Along with referrals from current employees, jobs boards of various types are the dominant sources for finding new employees, according to a recent survey conducted by Monster.com and BLR’s HR Daily Advisor and HRhero Line.

Some other interesting findings:

  • 19% of recruiters visit candidates’ social media pages
  • One third of employers do Google or similar searches on candidates
  • Top challenges of recruiting include:
    • The difficulty of finding qualified talent
    • Attracting candidates when low salaries are offered
    • Too many unqualified resumes/candidates
    • Relocation issues, in particular, attracting candidates to remote/less desirable worksites
    • Lack of time

Here are detailed responses. Thanks to all the over 500 readers who responded to the survey.

What recruiting sources have you used? (Check all that apply.)

Recruiting Source

% using

Referrals from Current Employees

81.0%

Big Job Boards (e.g., Monster, CareerBuilder)

72.7%

Company Job Boards

66.6%

State and/or Local Job Boards

55.5%

Industry/Association Job Boards

51.2%

Social Media Sites (e.g., Linked In, Facebook)

51.8%

Agency/Search Firm

44.5%

Specialized Job Boards (e.g., Dice, TheLadders)

41.7%

Email to Contacts

36.6%

Current Employees' Social Media and Professional Networks

17.8%

“Other” responses included Newspapers (33 mentions) Craigslist (19 mentions), Colleges (17 mentions), and career fairs and local posting. One simple method “Flyers at Starbucks.”

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Using the list below, please rank the recruiting sources you've used with "1" for the most productive source, "2 for the next most productive, etc.

The Big Job Boards like Monster and Careerbuilder got the greatest number of #1 rankings, followed by the Company Job Board and Referrals from Current Employees.

This question also produced the average rating numbers for the rankings. Company job boards just edged out the big job boards, followed by referrals and specialized job boards. (For “Rating Average,” the lower the number, the higher the rating.)

Recruiting Source

Respondents rating the
source #1

Rating Average

Big Job Boards (e.g., Monster, CareerBuilder)

124

3.87

Your Company Job Board

89

3.65

Referrals from Current Employees

82

4.21

Specialized Job Boards (e.g., Dice, TheLadders)

32

5.05

State and/or Local Job Boards

39

5.60

Agency/Search Firm

36

6.23

Social Media Sites (e.g., Linked In, Facebook)

28

5.95

Industry/Association Job Boards

24

5.10

Current Employees' Social Media and Professional Networks

4

8.33

Email to Current Employees' Contacts Lists

3

8.71

Other

28

9.27

What is your average or typical expenditure for posting or advertising an opening? (Please include only the amount to post or advertise the job, not including interviewing or other costs)?

Typical Expenditure

Percent

$0 to $249

40.5%

$250 to $499

40.3%

$500 to $999

12.8%

$1000 to $2499

5.1%

$2500 or more

1.3%

A sampling of comments on this question:

  • Our hires are mostly free
  • We mostly promote from within
  • We pay recruiters $13K+
  • Typical is $0 on Craigslist

Do you use a computer/software Applicant Tracking System?

Nearly half of respondents use a computer/software applicant tracking system.

Use a tracking system?

Percent

Yes

47.9%

No

51.4%

Don't Know

0.7%

In comments, ten respondents reported using an Excel spreadsheet for tracking. Five more will start using a tracking system in the next few months.

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Please describe any problems you have encountered with your Applicant Tracking System.

Respondents have a lot of problems with their applicant tracking systems, although 34 reported no problems and one raved “None—we love it!”

A sampling of comments:

  • System is not picking the best candidates
  • System is “not user friendly”
  • Too many problems to describe
  • Easy to delete information by accident
  • Misses the potential great candidates
  • It’d be nice to have it linked with the HRIS system to auto load hires
  • Programmed by programmers, not recruiters

What is your biggest recruiting challenge?

Most of the answers to this question centered around four areas:

  • The difficulty of finding qualified talent
  • Salary/compensation issues, in particular, attracting candidates when low salaries are offered
  • Too many unqualified resumes/candidates
  • Relocation issues, in particular, attracting candidates to remote/less desirable worksites

A sampling of other comments:

  • Lack of HR time for recruiting and screening
  • Time-to-fill pressures from hiring managers
  • Senior Management and Line Managers talking too much during the interviews and not following assessing guidelines
  • Reference checking is a BEAST!!!! A walking nightmare!!!!!

In tomorrow’s Advisor, survey results around social media and Google searches of candidates, plus an introduction to our digital collection of 350 ready-to-go HR policies.

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