200,000 bright job hunters sign up online for academic roles

- 44 % of registered job hunters on jobs.ac.uk have a Masters Degree
- 31% of registered job hunters on jobs.ac.uk have a Doctorate

The 200,000 job hunters registered on jobs.ac.uk to receive email alerts for jobs in academic, science, engineering and research sectors represent the most highly qualified group of UK job seekers using an online jobs board.

According to NORAS 2008[1] (The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey), 44% of registered users on jobs.ac.uk have a Masters Degree and 31% have a Doctorate. Over half of the websiteís users who are working towards a qualification are working towards their Doctorate (51%).

Alan Charnock, Deputy Director of Personnel and Treasurer at The University of Essex who has been using the site for 10 years said: ìOnline recruitment is now the most effective way for us to attract the high calibre staff we need. It has a high success rate for us, meaning important posts are filled quickly and cost effectively. We tend to attract staff from across the UK and overseas as we advertise many jobs requiring specialist skills.

ìWeíre aware that people are relying increasingly on websites to find their next career move and so we made the move to advertise predominantly online 10 years ago. We are constantly developing our online presence and brand to attract staff and aim to make the recruitment process more two-way through our own website too. Specialist online jobs boards are set to have an increasingly important role to play in helping employers recruit highly skilled staff.î

The research also reveals that the jobs boardís registered users have increased by 50,000 job hunters (25%) to 200,000 over the last 15 months.

Andrew Gordon, director of jobs.ac.uk says: ìOnline jobs searches are increasingly popular in the academic sector. We pride ourselves on attracting talented and highly qualified jobseekers to the site.

ìEmployers who want to attract bright candidates searching the internet for their next career move need a strong online presence and greater accessibility online. Employers are using a variety of Web 2.0 tools to attract online job hunters, from videos posted on online recruitment sites to give a taste of working life there, to interactive recruitment sections on their own website.î

The figures highlight the continuing growth of the jobs board which advertises a wide range of jobs within universities and companies across the UK. Currently over 515,000 people are searching for research, academic and science jobs on the jobs.ac.uk website every month.[2]

The rise in registrations comes after the news that 82% (928) of 1,133 people recently surveyed by the jobs board said they want a new job in a university, research or science role in 2008.

Specialist online jobs boards are becoming popular as a quick way to search for sector-specific jobs and keep updated with the latest roles. Recruiters are also increasingly using these sites to advertise jobs that require specialist skills.

[1] NORAS 2008: The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) was established in 2002, and is the UKís leading source of independent and objective information on the audiences of online recruitment sites.

[2] (ABCE audit October 07).