As more companies rely on their own Web sites to attract job applicants, some human resources professionals assume that the role of commercial Internet job boards will diminish. Not so, says a new survey released today. It found that Internet job boards are among the primary generators of job applicants to company Web sites.
The survey of 634 job seekers was conducted by CareerXroads, publisher of an annual job and resume Web site directory, and CareerJournal.com, The Wall Street Journalís executive career site.
ìThe survey shows that if companies stop posting jobs on job boards, the candidate traffic to their company Web sites will fall dramatically, as well as rise dramatically as they post on more job boards,î says Tony Lee, editor in chief, CareerJournal.com.
After seeing a companyís job opening posted on a job board, 92% of the survey respondents say they are likely or very likely to visit a companyís Web site before applying to the job. And once they visit the companyís Web site, 94% of respondents say they search the companyís other online job listings posted in the companyís own job database. The survey also found that once candidates start reviewing job openings directly on a companyís site, 64% will apply for jobs without returning to the commercial job database.
ìThe vast majority of job seekers who visit Internet job boards take the additional step of researching the corporationís Web site, where they look for details on benefits packages and at other job opportunities,î says Mark Mehler, principal of CareerXroads. ìThe survey shows what many of us have believed, which is that job boards are responsible for driving a lot of the candidate traffic to corporate Web sites.î
Data was gathered from a random sample of CareerJournal.com Web site visitors during a three-week period in January, which generated 634 usable responses. The survey results can be found at
Survey says commercial online job boards responsible for Growth of applicants to corporate sites
.
