Think Networking and Job Boards

Looking For a Job? Your Best Bet is Networking and Job Boards

For 10 years, staffing strategists CareerXroads has been asking large employers where they find their employees. For the CareerXroads 2010 Sources of Hire Report, 1,458 recruiters in 36 firms who filled 132,779 full-time positions, revealed their findings. Here's a summary of their key responses and how IT job seekers should tailor their search based upon the data.

50 percent of all positions were filled internally, either through transfers or promotions. In the pre-recession years, internal movement and promotions accounted for roughly 35 percent of filled positions.
The top external sources were: referrals at 27.5 percent, job boards 24.9 percent, company career sites 18.8 percent, colleges 7.2 percent and direct sourcing -- including cold calling and social media -- produced 5 percent of the successful candidates.
54 percent of the companies hired at least one candidate from Dice in 2010. 34.3 percent found 2 percent of their IT hires, 8.8 percent filled 3 to 5 percent of their openings, 8.7 percent found 5 to 10 percent of their hires, and 2 percent sourced 20 percent or more of their successful candidates on Dice.
52.8 percent of job board hires came from responses to job postings, while approximately 17 percent of the successful candidates come from searching the database. (Includes all job boards.)
It takes approximately 826 visitors to a company career site to net the 9.1 qualified applicants needed to fill a single opening. About 75 percent of the visitors actually complete an online application and roughly half, or 4.5 people, are interviewed.
38.9 percent of firms manage their talent communities using social media and 88.5 percent of firms use social media in some way to source candidates.

Conclusions:

Job seekers should allocate their time and efforts toward the most productive hiring sources, such as building their referral networks and responding to job postings on Dice. Use social media, Dice Discussions and the Dice Talent Network to build relationships with recruiters and colleagues.
Internal movement will probably decline to pre-recession levels as the economy improves, which will open-up more jobs to external candidates.
As unemployment levels drop, recruiters will go back to searching the Dice database to find qualified candidates. In fact, this is

50 percent of all positions were filled internally, either through transfers or promotions. In the pre-recession years, internal movement and promotions accounted for roughly 35 percent of filled positions.
The top external sources were: referrals at 27.5 percent, job boards 24.9 percent, company career sites 18.8 percent, colleges 7.2 percent and direct sourcing -- including cold calling and social media -- produced 5 percent of the successful candidates.
54 percent of the companies hired at least one candidate from Dice in 2010. 34.3 percent found 2 percent of their IT hires, 8.8 percent filled 3 to 5 percent of their openings, 8.7 percent found 5 to 10 percent of their hires, and 2 percent sourced 20 percent or more of their successful candidates on Dice.
52.8 percent of job board hires came from responses to job postings, while approximately 17 percent of the successful candidates come from searching the database. (Includes all job boards.)
It takes approximately 826 visitors to a company career site to net the 9.1 qualified applicants needed to fill a single opening. About 75 percent of the visitors actually complete an online application and roughly half, or 4.5 people, are interviewed.
38.9 percent of firms manage their talent communities using social media and 88.5 percent of firms use social media in some way to source candidates.

Conclusions:

Job seekers should allocate their time and efforts toward the most productive hiring sources, such as building their referral networks and responding to job postings on Dice. Use social media, Dice Discussions and the Dice Talent Network to build relationships with recruiters and colleagues.
Internal movement will probably decline to pre-recession levels as the economy improves, which will open-up more jobs to external candidates.
As unemployment levels drop, recruiters will go back to searching the Dice database to find qualified candidates. In fact, this is

Think Networking and Job Boards

Think Networking and Job Boards

Leslie Stevens-Huffman