Job seekers rely on a mix of digital platforms and traditional methods to find their next job, a new survey finds.
Nearly 15% of people use social media to find a new job, according to a new survey from Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm.
The new survey of 500+ recently-hired workers discovered:
- One-quarter of recent hires (25%) landed their current job through networking. This traditional channel is effective but may undermine diversity.
- Nearly half of recent hires (41%) found their current role through an online job board. Companies must post listings on job boards to connect with candidates.
- Job seekers rely on the automatic job alerts these online job boards send. Nearly two-thirds of job seekers (61%) say automatic job alerts are helpful.
- Men and women are equally likely to find a job through networking, but women are more likely to find a job through an online job board (44%) than men (33%).
Social media use in recruiting varies by industry. For example, recruiters in creative fields can identify candidates on visual platforms like Instagram, while traditional businesses are more likely to discover candidates on LinkedIn.
Some social media platforms, including Facebook, are launching their own recruiting platforms for businesses. Recruiters can gather job applications, conduct interviews, and even extend offers without leaving the platform.
“If you have everything on your mobile phone – if that’s your entertainment, news, work, and communication tool – why not make it easy for people to apply to a job all in one place?” said Michael Loguidice, a social media coordinator for Labor Finders, a staffing company that uses Facebook to place candidates in temporary roles.
As billions of people engage with social media daily, recruiters can benefit from these platforms, too.
Networking Remains Valuable, Helping 25% of People Secure a New Job
Traditional networking is still an effective option for companies and job seekers, even as digital channels become more popular.
One-quarter of recent hires (25%) landed their current job through networking. Companies, however, should avoid limiting themselves to the same networks for every new hire to ensure they recruit a diverse group of employees.
To diversify their networks, companies can connect with professional associations such as the National Association of Asian American Professionals or the National Black MBA Association. Companies can also hire recruiting firms that specialize in increasing diversity.
Strategic networking can connect companies with qualified candidates while also increasing diversity.
Online Job Boards Remain Essential to Recruiting
Online job boards have effectively replaced traditional job postings in newspapers.
More than 40% of job seekers secure new roles through online job boards, the survey found. This includes general job boards such as Indeed and Monster (33%) and industry-specific job boards such as MediaBistro and USAJOBS (8%).
Experts say the current job market is tipped in candidates’ favor due to the low unemployment rate, increasing the likelihood that candidates will secure a new job after conducting an initial search using online job boards.
“Going to a general job board may be the first step,” said Jenna Filipkowski, head of research at Human Capital Institute. “If they find what they’re looking for there, they don’t necessarily need to take the deeper dive.”
Online job boards are especially effective for women. Forty-four percent of women surveyed found a job using an online job board, compared to 33% of men.
Most job boards offer automatic job alerts based on candidates’ search history. These automatic job suggestions are influential, with nearly two-thirds of job seekers (61%) finding them helpful.
Clutch’s 2019 Recruiting Survey included 507 full-time employees who started a new job in the past 6 months.
Read the full report here: https://clutch.co/hr/recruiting/resources/how-people-find-jobs
