kids.” I discussed common Gen Y traits (namely their comfort with technology) and Web 2.0 media, and why combined they all matter in setting effective career services strategy. Citing the Experience Online Usage Survey we ran late last year, I suggested in my presentation there’s a clear opportunity for social networks– a key Web 2.0 component — to make a serious impact on those of us who live and breathe all things Gen Y careers, not to mention the candidates themselves.

Love it or hate it, social networking is here to stay. The biggest player by far is Facebook, of course, with its 130 million (and growing) active users. Half of these active users access it at least once every day.

In our survey (which I detailed last month in “What’s The Use”), respondents were asked to check off a list of the social networking sites they use. An overwhelming 85 percent of Gen Y surveyed reported being active with Facebook. MySpace was a distant runner up, followed by LinkedIn.

Being social on social networking sites is of course the primary focus, but those of us looking to connect with Gen Y — employers, college career services, alumni associations and everyone in between — have an opportunity to use these networks to engage young professionals on their terms, and on their time. More than a quarter of our respondents indicated they use social networks in the context of careers, whether it’s hunting for jobs, making new business contacts or staying in touch with co-workers. In our current economic recession, career-related activity on Facebook and the rest will only increase come spring and summer.

On a related note, Experience on Tuesday announced the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads, a top 20 list of the leading employers that “get it” when it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining Gen Y. Many of the organizations highlighted in Best Places fully embrace and support social networks at the workplace. They’re committed to fostering communities and affinity groups (professional and social) at the workplace through new media. As a result, they’re fostering a more productive work environment by building trust between younger workers and managers. Check out the report and get some ideas for yourself.

At the end of October, Experience refurbished its Facebook Page and we’ve seen some great traction with our growing fan base. As the universally regarded #1 online destination for Gen Y, college students and young grads alike flock to Facebook daily to do everything from connect with friends to discovering new music to joining communities (like Experience!) that resonate with their interests.

Tied in with our Facebook relaunch, last month we surveyed more than 230 Experience.com candidates with our Online Usage Survey which was designed to gauge how millennials spend their time online. And whether it’s catching up with friends, watching videos, reading the news or looking for jobs or internships, our respondents told us many interesting things - especially when it comes to looking for entry-level opportunities.

One specific area of interest the survey covered was job sites. In addition to Experience.com (which took the lion’s share of responses) and using offline college and alumni-related career services offerings, candidates most often use the big brand-name job sites. More significantly than who made the list, our respondents told us some important things that we should consider when reaching out to Gen Y.

Q: What challenges do you face when searching or applying for a job online?

As you can see in the graphic above, the biggest area of opportunity for recruiters is to optimize their job descriptions. Though the top challenge identified in the survey was “unable to find what I’m looking for,” this frustration is caused in large part due to the description-related challenges identified. Vague job descriptions or not relaying the right (or enough) information can prevent a top candidate from connecting with an opportunity that just might be that “perfect fit” in reality. Candidates may not be finding what they’re looking for because sometimes the descriptions aren’t up to par with the opportunities and employers themselves.

As I mentioned in my post from last week, there’s only one chance to make that first impression. Maximize your recruiting dollars by ensuring your entry-level job and/or internship descriptions are up to snuff and are hitting all the notes Gen Y wants to hear. If you haven’t yet checked it out, I encourage you to read our whitepaper on the subject.

Next up, I’ll take a different dive into this Online Usage Survey and will specifically look at social networking and how it factors in to the career discovery and job search process. Stay tuned!