Social media is the most widely used recruiting tactic in the US, but it is not the most effective one. The SHRM 2026 Talent Trends report found that 59% of HR professionals use social media to recruit, the most common strategy surveyed, yet respondents ranked it only ninth in effectiveness at filling open roles. Meanwhile, AGC’s 2026 Workforce Survey shows that 49% of construction firms added or increased online recruiting, including social media and targeted digital advertising, in the past year, while 87% still report open craft positions. The numbers below separate reach from results, with a focus on the industrial employers where hiring is hardest.
Summary / Key statistics at a glance
- 59% of HR professionals use social media to recruit, the most-used recruiting strategy, according to the SHRM 2026 Talent Trends report (survey of 2,094 HR professionals, February 2026). It ranked ninth in effectiveness.
- 58% rated improving compensation as the most effective strategy, followed by flexible work arrangements (57%) and training existing employees (53%), also per SHRM 2026.
- 68% of HR professionals reported difficulty recruiting for full-time positions, per SHRM 2026.
- 49% of construction firms added or increased online recruiting strategies such as social media and targeted digital ads, per AGC’s 2026 Workforce Survey (1,830 firms, July and August 2026).
- 87% of construction firms have open hourly craft positions, and 88% of those say the roles are as hard or harder to fill than a year ago (AGC 2026).
- 522,000 manufacturing job openings in August 2026, against 332,000 hires, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- 50% of Gen Z adults watch trade career content on social media, and 47% of those viewers say it made a trades career more appealing, per SupplyHouse’s 2026 Gen Z trades survey.
- 95% of Gen Z workers say a company’s social media presence influences whether they apply, per Zety’s 2025 Gen Z Career Trends report.
- 70% of companies research candidates on social media, per a Harris Poll for Express Employment Professionals (fielded December 2022, the most recent edition found).
How common is social media recruiting in 2026?
Adoption is high and still climbing. SHRM’s 2025 Talent Trends survey of 2,040 HR professionals, fielded in February 2025, found that 55% of organizations used social media for recruiting, which already made it the most widely adopted strategy. One year later, the SHRM 2026 Talent Trends report puts that figure at 59%, a four-point gain in a single survey cycle.
The audience is there. In its November 2025 survey of 5,022 US adults, Pew Research Center found that 84% use YouTube, 71% use Facebook, 50% use Instagram, and 37% use TikTok. Age matters for channel choice: roughly eight in ten adults aged 18 to 29 say they use Instagram, while Facebook is most common among adults aged 30 to 49.
LinkedIn, which Pew does not track in that report, describes itself as having more than 1 billion members in more than 200 countries and territories. For recruiters, that makes it the default professional network, though the data below suggests that reach alone does not fill roles.
Popular is not the same as effective
This is the most citable finding of the year. In the SHRM 2026 Talent Trends data, social media is the most frequently used recruiting strategy at 59%, but HR professionals ranked it ninth when asked which strategies work best at filling open roles. The strategies at the top of the effectiveness list were not channels at all:
- Improving compensation: 58% rated it most effective.
- Offering flexible work arrangements: 57%.
- Training existing employees for hard-to-fill roles: 53%.
The context explains why employers keep reaching for social. SHRM reports that 68% of HR professionals had difficulty recruiting for full-time positions, and 53% of those said it had become harder than the year before. Posting more widely feels like action. The data says pay, flexibility, and internal development move the needle more.
None of this means social recruiting is wasted effort. It means the channel works best as awareness and employer brand, paired with a competitive offer, rather than as a standalone fix. That distinction matters most where talent is scarce.
Social media recruiting in construction, manufacturing, energy, and transportation
Industrial employers are using social media, but the commitment is uneven and the results are mixed.
Construction. In AGC’s 2026 Workforce Survey, 49% of firms said they added or increased online recruiting strategies such as social media and targeted digital advertising to connect with younger applicants. That sits alongside other tactics: 48% engaged with career-building programs, 25% used executive or non-craft search firms, and 20% used craft staffing firms. The need is real. 87% of firms have craft openings, 82% have salaried openings, and 42% reported project delays caused by workforce shortages. More than half raised pay for hourly craft workers by more than the prior year (55%).
One caution for year-over-year comparisons: in AGC’s 2025 survey of 1,342 firms, 55% reported having added online strategies, and the question wording differed slightly (“added” in 2025 versus “added or increased” in 2026). The 2025 data also showed a size gap, with roughly 77% of firms above $500 million in revenue using digital strategies versus fewer than half of smaller firms. Smaller contractors were the least likely to recruit online.
Manufacturing. The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for August 2026 counted 522,000 manufacturing openings and 332,000 hires in the month. Construction showed 251,000 openings and 308,000 hires, so the gap between demand and placements is much wider in manufacturing. Across the whole economy, openings held at 7.1 million.
Transportation and energy. BLS reported 338,000 openings in transportation, warehousing, and utilities in August 2026, and 25,000 in mining and logging (the category that includes oil and gas extraction). BLS notes that openings changed little in all industries month over month, which suggests the hiring pressure is structural rather than a one-month swing.
What candidates are doing on social platforms
The candidate side of the data points to a younger, more video-driven job search, particularly for the trades.
- Trades content is reaching Gen Z. SupplyHouse’s March 2026 survey of 1,005 Gen Z adults (ages 18 to 25) found that half watch trade content on social media, and 47% of those viewers said it made a career in the trades more appealing. About one in three watches that content on TikTok.
- Company presence shapes applications. In Zety’s January 2025 survey of 896 US Gen Z workers, 95% said a company’s social media presence influences their decision to apply, and 78% believe employers review candidates’ social profiles.
- TikTok has produced real hires, with caveats. The same Zety survey found that 46% of respondents had secured a job or internship through TikTok. It is a self-reported figure from a modest sample, so treat it as directional. The same report found that 55% admit to following misleading career advice they saw on the platform.
For employers, the practical read is that short-form video about the actual work (a lineman climbing a pole, a welder on a pipe job, a CNC operator running a shift) is what Gen Z says it is watching. Generic job-post graphics are not.
Screening: the other side of social media hiring
Recruiting is only half of how employers use social platforms. The most recent edition of the Harris Poll for Express Employment Professionals, fielded in December 2022 among 1,002 US hiring decision-makers, found:
- 70% of companies use social media to research potential candidates, and 17% research every applicant.
- 41% of hiring managers see social media as one of the best places to source candidates.
- 69% find social media screening effective, yet 51% say they have never found content that disqualified a candidate.
- 86% say they would consider a candidate with no online presence.
That survey is the freshest edition available from the source, so read the figures as “as of December 2022.” The last two points are worth noting: screening is common, but it rarely changes outcomes, and an absent profile is rarely a dealbreaker. That matters for skilled-trades candidates, who are often less visible online than office-based applicants.
Emerging trends and what’s new in 2026
The effectiveness gap is now measurable. Until this year, most social recruiting statistics measured usage only. SHRM’s 2026 ranking, with social media first in use and ninth in results, gives journalists and HR leaders a concrete benchmark for the argument that spend should follow outcomes.
Online recruiting adoption is no longer a one-way trend in construction. AGC’s 2026 figure of 49% sits below the 55% reported in 2025, though the question wording changed. The takeaway is that a large minority of contractors have not moved online, and those that have are finding it is one tool among several. Career-building programs (48%) are nearly as common as digital outreach.
Gen Z is discovering the trades through social video. With half of Gen Z adults watching trade content, according to SupplyHouse’s 2026 data, the top of the funnel for craft careers increasingly starts on a phone. Employers who publish credible, on-the-job content are competing for attention where younger candidates already are.
Pay and flexibility still decide offers. With 58% of HR professionals rating compensation as the most effective lever and 55% of AGC firms raising craft pay more than the prior year, social media works best when it points to a competitive package rather than substituting for one.
Hiring pressure remains concentrated in industrial sectors. August 2026 BLS data showed 522,000 manufacturing openings, 338,000 in transportation, warehousing, and utilities, and 251,000 in construction. Employers in those sectors face a long road ahead, and no single channel will close it.
How Tall Trees Talent helps
Tall Trees Talent helps contractors, infrastructure firms, and industrial employers fill hard-to-staff engineering, project management, and field leadership roles with recruiters who have worked in the industry themselves. Explore construction recruiting to see how it works, or learn more about the firm.
