Job Hunters seek brand Kudos

86% of job hunters surveyed by jobs.ac.uk rate an employerís brand as important in considering whether to apply for a job

2% of job hunters say an employerís brand is unimportant

Thousands of job hunters hope to call the career shots as they seek employers with a good reputation and brand, reports a survey launched today by jobs.ac.uk.

6,042 of the jobseekers surveyed by jobs.ac.uk, the leading online jobs board for jobs in research, science and academic related professions, said itís important that a prospective employer has a good reputation and brand. Of the 7,031 jobseekers surveyed, 2,369 (34%) said it was a very important consideration. Just 124 (2%) said it was unimportant to them.

Andrew Gordon director of jobs.ac.uk said: ìThereís kudos associated with working for a recognisable brand with a good reputation ñ whether a university respected for their research or a national consumer brand ñ and jobseekers are increasingly researching prospective employersí brands before deciding whether to apply for a job with them.

ìThe survey results perhaps stems from people looking for longer-term career moves. We are also witnessing an increasing trend of people willing to travel further for their perfect job, or even to consider uprooting altogether for their next career move. Talented people want to work for an employer who can offer further potential career opportunities.î

A recent poll on the jobs.ac.uk website of 516 people revealed that 223 (43%) of them were willing to travel 100 or more miles to work each day for their dream job.

According to jobs.ac.uk, employers advertising jobs in research, science and higher education (HE) are facing pressure to raise awareness of their brand in order to attract highly skilled candidates. The specialist skills often required by these sectors means these employers are increasingly competing amongst each other to attract the right people.

Some universities have implemented employer branding strategies including posting videos of their institution online to attract jobseekers from further a-field. A video posted online by The University of Nottingham was viewed 4,462 times in the first three months of it going live.

Andrew Gordon added: ìAs the competition for skilled people increases and candidates take care in researching and planning their next career move, employers should be communicating their brand values throughout all their marketing activities and especially online. Also, by making the recruitment process more two-way through, for example, interactive recruitment sections on their own website, employers can tap into the huge online talent pool of skilled jobseekers.î

Currently over 500,000 people are searching for research, academic and science jobs on the jobs.ac.uk web site every month.