Ever cringed at a candidate’s selfie on social media? Turns out you’re not alone. According to a new survey by Jobvite, 25% of recruiters reported to having a negative perception of selfies.

The survey which gathered responses from over 1,400 recruiters and HR professionals found that while a quarter of them do not like selfies, 73% hold a neutral view, while 3% actually have a positive view of them.

With a whopping 92% of recruiters using social media today to find or evaluate candidates, their pet peeves include photos showing candidates drunk or smoking marijuana, and bad English.

More than half (54%) of them frown on posts showing candidates drinking alcohol and even more (75%) respond negatively to posts revealing marijuana use, while about three quarters (72%) dislike spelling and grammar mistakes.

On the other hand, about 75% of recruiters have a positive view of candidates who post content related to volunteer, professional or social engagement work.

However, can recruiters afford to pick and choose candidates as the talent war gets more intense?

The survey found that almost all (95%) recruiters are anticipating an equally tough or even tougher competition for talent over the next 12 months.

“Landing a highly skilled candidate can sometimes feel like hunting for an elusive unicorn,” said Dan Finnigan, CEO of Jobvite.

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In that case, what’s the best way to hunt for this unicorn? Well, it’s best to get someone to refer the unicorn to you.

78% of recruiters reported finding their best candidates through referrals, up from 60% in 2014, followed by social and professional networks (56%), and intern-to-hire programmes (55%).

The most number of recruiters use LinkedIn (87%), while about half (55%) use Facebook and Twitter (47%). To increase effectiveness of the process, in addition to social media, 72% acknowledged data analytics as somewhat or very important.

Of course, once the right candidate is found, another challenge is getting them to accept the job.

For this, nothing works better than a solid healthcare plan, with 63% of vouching for this perk as the one candidates find most attractive. Other attractive perks are casual dress codes, work from home privileges, and access to gym and wellness tools.

Even so, money still matters. A higher pay is one of the most effective ways to get candidates on board and 69% of recruiters have increased all initial salary offers in the last year.

“Recruiters need to get creative and take a multipronged approach using social media, insights gleaned from analytics, and mobile tools, while engaging the entire organisation to help find and hire top talent,” Finnigan added.

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