Herman Trend Alert: The Internet Job Search Mismatch

From “Herman Trend Alert,” by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists.

GREENSBORO, NC — Several trends point to increased use of the Internet in both job search and recruiting. However, current indicators suggest that there is a disconnect that substantially inhibits the process.

Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) reports that nearly half of all marketers plan to decrease spending in traditional advertising channels like magazines, direct mail and newspapers, to earmark all those dollars for online ad spending this year.

Forrester projects total U.S. online advertising and marketing spending to reach $14.7 billion in 2005, a 23 percent increase over 2004. Online marketing and advertising will represent 8 percent of advertising spending in 2010. There is substantial growth in Internet advertising of all kinds, including employment.

WEDDLE’s is a publishing, consulting, and training firm, dedicated to helping people and organizations maximize their success in recruiting, retention, job search and career self-management. The firm polled more than 3,900 human resource personnel and recruiters in the first three months of 2005. Many respondents are making sizable investments in online sourcing efforts. More than half are spending 11 to 30 percent of their recruiting budgets online. No less important, they have very strong opinions about where best to post their jobs to find the best candidates: 84 percent said niche sites provide access to the best talent. Only eleven percent gave the nod to general purpose recruitment sites. For more about these survey findings, visit: www.weddles.com.

More than 60 percent of employers now hire more than one-quarter of their new employees from Internet job sites. Still, eleven percent never post a job online, essentially ignoring the 166 million Americans who use the Internet. These employers also miss the opportunity to hire qualified workers from abroad. And 13 percent of employers post openings on only a single job board. Since no single job board can meet every requirement, their results are often disappointing. The single job board approach does not seem to work.

Today, people are looking for jobs online more aggressively than employers are using the technology to find qualified candidates. This balance will change in the months to come, as employers become more efficient with their recruitment advertising budgets.

Editor’s Note: aftermarketNews.com is host to an aftermarket-specific internet job search Web site called aftermarketJobs.com. A link to the Web site is available via our the aftermarketNews.com home page, or by going directly to www.aftermarketJobs.com.

The opinions expressed in “Herman Trend Alert” articles appearing on aftermarketNews.com do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AMN or Babcox Publications.

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