Latest Recruiting Trends: Where Do Applicants Come From? What Sources Have the Best ROI?

The latest job recruiting study, from Direct Employers Association, summarizes which are the most popular sources of job candidates and applicants and which sources give the best Return on Investment (ROI).

Very interesting results! The study is based on a recruiting survey conducted at the beginning of 2006, and I will summarize it in four parts:

A. What sources give the highest VOLUME of candidates?

B. What sources give the highest QUALITY of candidates?

C. What sources are most new hires coming from?

D. What sources give the best ROI?

Answers follow next…………

A. The highest recruiting volume comes from employee referrals, the organization’s web site, and general job boards. Newspapers give the lowest volume.

B. Employers rate job applicants from referrals as having the highest quality, followed by the organization’s website, and search firms. Newspapers are rated as having the lowest quality.

C. In terms of where new hires are most likely to come from, the answer is that 21% come from the organization’s web site, 19% from employee referrals, and 15% from general job boards.

D. Now, as for recruiting ROI, satisfaction with ROI was highest with employee referrals (82%), organization’s web site was next (71%), and then came campus recruiting (60%). Niche job boards was a close 4th (58% satisafaction).

Note: Using a measure called “Source Value Index,” Social Networking Web Sites fared quite well, too.