Australia tops the global list for online recruitment
Australian job seekers topped the list of 37 countries in their use of the Internet to find jobs, with a majority finding their most recent position online.
Online recruitment eclipsed all other forms of recruitment including direct approaches, newspaper advertising and ‘word of mouth’ according to Kelly Services International Workforce survey.
The survey indicated more than a quarter of Australians have concerns about how they perform during face-to-face job interviews while one in three have doubts as to whether their CV presents them to potential employers in the best possible way.
Amongst the key findings:
- A majority (54%) found their most recent job online, the highest of any country in the survey followed by Thailand (52%), Hong Kong (51%) and China (50%), New Zealand (43%) and Indonesia (43%)
- 8% admit they have been untruthful on their CV
- 37% have doubts about whether their CV presents them in the best possible way
- 27% have doubts about how they perform in face-to-face job interviews
- 62% nominate ‘waiting for a response’ as the worst part of the recruitment process
- 80% believe that employers treat them fairly in job interviews
This shows that candidates have embraced the Internet as the preferred way of finding a job and people are now very confident about applying for jobs online while employers are becoming much more skilled at dealing with the online recruitment phenomenon.
The breakdown of job application methods is as follows:
- 54% online
- 9% approach employer direct
- 9% newspaper
- 8% direct call from employer/recruiter
- 7% other methods
Online recruitment is considered by candidates to be a better way to find a job, with 83% pleased with the outcome compared with 51% for traditional written and posted applications.
However, online recruitment should not be seen as a shortcut to proper evaluation of candidates.
Eight per cent of candidates admitted to being untruthful on their CV or in an interview. The most likely untruths were omitting negative details from the past and claiming experience that a candidate did not have.
While 72% of respondents said they performed well during face-to-face job interviews, 12% said they did not and 15% were unsure. Men were more confident in their ability in job interviews than women.
Some 37% of candidates also had doubts about the quality of their CV with 11% certain that it did not present them in the best possible way and 26% unsure.
Even though the task of applying for jobs and facing an interview can be daunting, it’s not the worst part of the recruitment process according to candidates. The worst aspect of the recruitment process, nominated by 62% of respondents was ‘waiting for a response’, followed by ‘searching for jobs’ (13%), ‘attending interviews’ (12%), ‘filling in applications’ (6%), and ‘preparing resume/CVs’ (6%).
The factors that best determine a person’s job suitability were also canvassed in the survey. When asked what single attribute people considered to be the best indicator of job suitability, the overwhelming factor was ‘attitude and personality’, cited by 42%, followed closely by work experience (38%). Other factors such as interview performance, level of education, reference checks and psychological test results all rated low.
Despite the uncertainties on the part of some candidates about their capacity to perform well in the recruitment process, most feel that they get a fair hearing from employers. When asked if they felt employers treated them fairly in the interview process, 80% said they did, 18% said ‘sometimes’ and only 2% said ‘never’.
