A recent survey commissioned by Microsoft found that 70 percent of recruiters and hiring managers in the United States have rejected an applicant based on information they found online.

What kind of information? “Inappropriate” comments by the candidate; “unsuitable” photos and videos; criticisms of previous employers, co-workers, or clients; and even inappropriate comments by friends and relatives, according to the survey report, titled “Online Reputation in a Connected World.”

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Here’s a study tip for employers who want to hire top-notch college grads: Bone up on social media.

Nearly 28% of college students plan to seek employment using LinkedIn, up from 5% last year, according to a survey out today from employee recognition provider I Love Rewards and career-services network Experience. Slightly more than 7% plan to use Facebook, up from 5%.

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Glassdoor is reporting an Employment Confidence Survey today that shows robust and increasing confidence in the job market– never mind most of the nation remains gripped in 9% unemployment with only a little hope of things getting better.

40% of respondents expect their company’s outlook to improve in the next six months and just 17% are concerned about a possible layoff, down from 26% in the first quarter of 2009. And there’s decent optimism that should they lose their jobs, 40% of them say it is “likely” they would find a new job matching their experience and pay within six months– the highest that number has been in six quarters. Glassdoor notes that “only” 35% of respondents expected to get a raise within the next 12 months, but given the top line economic data for the country, that still seems pretty healthy to me.

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Social networking platforms have risen in popularity over the past few years, so much so that some employers are looking toward these profiles as a determining factor in the hiring process. Candidates are now expected to have — and actively update — their social networking profiles so recruiters will know who’s the right fit.

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A report released by freelancer hiring site Elance today shows a surprising amout of growth in hiring during the fourth quarter of last year, especially in IT categories.

Among some of the most sought after technical skills on Elance last quarter were PHP, WordPress, HTML/CSS, graphic design, MySQL, JavaScript and iPhone development.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — After three years of economic pain, a growing number of economists think 2011 will finally bring what everyone’s been hoping for: More jobs and a self-sustaining recovery.

“We’re looking at some leading indicators on employment, and they’re all flashing green lights,” said Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group, a Princeton, N.J. research firm.

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Employers posted a sharp increase in job openings in October, raising hopes that hiring could pick up in the coming months.

Businesses and government advertised nearly 3.4 million jobs at the end of October, up about 12 percent from the previous month, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That reverses two months of declines and is the highest total since August 2008, just before the financial crisis intensified.

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By 2015, 20 percent of non-IT Global 500 companies will be cloud service providers. The move by non-IT organizations to provide non-IT capabilities via cloud computing will further expand the role of IT decision making outside the IT organization. This represents yet another opportunity for IT organizations to redefine their value proposition as service enablers — with either consumption or provision of cloud-based services. As non-IT players externalize core competencies via the cloud, they will be interjecting themselves into value chain systems and competing directly with IT organizations that have traditionally served in this capacity.

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The unemployment rate in North Dakota is 3.7 percent, and “if it wasn’t for cable news, we probably wouldn’t have any idea that the rest of the country was any different,” said Doug Johnson, co-owner of crop insurer TCI Insurance in West Fargo, who added six new employees this year.

As businesses across the U.S. struggle to recover from the deepest recession since World War II and the national jobless rate remains stuck at 9.6 percent, Johnson has benefited from his location in the northern Great Plains, where a boom in commodities, such as wheat and soybeans, is helping to create jobs, lift farmers’ incomes and fuel demand for goods ranging from Deere & Co. tractors and Agco Corp. combines to dinners at local restaurants.

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Our May Industry Employment Trends provide the strongest evidence yet of an improving job market. May 2010 shows year-over-year job posting growth in all 12 of the major industries we track. This is the first time we’ve seen positive growth in all sectors since launching Industry Employment Trends in February 2009.

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