Looking for a job? A new study provides insight into the most productive strategies.
Nearly 50 large employers were included in the survey. These employers filled more than 300,000 openings in 2007.
SOH Highlights
The CareerXroads 7th Annual Sources of Hire (SOH) Study reveals the following breakdown on how job openings were filled:
- positions filled by internal candidates (30%)
- positions filled by external candidates (70%)
So, if you are already on the inside, it pays to perform above average work and establish positive relationships with your coworkers.
And, if you are not on the inside, it pays to know someone who is.
Here are the two primary ways that external candidates land new jobs:
- employee referrals (28%)
- job boards (26%)
Agency placements (3%) and temp-for-hire arrangements (3%) accounted for a combined total of six percent of new hires arriving from an external source. Other strategies that yielded relatively low results included the following:
- responding to print ads (5%)
- attending career fairs (2%)
- attending open houses (1%)
Job Boards
Which job boards are most popular with these large employers (percentage of employers with contracts to post jobs and review resumes)?
- Monster (94%)
- CareerBuilder (81%)
- Hotjobs (77%)
The top "niche" site was Craigslist.
Conclusion
The report concludes as follows:
"Good or bad, we advise job seekers to never apply to a company without first networking to an employee in that firm for a referral. The difference in probability of getting 'up to bat' is too large to ignore."
A press release of the CareerXroads 7th Annual Sources of Hire Study is available for review along with a more detailed breakdown (pdf) of the survey findings.
