A Recruiting Industry Trainer/Writer recently published “WEEDLE’s Annual Source of Employment Survey” which can be read in its entirety at www. weedles.com.  Since most job seekers are not familiar with Peter Weedle’s work, I decided to take an excerpt from his 2008 Employment Survey and share it with Job Hunter’s Journal readers and provide some of my own insights.  Of the 15,600 survey respondents, 65% were male, 35% female and the median age was 40 to 45 years.

When asked to identify where they found their last job, the respondents listed the following sources as their to ten (not all sources are listed so the percentages will not total to 100%):

  • 13.3% – An ad posted on an Internet job board
  • 7.0% – A tip from a friend
  • 6.8% – Other
  • 6.3% – A newspaper ad
  • 6.2 – They posted their resume on a job board
  • 6.0% – A call from a headhunter
  • 5.8% – They were referred by an employee of the company
  • 5.2% – They sent a resume to the company
  • 4.9% – At a career fair
  • 4.8% – By networking at work.

How do these findings compare to those of a year ago?

An ad posted on an Internet job board was the highest ranked source last year, as well, but the percentage of respondents citing this source has almost doubled; it was 7.6% in 2007 compared to 13.3% in 2008.  A tip from a friend was the second most cited source in 2007, as it was this year, but the third and fourth most cited sources in 2007-career fairs and a call from a headhunter both dropped a bit in the rankings.  Newspapers, on the other hand, gained a notch, moving from the fifth most cited source in 2007 to the fourth most cited source in 2008, and the percentage of respondents citing newspapers went up, as well (from 5.7% in 2007 to 6.3% in 2008).

What else did the survey uncover?

Respondents gave a thumbs-down to two sources of employment that have generall been viewed mre favorably by recruiters.  Just 3.9% of the individuals in the poll said they found their last job:

  • through the publication of their professional association
    or
  • on a social networking site.

I believe the reported findings are somewhat misleading and that Third Party Recruiters (Headhunters) account for a much larger percentage of the placements than the survey would indicate:

  • The percentage of jobs found through “An ad posted on an Interent job board” (13.3% ) is highly misleading because a majority of the posting are by Headhunters and the placements are due to their efforts
  • The 6.2% ”They posted their resume on a job board” is also misleading because most job seekers that post their resume tell me nothing happens until a Third Party Recruiter contacts them and places them with the Headhunter’s client company
  •  At least half of all newspaper/magazine ads (6.2%) are placed by Headhunters who are directly responsible for the job seeker’s placement. 

If only 50% of the ad posting responses and resume job posting placements are due to Headhunter efforts the “A call from a headhunter” percentage would lead the the list at 18.9%.  Just food for thought when starting a job search.

Overall, the main lesson that can be taken from this survey is that there are many ways to skin this job search cat (sorry PETA) and the savvy job seeker will utilize as many of these methods as possible.