It’s becoming more difficult than ever to interact with others without someone diverting their attention to their phone to scroll through social media, says Kristi Sproul in a post on AgCareers.com. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or another site, generations across the board are increasingly engaged on at least one social media platform. However, social media has long outgrown its roots as a place to connect with high school classmates and post pictures of grandchildren. Increasingly users are relying on social media to job search. Job seekers can gain a lot of insight about company culture from the organizations social media presence, and understanding how different generations are using social media during the job search process can help companies leverage their posts and platforms in a meaningful way.

Regardless of what generation is interacting with your organization via social media. the key is authenticity in representing your company and its culture. Don’t try to be something you’re not to attract a certain audience.

Today’s workforce is predominantly made up by three distinct generations:

• Gen Y / Millennials (Born 1983-2000)
• Gen X (Born 1965-1982)
• Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964)

Data published by CIO Online unveils some telling information about 5,268 surveyed different generations using social media to job search:

• All three generations turn to a job board first when doing a search, including 77% of Gen Y and 87% of Baby Boomers. 
• Gen Y is most likely to interact with a company’s social media profile.
• What may come as a surprise is this research found that social networks are most popular among Baby Boomers (29%), followed by Gen X (27%) and Gen Y (23%). In fact, adults 50 and older are the fastest growing demographic on the internet.
• Facebook is still king among each of these three generations.

You may note that Gen Z isn’t listed in the statistics above. Gen Z is finally entering the workforce, so now employers will have to manage outreach to four very different generations.