More employers in Asia Pacific are turning to social media to recruit talent and actively screen candidates, a new survey by staffing company Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS) has found.

Every Australian HR and resourcing professional who responded to the survey said they use social media to help them source candidates, while 80% said they also use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as part of their employer branding activity.

But none of the Australian respondents said they used social media to vet or reject job applicants. This stands in stark contrast with what happens elsewhere in the region. In Singapore, 17% said they had rejected a candidate based on what they’ve seen on a social media site, compared to 29% of recruiters in Hong Kong.

In the Asia Pacific region, social media is mainly used for candidate sourcing (73%), managing employer brand (73%), and lowering overall recruitment costs (71%).

“Social media used to be the exclusive playground of Gen Y and Web 2.0 denizens, but its ability to connect people and companies in real-time has helped it become one of the most mainstream of media,” said Martin Cerullo, director of Business Development for Asia Pacific at AMS.

Overall, 85% respondents from Asia Pacific said they actively use social media, with LinkedIn proving the most popular, followed by Facebook and Twitter. A clear majority (90%) said they expected business usage of social media to rise next year.