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 |
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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Gee how shocking?? A study by Monster finds that big job boards are the #1 recruiting source. I am amazed!!
Having been an executive recruiter for 15+years and now a corporate recruiter for the past 6 years I can say frommy experience (and those of my peers) big job boards have been almost eliminated from most budgets as they are a waste of time and $$. Smaller more specilaized job boards geared towards a more specific industry are much more effective.
Not to mention Social Media (LinkedIn) which is a much more effective (both time and $$) tool which will produce much better results in terms of sourcing and placements! Social Media is the way to go!
Monster your findings are about as relevant as your database!!!