This research project assessed the importance of social media, social networks, and job portals to rural college students seeking employment. The researchers aimed to: 1) Determine the importance and use of these tools in employment searches. 2) Determine the effectiveness of using these tools in obtaining jobs. 3) Determine the importance of social media presence to students. Surveys were administered to rural college students. Results showed that social media, networks, and job portals were considered important in searches by most students. Students reported using these tools in the past and planning to use them in the future for various purposes like searching for jobs, monitoring openings, and contacting employers. However, effectiveness varied - organizations' job portals were viewed

1. Professors: Bill Godair, Ed Dansereau
Student Researchers: Janelle Cahee, Cassandra Fyles, Chris Shattuck,
Jacob Stafford

2. SPECIFIC AIMS
This research assesses the importance of social media, social networks, and
organizations’ employment/job portal to rural college students looking for
employment. Specifically:
a) Determine the importance of social media, social network, and organizations’
employment/job portals to rural college students seeking employment.
b) Determine the use of social media, social networks, and organizations’
employment/job portal by rural college students seeking employment.
c) Determine the effectiveness of social media, social networks, and organizations’
employment/job portal use by rural college students in obtaining employment.
d) Determine the importance to rural college students of their social presence in their
search for employment.

3. a) Determine the importance of social media, social network, and organizations’
employment/job portals to rural college students seeking employment
Very / Fairly
Important
67%
Not too / at all
Important
29%
Do Not Know
4%
q6

4. b) Determine the use of social media, social networks, and organizations’ employment/job portal
by rural college students seeking employment.
Q10
43% 43%
66%
39%
45%
50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Social Media Social Networks Organizations'
employment/job
portals
Past & Projected Future Use in
search for employment
Have used to search for employment
Plan to use to search for employment 29%
32%
39%
19%
29%
36%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Social Media Social Networks Organizations'
employment/job portals
Past & Projected Future Use in Monitoring
Potential Employers Position Openings
Have used to monitor potential employer position openings
Plan to use to monitor potential employer position openings
20%
23%
35%
23%
27%
32%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Social Media Social Networks Organizations'
employment/job
portals
Past & Projected Future Use in
contacting/communicating
with Potential Employers
Have used to contact/communicate with potential
employers
Plan to used to contact/communicate with
potential employers

5. b) Determine the use of social media, social networks, and organizations’ employment/job portal by
rural college students seeking employment.
Q 11
26%
14%
26%
15%
7%
13%
15%
16%
22% 22%
11%
14%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Less than 15 minutes 16 to 30 minutes 30+ minutes to 1 hour 1+ hour to 2 hours 2+ hours to 3 hours More than 3 hours
Past and Projected Future Use of time spent by rural college students using Social Media,
Social Network or Organizations' job portal in their search for employment
Past employment searches Future employment searches

6. c) Determine the effectiveness of social media, social networks, and organizations’ employment/job
portal use by rural college students in obtaining employment.
Q 14
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Social Media Social Networks Organizations' employment/job portals
How effective was your use of social media, social network and organizations' job portal in seeking employment?
Very / Highly Effective Not Too / Not At All Effectiv

7. c) Determine the effectiveness of social media, social networks, and organizations’ employment/job
portal use by rural college students in obtaining employment.
Q 13
12%
16%
42%
7%
15%
25%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Social media Social networks Organizations' employment/job portals
Use of social media, social networks, or organizations' employment/job portals result in
_________________________.
a job offer being extended and accepted
a job offer being extended

8. c) Determine the effectiveness of social media, social networks, and organizations’ employment/job
portal use by rural college students in obtaining employment.
Q 13
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
no response
from the
organization
a job offer
being
extended
and
accepted
a job offer
being
extended
your contact
sharing a job
opportunity
with you
your contact
referring
you for a job
your contact
providing an
employee
perspective
on the
company
making a
new
professional
contact.
Social media
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
no response
from the
organization
a job offer
being
extended and
accepted
a job offer
being
extended
your contact
sharing a job
opportunity
with you
your contact
referring you
for a job
your contact
providing an
employee
perspective
on the
company
making a new
professional
contact.
Social networks
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
no response from
the organization
a job offer being
extended and
accepted
a job offer being
extended
your contact
sharing a job
opportunity with
you
your contact
referring you for
a job
your contact
providing an
employee
perspective on
the company
making a new
professional
contact.
Organizations' employment/job portals

9. d) Determine the importance to rural college students of their social presence in their search
for employment
Q16 & 17
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Social Media Social Networks
How important to you is your "presence" on social media and social
network sites in terms of search for employment?
Very/Fairly Important Not to/Not at all Important
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Social media Social networks
How much of a "priority" is the management of your social presence on
social media and social network?
Moderate/High Priority Not at all / Somewhat of a priority

10. H1: Is there a statistically significance between gender on their perception of the importance of social media,
social network, and organizations’ employment/job portals to rural college students seeking employment.
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square (a) 4.727 8 .786
Likelihood Ratio 5.345 8 .720
Linear-by-Linear Association .334 1 .563
N of Valid Cases 207
(a) 8 cells (53.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .06.

11. H2: Gender difference does not have a statistically significant effect on utilization of social media
and social network by rural college students seeking employment
Q2 x Q11
What is your gender? * Past employment searches
Crosstabulation
What is your gender? * Future employment searches
Crosstabulation
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig.
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 19.457a 14 .148
Likelihood Ratio 15.755 14 .329
Linear-by-Linear Association .716 1 .397
N of Valid Cases 199
a 10 cells (41.7%) have expected count less than 5.
The minimum expected count is .05.
Symmetric Measures Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal Phi .313 .148
Cramer's V .221 .148
N of Valid Cases 199
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp.
Value df Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 13.321a 14 .501
Likelihood Ratio 10.768 14 .704
Linear-by-Linear Association .353 1 .553
N of Valid Cases 197
a 10 cells (41.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum
expected count is .03.
Symmetric Measures Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal Phi .260 .501
Cramer's V .184 .501
N of Valid Cases 197

12. H2: Gender difference does not have a statistically significant effect on utilization of social media
and social network by rural college students seeking employment
Q2 x Q11
What is your gender? * Past employment searches
Crosstabulation
What is your gender? * Future employment searches
Crosstabulation
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig.
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 19.457a 14 .148
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp.
Value df Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 13.321a 14 .501
Testing the null hypothesis of no
significant difference between observed
and expected frequencies at the .01
level of significance, the critical value
would be 29.141. Therefore, if the chi-
square statistic for this goodness-of-fit
test were equal to or greater than the
critical value of 29.141, the null
hypothesis of no difference would be
rejected at the .01 level of significance,
and the alternative hypothesis that a
difference exist would be supported.
CV = 29.141
19.457
13.321
We fail to reject the null
hypothesis of no difference
since the Observed Value is
less than the Critical Value.

13. H2: Statistical significance between past and future use of social media and social network
Q2 x Q11
Past employment searches * Future employment searches
Crosstabulation
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig.
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 273.110a 49 .000
Likelihood Ratio 186.849 49 .000
Linear-by-Linear Association 67.900 1 .000
N of Valid Cases 203
a 50 cells (78.1%) have expected count less than 5.
The minimum expected count is .25.
Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal Phi 1.160 .000
Cramer's V .438 .000
N of Valid Cases 203
Testing the null hypothesis of no
significant difference between observed
and expected frequencies at the .01
level of significance, the critical value
would be 74.92. Therefore, if the chi-
square statistic for this goodness-of-fit
test were equal to or greater than the
critical value of 74.92, the null
hypothesis of no difference would be
rejected at the .01 level of significance,
and the alternative hypothesis that a
difference exist would be supported.
CV = 74.92 OV = 273.110
We fail to accept the null
hypothesis of no difference
since the Observed Value is
Greater Than the Critical Value.

14. H3: Statistical significance between past and future use of social media and social network
Q2 x Q11
Critical Chi-square (Χ2) value: 66.33864886
If the researcher were testing the null hypothesis of
no significant difference between observed and
expected frequencies at the .10 level of significance,
the critical value would be 12.017. Therefore, if the
researcher's chi-square statistic for this goodness-of-
fit test were equal to or greater than the critical value
of 12.017, the null hypothesis of no difference would
be rejected at the .10 level of significance, and the
alternative hypothesis would be supported.
http://flylib.com/books/en/2.890.1.319/1/
http://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc/calculator.aspx?id=12

15. ANALYSIS
H2: Gender difference does not statistically significant effect rural college students perception on
the importance of their social presence on social network/social media during their search for
employment
http://homepage.stat.uiowa.edu/~mbognar/applets/chisq.html
http://www.distributome.org/js/sim/ChiSquareSimulation.htm

16. ANALYSIS
H4: Class level does not statistically significant effect rural college students use of social
network/social media during their search for employment.

17. ANALYSIS

18. Demographics
Gender
Male
37%
Female
62%
Transgender
0%
Prefer not to answer
1%
Q2

19. Demographics
Age
18 - 19, 27.7%
20 - 21, 31.7%
22 - 23, 15.6%
24 - 25, 6.1%
26 - 30, 7.4%
31 - 35, 2.9%
36 - 40, 2.1%
41 - 45, 1.3%
46 - 50, 1.6%
51 - 55, 1.8%
56 - 60, 1.6%
Older that 61, 0.0%
Q - 3

20. Demographics
Class Status
Q - 4
Freshman, 24.3%
Sophmore, 20.8%
Junior, 27.2%
Senior, 22.4%
Graduate Student, 5.3%

21. Demographics
Castleton University, 22%
Community College of Vermont, 14%
Johnson State College, 25%
Lyndon State College, 19%
Vermont Technical Center - Randolph, 15%
Vermont Technical Center - Williston, 5%
Educational Institution Response
Q - 5

22. Q 7

23. Q 8
An organizations' employment/job
portal (website), 78.3%
LinkedIn, 58.5%
Career Builder, 43.9%
Monster, 32.5%
Craigslist, 31.6%
The top 5 social media, social network and organizations' job portal rural college will use in future searches
for employment.

24. Q 9
The ease at which I can find the
Information I need,
97%
Ease of use,
95%
To access a wider range of
employment opportunities,
95%
The ease at which I can accomplish
the task I want to accomplish,
93%
The website is easy to use, 93%
The Top 5-Characteristics Rural College use to which Social Media, Social Network and Organizations' Job
Portals to use in their search for employment

25. Q12
96%
78%
55%
4%
22%
45%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Organizations' employment/job
portals
Social networks Social media
Rural College Students' Assessment of the Usefulness
of Social Media, Social Network & Organizations Job Portals
in their search for employment
Very/Somewhat helpful Not too/at all helpful

26. Q15
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
Social Media Social Networks
How likely do you feel that a potential employers can find you on
Social Media or on a Social Network?
Very likely Fairly likely Not too likely Not at all likely

27. Q16
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Social Media Social Networks
How important to you is your "presence" on social media and social
network sites in terms of search for employment?
Very/Fairly Important Not to/Not at all Important

28. Q17
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Social media Social networks
How much of a "priority" is the management of your social presence on
social media and social network?
Moderate/High Priority Not at all / Somewhat of a priority

29. Q 18
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Social Media Social Networks
What is the likelihood a potential employer will review your
"social presence."
Very /Highly likely Not to/Not at all likely

30. Q19
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements.
10%
23%
64%
72%
77%
90%
77%
36%
28%
23%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
I do not post material that I do
not want a potential employer to
see.
I have removed material that
could be viewed negatively.
I believe that it is wrong for
anyone to consider materials I
have posted when I am applying
for a job.
I believe that the material I post
on-line is no one elses business.
I believe that it is illegal for
employers to use social media as
part of their hiring decision.
Strongly Disagree / Disagree Strongly Agree / Agree

31. Q20
Very accurate
28%
Moderately accurate
39%
Slightly accurate
19%
Not at all accurate
14%
"In general, my social presence is ____________________ in
portraying my character and work ethic."

32. Q21
66.7%
29.0%
4.3%
70.9%
25.1%
3.9%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
make greater maintain the same make less
"Organizations in the future will _____________ use of social media
and social networks when reviewing candidates."
Social media Social networks

33. ANALYSIS