Jobsite publish latest Recruitment Review

Jobsite publish latest Recruitment Review

Quarterly independent research reveals changes in recruiter & job seeker behaviour

Jobsite’s latest Quarterly RecruitmentReview reveals:

Job boards are now businesses’ number one method for finding staff

Recruiters are more focussed on looking for cost-effective recruitment solutions

Jobseekers are showing a less positive attitude to their current job outlook this quarter

Leading online recruiter Jobsite.co.ukrelease their latest Quarterly Recruitment Review (Winter 2011-12), detailing changes in recruiter and job seeker behaviour. Carried out on a quarterly basis by an independent research agency, the latest report is available to download for free now: www.jobsite.co.uk/RecruitmentReview2011

Jobsite’s Quarterly Recruitment Review indicates a positive slant towards online recruitment for businesses. Job boards are now the number one method for finding staff, businesses are using more job boards than ever before and they are more enthusiastic about the potential of job board technology.

Over the last 6 months of reporting most recruiters have stuck with newspapers as their preferred advertising medium. But in this quarter, the majority of businesses have chosen online job boards ahead of newspapers for the first time since Jobsite’s research began in 2008. The main driving force behind this shift for recruiters is likely to be financial; when asked what the most important factor was for recruiters in choosing a job board, pricing has returned to the top of the list. Newspaper advertising has paradoxically become more expensive as circulations decline and recruiters are looking for ways to extract better value for money from their advertising.

In the current economic climate, one might expect smaller businesses to be even more cautious when it comes to recruitment, but in this quarter the smallest SoHo businesses (10-49 employees) accounted for nearly a quarter of all vacancies – perhaps a reflection of additional temporary positions typically seen throughout the Christmas season among smaller employers.

This quarter’s results show that businesses prefer CV database searching to running recruitment ads (although both have increased by four points since the last review). It seems that active job seekers are still hard to find – and that businesses that need good candidates are still having to go out and look for them, rather than wait for them to respond to advertising. Again, this pattern is reflected in the most desired services from a job board, where searchable CV databases remain top of the list.

Candidates are a lot more focussed in their job hunting approach, with the report showing a returning popularity of emailed job offers, which rose by six points this quarter – again, a reflection of the desire for timely information about definitively attainable positions.

The winter of 2011/12 saw a wide consensus among job seekers of a less positive attitude to their job situation. The report shows several signs that they are becoming less active in their overall job seeking behaviour, but this may be a reflection of the time of year as job seeking always sees a lull towards the festive period.

Mike Wall, MD of Jobsite.co.uk, comments; “The Jobsite Quarterly Recruitment Review is an invaluable piece of independent research detailing how both recruiters and job seekers are changing their behaviour. Understandably recruiters are more price-conscious than they were three months ago, a fact which will inevitably contribute to a more conservative overall approach to hiring. But the report demonstrates a positive shift towards online recruitment as recruiters look for ways to extract better value from their advertising.”

The Jobsite Quarterly Recruitment Review (winter 2011-12) is available to download now for free: www.jobsite.co.uk/RecruitmentReview2011. The next Jobsite Quarterly Recruitment Review will be available from Spring 2012.