A survey of more than 7,000 recruitment companies, HR managers and recruiters in the U.S. has found 64% have rejected a job application after looking at a candidate’s social media profile.

The survey, undertaken by Oilandgaspeople.com, the world’s leading Oil and Gas jobs board, also found that 82% of employers have looked up potential candidates on social media sites, while 71% of them have successfully hired an employee or contractor using social media.

Results showed that 88% of recruiters used LinkedIn for candidate recruitment, 25% used Facebook, 8%, twitter, and 33% used industry-based job boards.

The survey highlighted Job boards and LinkedIn as the two most important tools to recruiters, with Facebook also playing a role. 77% said the reason for recruiting via social media is that it gives them better access to more candidates, 33% said it is the most cost effective way to find candidates, while 41% said it gave them better insight into whether candidates were suitable.

“Social media is now a powerful recruitment tool for getting the right person in position faster and cheaper than traditional forms of advertising,” said Kevin Forbes, CEO of Oilandgaspeople.com. He adds, “The Oil and Gas Industry is currently enjoying a small boom and it is becoming increasingly hard to source the right candidates. Being such an innovative industry it comes as no surprise that recruiters are turning to social media to find top talent.”

Founded in Aberdeen in 2009, Oil and Gas People has successfully matched thousands of job seekers with vacancies in the international oil and gas sector. Oil and Gas People Managing Director, Kevin Forbes is an ex contractor who spent 7 years working in the Oil Industry as an HSE Professional covering large projects globally. Oilandgaspeople.com, allows recruitment companies and companies to check the profiles of candidates on its LinkedIn group, which is one of the largest in the U.K. with more than 1 million members, as well as the largest Facebook page of any major oil and gas company.