"The rise in social recruiting has allowed both candidates and employers an easier way to find the best match," says Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite. "We continue to see social recruiting gain popularity because it is more efficient than the days of sifting through a haystack of resumes. It also increases quality referral hires, which our own data on Jobvite proves are hired faster and last longer."

LinkedIn continues to be a dominant recruiting network, while Facebook and Twitter have seen major adoption growth in the past year. Two-thirds of companies now recruit through Facebook and more than half (54 percent) use Twitter to find new talent. 

What are they looking at? While 78 percent of employers don't like to see mention of illegal drugs, 80 percent are happy when they see memberships in professional organizations.

Interestingly, employers do care about spelling and grammar mistakes, with 54 percent saying they have a negative reaction when they see it.

Referrals are the highest-rated sources of new hires, and it's far easier for employees to share jobs through social networks. Industry data shows people have an average of 150 social network contacts, so a company of 100 could have a social recruiting reach of 15,000 direct contacts, and 2.25 million second-degree connections. The Jobvite survey notes that 65 percent of companies seek to increase employee participation in recruiting by offering referral bonuses; more than a third offer rewards of more than $1,000.