The 3 Biggest Sources for Employment: Networking, Recruiting & Social Media

Surprised that online listings is not identified as a Top 3 source? Although most people assume that this is the most common source, there are several reasons why this is not the case, key of which includes:

-- The ease and amount of information accessible to recruiters through social media to passively source and evaluate talent. More than 80% of recruiters regularly utilize LinkedIn.

-- Problems with applicant tracking systems (ATS). Some ATS work wonderfully. Often older, cheaper version do not, and limited-search capacities and redundancy feature problems can leading to missing great talent.

According to a recent PARW / CC* newsletter article, at least 65% of professional jobs are landed through networking, which includes employee referrals. There is always a "comfort factor" associated with going with a known entity or trusted source.

So what does this mean for your job search? For sure it means to avoid just relying on applying online. Build and communicate your brand via LinkedIn and other social media. Continuously develop and strengthen your network through joining professional affiliations and participating in events / meetings. Consider looking for acquaintances who could internally refer you. Finally, help others in your network, who will often reciprocate in kind. When you do apply online, try to focus more on directly applying through employer sites or a very trusted site, such as Indeed.com.

The best job search strategy is multi-pronged. It consists of numerous ways to reach out to employers. This also helps to keep the job search dynamic and exciting, avoiding the monotonous and depressive cycle that can be associated with just online job search.