Social-centric recruiting is the new norm, with recruiters relying on social networks to support their broader efforts to find the right candidates. According to a new Dice survey, some 32 percent of recruiters reported using social media in their recruiting “a majority of the time,” while 29 percent said “all the time.” Another 31 percent said they used social “some of the time.” By contrast, only 6 percent of surveyed recruiters said they used social “rarely,” and a mere 1 percent had never used a social network for recruiting. Some 97 percent of recruiters use one or more social networks, and 52 percent use at least three. Recruiters have generally found that relying on multiple methods (social, email, phone, etc.) is the best way to engage with candidates; most take a gentle approach, using their first outreach to offer general details about a potential opportunity—far fewer send specific job details along with that initial contact. There’s a general recognition among many of those surveyed that starting a dialogue around a candidate’s passion, and slowly introducing the opportunity, is the best way to achieve success. Among tech-specific networks, a majority of recruiters used GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Dribbe to contact candidates; with regard to “traditional” social media, sizable percentages of recruiters relied on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for everything from promoting jobs and sharing content to finding mutual connections and contacting candidates. Why do recruiters use social media? Simply put, it translates into better results in candidate quality, quantity, and time-to-hire. Dice’s data shows that, when done right, social media gets a good response from candidates. Check the survey out.