Did you make it to Social Media Week Chicago this year? We covered some of the information about Gen Y highlighted by others this week, but we also wanted to share what you missed if you weren’t able to attend our presentation: Social Media and the #GenYJobHunt.

Talent Manager Maddi Brody and Social Media Coordinator Laura Wing spoke to an audience Tuesday morning at the Chicago Cultural Center. Here’s what they said…

SOCIAL RECRUITING IS INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT

More and more companies are using Social Recruiting to find candidates. According to a 2012 study by Jobvite, 93% of companies are using LinkedIn in their recruiting. Furthermore, those who are using social media in their recruiting have found an increase in the quality of candidates and a decrease in the time it took them to hire.

What does that mean for you as a job seeker? If you aren’t using social media in your job search, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities.

SOCIAL RECRUITING IN THE 2012 TOP 50 EMPLOYERS FOR GEN Y EMERGING TALENT IN CHICAGO

We found similar results in our survey of the 2012 Top 50 Employers for Gen Y Emerging Talent in Chicago. 94 percent use LinkedIn in their recruiting process. In fact, we found social media to be more commonly used for recruiting than job boards (both general and industry-specific), university career centers, alumni associations and even job fairs.

LINKEDIN UNDERUTILIZED BY GEN Y

As a whole, Gen Y is highly under-utilizing the greatest social media tool for the job search: LinkedIn. In our survey of Gen Yers in Chicagoland, we found 32 percent of Gen Y are not on LinkedIn. And even those who are on LinkedIn aren’t connected with their peers or leaders. 76 percent of Gen Y are not connected with their supervisors, and 63 percent are not connected with their co-workers.

So, what’s a Gen Y job seeker to do? We’ll cover that on Monday, so check back!