How do large companies fill open positions? The 8th annual Sources of Hire Study reveals the inner hiring practices of large organizations. This study looked at more than 300,000 openings filled by 45 large corporations.
On The Inside
Of the 300,000 full-time positions filled in 2008 here are percentages of internal vs. external candidates who filled those vacancies:
- internal transfers & promotions | 39%
- external sources| 61%
So, once you land a full-time position within an organization, deliver on expectations and position yourself for future opportunities. Four out of 10 of these opportunities will likely be filled by an internal candidate and this gives insiders a competitive advantage.
On The Outside
If you are on the outside looking in, the most common external sources that large organizations utilize to fill vacancies are the following:
- referrals | 27%
- company website | 20%
- job boards | 12%
Here are the six most popular external websites (job boards) that provide candidates for these large employers (percentage of companies that actively worked with each site):
- Monster | 91%
- CareerBuilder | 80%
- HotJobs | 65%
- LinkedIn | 61%
- The Ladders | 54%
- DirectEmployers | 53%
Even though more companies work with Monster, CareerBuilder has overtaken Monster as the top source of new hires from all job boards.
The most visible trend in 2008, according to the authors of the study, is the pressure to reduce costs attributed to the following sources:
- third-party recruiters
- newspapers
- traditional job boards
A steady growth of sourcing tactics is also evident especially the following:
- social networks
- search engine marketing
The report suggests that the use of job boards as a source of hire has peaked and predicts that this source will diminish in the future.
LinkedIn Strategy
If social networks are gaining ground, then the top social network for large organizations is LinkedIn which offers these three tips for finding jobs through its network:
- update your profile
- get recommendations
- add connections
Twitter Strategy
For a perspective on activating your job search via Twitter, access a recent BusinessWeek article, Is Twitter the Next Monster?
Conclusion
In this study more than 17,000 positions were filled from approximately 200,000 referrals. That gives external candidates a better than 1 in 12 chance of landing a job through referral. Compare that success rate with the hundreds of resumes that typically stream in via online submissions for every job and you'll understand why the report concludes as follows:
"We continue to 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."
The 29-page full report is available for free download from CareerXRoads.
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