Employers must tailor talent acquisition practices to the talent they want to attract, according to the 2014 Candidate Preferences Survey from ManpowerGroup Solutions Recruitment Process Outsourcing.

“By maximizing their presence on, and engagement with, carefully selected social media, employers can attract and engage the right candidates faster and more efficiently, said Jim McCoy, vice president ManpowerGroup Solutions and North America RPO practice lead.

Key Candidate Preferences Survey findings:

• 86 percent explore employers’ websites when researching positions online.
• 36 percent report employers’ websites and career sites lack clear and relevant information.
• 52 percent use search engine results, and 45 percent use peer recommendations to gather information about prospective employers and positions.
• Indeed, CareerBuilder and Monster top the list of most frequently used online job sites.
• 30 percent use social media to get more information about open positions or employers; of these, more than 70 percent use Facebook, 43 percent each use Google+ or LinkedIn .
• 72 percent prefer traditional, in-person interviews; 15 percent choose telephone interviews

The survey included more than 200 active and passive U.S. job seekers representing a cross section of ages, incomes, career levels and industries.