While networking is (and has traditionally been) the best way to find a new job, the second-most effective tool is another type of networking: sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, according to a poll released today by placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Old-school employment search tricks like attending job fairs and reading newspaper classifieds got the lowest ratings. Here’s how the web is changing how we look for jobs.
Social-networking sites are exploding in popularity, as people look to connect with pretty much everyone they know, from friends to co-workers to potential employers. Facebook claims it has more than 250 million users; Twitter’s traffic has grown tenfold over the last year; and LinkedIn — while not as flashy as its social-networking brethren — is perhaps the most useful of the bunch for job hunting because of its employment- and recommendation-focused profiles. It’s seen its total visitors double since last year.
Employment-focused web sites have been popular with VCs as well as job seekers. Job search engine Simply Hired recently raised $4.6 million in a fourth round of funding, and Glassdoor, an anonymous employer and salary review site, raised a $6.5 million Series B round last fall.
At the same time, it’s estimated that privately held Craigslist will generate more than $100 million in revenue this year, a 24 percent jump over the 2008 estimate, with much of that revenue coming from job listings. Meanwhile, for America’s newspapers, total revenue from job listings, a former cash cow for the industry, dropped 42.5 percent in 2008 to $2.2 billion, the worst drop in history, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
Other job search sites, like Monster.com and CareerBuilder, which charge significantly more than Craigslist to list jobs, are also seeing huge increases in traffic, with 33 percent more visits overall, according to comScore. Yahoo has reportedly been looking for a buyer for its HotJobs site, and given the growth of the sector, will probably make a pretty penny as newly installed Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz looks to shed “non-core” assets.
| U.S. Unique Visitors (000) | Jul-2008 | Jul-2009 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Job Search | 17,429 | 23,112 | 33 |
| CareerBuilder.com Job Search | 8,478 | 10,110 | 19 |
| Indeed.com Job Search | 4,907 | 8,659 | 76 |
| Monster.com Job Search | 4,756 | 8,190 | 72 |
| Yahoo! HotJobs Job Search | 255 | 6,879 | 2,602 |
| JOB.COM Job Search | 993 | 1,482 | 49 |
(Data courtesy comScore)
The Internet is definitely making a huge impact on how we search for jobs, but as the Challenger survey notes, the ease of sending out shotgun blasts of resumes and hoping one hits the right recruiter is making things much more difficult for employers as well. “[F]or every qualified candidate who comes in from the Internet, there are 10 to 20 who do not even come close to being a good fit,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Those who rely on one tool [for their job search]…will take longer to find a position. The problem with the ease and accessibility of the Internet is that many job seekers make it their primary job search tool.”
So, what are your tips and tricks for landing a job?
Image courtesy of Craigslist.
This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com.