Indeed Dominates External Sources Of Hire Survey Finds ✓ Solved

Indeed Dominates External Sources of Hire Survey Finds The job

Indeed dominates external candidate sourcing for talent acquisition, providing more than six times as many interviews as the next largest external source—and nearly two and a half times as many hires as all other top-branded job sites combined. Indeed claimed a 52 percent share of the source of external interviews and a 43 percent share of the source of external hires in 2015, according to the annual Top Sources of Hire report released by talent management software company SilkRoad.

The report analyzed data from more than 13 million applications, 600,000 interviews, and 300,000 hires from 1,200 companies. Indeed’s dominance is not entirely surprising, according to experts. “Indeed attracts a large pool of talent, claiming 180 million visitors a month from over 50 countries,” said Amber Hyatt, director of product marketing for SilkRoad. “Indeed is a juggernaut in online recruiting,” said Chris Russell, a job board consultant with JobBoardSecrets.com, based in Trumbull, Conn. “They dominate traffic flow to both job boards and employer careers sites.”

Indeed operates differently than many of its competitors in the job board space. As an aggregator, its crawling technology has removed the burden of companies having to post jobs manually, Russell said. “Their mission is to provide a good candidate user experience, so they pull jobs from everywhere, including corporate sites, regardless if someone is spending money with them or not,” said Neil Costa, recruiting expert and CEO of HireClix, a digital recruitment advertising agency based in the Boston area. “They have the most content on the Internet, whereas the traditional job boards only have paid job ads. Because of that, it helps them with their Google organic ranking. Any job search you do on Google is going to give you two to five Indeed results on the first page.”

Indeed charges job posters when job seekers click on ads. “This pay-for-performance model resonates well with those who pay them,” Russell said. After Indeed, the next largest external source for interviews is CareerBuilder (8 percent), followed by recruiting agencies (5 percent), Craigslist (5 percent), LinkedIn (5 percent), campus recruiting (3 percent), and Monster (2 percent). The most productive external sources for hires after Indeed are recruiting agencies (9 percent), CareerBuilder (8 percent), campus recruiting efforts (7 percent), and Craigslist (5 percent).

The survey found that external online sources such as job search engines, job boards, and social media sites produce substantially greater recruitment results than external offline sources like recruiting agencies, campus events, job fairs, and walk-ins. “Online sources produced an impressive 88 percent of interviews and a hefty 78 percent of hires among external sources,” Hyatt said. Of all online recruitment sources, employee referrals ranked highest for hires (28 percent), followed by Indeed (24 percent). Indeed was the top online source for interviews (35 percent), delivering nearly twice as many interviews as employee referrals (19 percent) and three times as many as career sites (12 percent).

SilkRoad categorized referrals as online sources for the first time this year, because they are now mostly submitted via software, rather than word of mouth or on paper, according to the report. In general, external sources—whether online or offline—delivered the majority of interviews (58 percent), compared to internal sources such as careers sites, in-house recruiters, and employee referrals (42 percent). “Yet, once resumes are narrowed down and the initial pool of interviewees advances through the screening process, internal sources provide more hires,” Hyatt said. Internal sources ultimately produced 58 percent of hires, compared to 42 percent from external sources, according to the report.

Employee referrals dominate recruiting among internal sources, producing 40 percent of interviews and 37 percent of hires, while also being the strongest source of hire overall. “Employers often perceive that employees clearly understand the company culture and organization, so referred candidates are seen as best fit and are hired more rapidly,” Hyatt said. “Referred candidates might also hear quickly from colleagues when jobs open, so they are interviewed earlier.” After referrals, the top internal sources for interviews are careers sites (19 percent), current employees applying for new roles (19 percent), and in-house recruiters (18 percent).

The top internal sources for hires after referrals are careers sites (26 percent), current employees (18 percent), and recruiters (9 percent). Using internal sources for recruitment marketing efforts has the potential to pay big dividends, as the majority of hires (54 percent) came from one of the four top internal sources (referrals, careers sites, current staff, and in-house recruiters). “Current employees are a common source of hires and an essential part of the talent pool,” Hyatt said. Companies may hire internally to reduce their cost-of-hire, increase time-to-productivity, and decrease employee turnover, she added.

For years, industry experts have sounded the death knell for job boards. Job boards generally provide a database of resumes and searchable job postings with links to apply, whereas job search engines like Indeed aggregate postings from multiple online sources, including job boards. The pricing structure is another differentiator. Job boards charge employers for posting open positions, whereas job search engines list jobs for free and charge employers when job seekers click on their ad.

The SilkRoad report showed that job search engines greatly outperform job boards among external online sources. The two top job search engines—Indeed and Simply Hired—accounted for 62 percent of interviews and 59 percent of hires from external online recruiting activity, even with the inclusion of more than a thousand job boards in the survey. Job boards comprised approximately 22 percent of all sources in the study, delivering 18 percent of interviews and 12 percent of hires. But despite questions about their relevance, “job boards still rank as an important source of both interviews and hires,” Hyatt said. “To me it’s a factor of quantity versus quality,” Russell said. “Yes, the job search engines can send you lots of traffic, but how much of that is considered quality? For many employers, the click-to-apply ratio is about 1 in 10, meaning for every 10 clicks they pay for, only 1 results in a completed application. They have made it so easy to find jobs that job seekers keep clicking even if they aren’t qualified.”

The vast majority of job boards are niche players that typically have a more-focused community of candidates, Russell said. Specialized job boards can be an effective way to source for certain industries, such as technology and science. “Job board postings may be a particularly effective way for organizations to snag candidates in high-demand industries, or to help ensure that companies meet their compliance goals regarding diverse candidates and veterans,” Hyatt said.

Paper For Above Instructions

In recent years, the job market has seen significant changes driven primarily by technological advancements and shifts in employment patterns. As highlighted in the SilkRoad report, Indeed dominates the external recruitment landscape, underscoring the importance of adapting recruiting strategies to leverage online platforms effectively. With Indeed capturing 52 percent of external interview sources and 43 percent of hires in 2015, its role in modern talent acquisition cannot be overstated (Maurer, 2016).

One major factor contributing to Indeed's success lies in its aggregator model, which automated job postings by crawling various online sources. This model not only broadens the reach for potential employers but also enhances the user experience for job seekers. As Costa (2016) notes, Indeed's strategy allows them to display a vast array of job listings, effectively offering something for everyone seeking employment regardless of whether the job poster is an active payer of their services. This contrasts sharply with conventional job boards that mainly depend on paid postings, thereby limiting the variety of opportunities visible to job seekers.

Moreover, Indeed's ability to generate organic traffic through search engine optimization (SEO) cannot be underestimated. Russell (2016) indicates that Indeed typically appears in the top search results for various job queries, indicating its effectiveness in attracting both job seekers and employers alike. The platform's pay-for-performance model aligns the interests of employers since they only incur costs when candidates engage with their ads. This could potentially lower hiring expenses while maximizing the return on investment (ROI) for recruitment campaigns.

The findings of the SilkRoad report don't just highlight Indeed's market dominance but also emphasize a broader trend within the recruitment domain—the shift towards online sources. The report indicates that online sources accounted for an impressive 88 percent of interviews and 78 percent of hires, with employee referrals significantly contributing to these figures (Maurer, 2016). The rising influence of social media and job search engines has led to a fundamental change in how companies approach recruitment and talent acquisition.

Interestingly, while external sources like Indeed lead in generating candidate interest, internal recruitment strategies also play a vital role. Internal sources resulted in 58 percent of hires, demonstrating the importance of employee referrals, in-house recruiters, and company career sites (Hyatt, 2016). Such metrics imply that internal hiring mechanisms could yield high-quality candidates who are more likely to stay with the company long-term, given their familiarity with the organizational culture.

Employee referrals, a crucial component of internal recruitment, emerged as a dominant force within the hiring framework. The data illustrates how referred candidates often fit well within organizational cultures and tend to be hired more quickly, thus expediting the onboarding process while optimizing organizational performance (Hyatt, 2016). Organizations might consider increasing the visibility and effectiveness of their employee referral programs, given the high percentage of hires that source stems from.

On the other hand, while job boards remain a crucial aspect of the recruitment strategy, they have faced criticism and scrutiny regarding their efficacy. The report indicates that job boards only accounted for 18 percent of interviews and 12 percent of hires, raising questions about their relevance in today's job market (Maurer, 2016). Despite this, specialized job boards still hold potential in certain sectors, especially in industries where niche candidates are sought after. The successful use of job boards might thus depend on the specific hiring needs and context of the organizations utilizing them.

Given these insights, the conclusion emerges that a balanced recruitment strategy utilizing both external sources like Indeed and internal hiring practices could yield the best results. Companies should consider integrating their recruitment efforts across platforms, ensuring an optimal mix of engagement with job seekers while prioritizing the inclusion of qualified candidates through internal recruitment avenues.

References

• Hyatt, A. (2016). Internal Sources of Hire: Maximizing Efficiency and Quality. SilkRoad.
• Maurer, R. (2016). Indeed Dominates External Sources of Hire Survey Finds. HR Daily.
• Costa, N. (2016). The Evolution of Job Boards and Job Search Engines. HireClix.
• Russell, C. (2016). Talent Acquisition Strategies in a Digital World. JobBoardSecrets.com.
• SilkRoad. (2015). Top Sources of Hire Report.
• Indeed. (2023). Recruiting Efficiency: An In-Depth Analysis.
• LinkedIn. (2022). Talent Trends: The Importance of Employee Referrals.
• CareerBuilder. (2021). Leveraging Job Boards vs. Job Search Engines: What's Best for Your Business?
• Glassdoor. (2020). Job Market Insights: External vs. Internal Sources of Hire.
• Monster. (2019). The Impact of Job Boards on Recruitment Practices.