18,000 online job seekers reveal their tactics

The results of the UKís largest online recruitment survey are published today, providing a detailed snapshot of how Britainís 11 million job seekers tackle finding a job.

The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) 2006 results are gathered from 18,724 people ñ the biggest sample to date. Key statistics to emerge show the average online job seeker:

is 34 years old
has 13 yearsí work experience
earns 34,000
visits over five sites when actively job-hunting

The majority, 64 per cent, are looking for a full-time permanent position, with 27 per cent seeking temporary work and 21 per cent searching for a part-time job. Seventy-nine per cent applied for work electronically, with 43 per cent emailing their CV to an employer and 28 per cent completing an online application form. Just six per cent put a hard-copy CV in the post. Search engines were the main route for people finding a particular recruitment website (35 per cent), followed by links from another website (20 per cent).

Tim Elkington, managing director of Enhance Media, the independent online recruitment specialists who manage NORAS, said: ìOur latest set of results show online recruitment has come of age. The UK online recruitment industry has been going for 10 years and is worth more than 200 million, almost double what it was last year.

ìOnline recruitment is steadily attracting more senior candidates and, with more people applying for and obtaining jobs than ever before, is proving to be a very successful way to find work.î

Success rates show online recruitment continues to achieve results. Seventy-five per cent applied for a job they found online, with 68 per cent of these obtaining an interview. Fifty-two per cent got a job, up from 51 per cent in 2005 and up from 44 per cent in 2004.

NORAS collects two sets of data from leading online recruitment sites ñ demographic data detailing the audience profile of each site and unique user numbers showing the size of each siteís audience, audited by ABC ELECTRONIC.

Tim Elkington explains: ìDecisions about recruitment advertising need to be based on sound, measurable data. The most important information is the profile of the candidates using the site, including data on their current qualifications, seniority, years of experience and salary. The unique user numbers help recruiters to compare the size of each site using accurate and audited data.

ìThe results enable recruiters to differentiate between the online recruitment sites and choose the one with the audience that best matches their recruitment needs.î

For the first time, this yearís results include data collected from non-participating job boards. Elkington says: ìWe want to provide recruiters with as complete a picture of the market as possible, so this time we have collected information on seven recruitment sites that did not participate in the latest wave of research.î

Also new to this yearís results, is information on the newspapers job seekers also use to find work. The relationship between online and newspaper recruitment advertising is an interesting one, as newspapers have been busy buying up websites to recoup revenue they are losing to the internet.

Rupert Murdoch, in an interview with Press Gazette, said: ìI donít know anybody under 30 who has ever looked at a classified advertisement in a newspaper. With broadband they do more and more transactions and job seeking online.î

Since NORAS began in 2002, 67,000 online job seekers have been interviewed.

This provides recruiters with trend data tracking the changing habits of people searching the web for jobs and the growth of online recruitment, and helps them decide where to advertise their vacancies.

The number of websites candidates visit continues to decrease marginally, demonstrating increasing loyalty to particular job sites. However, one in five job seekers will visit more than 10 sites when looking for a job.