Does anyone have a statistic to back up the old 80/20 rule on networking? i.e. 80% of jobs are never posted
Answers (4)
I found a few statistics in an article written by Kevin Donlin, the author of "The Last Guide to Cover Letter & Resume Writing You'll Ever Need," about the 80/20 rule and how it relates to networking and the job search.
"About 20% of what you do accounts for 80% of your results. Conversely, 80% of what you're doing to find a new job is producing only 20% of your results -- it's largely a waste of time."
"So, to get hired faster, you must focus like a laser on the 20% of your actions that produce 80% of your employment leads. It's that simple."
"According to all the research I've done, the clients and seminar attendees I've spoken to over the years, and my own experience, up to 80% of job leads come from networking."
Links:
Gary C.
Human Resources Manager, NTELOS
Best Answers in: Resume Writing (2), Job Search (1), Career Management (1)
The only stat I've run into on this is from CareerXroads. They do a survey on the source of hires. The survey shows that about a third of all positions get filled internally. Then if you look at the other two thirds, 28% come from referrals, 4.8% come from Boomeranges and 3.3% from Agencies. This works out to 36.3% of external hires (or 25% of all hires). The rest come from advertising methods (job boards account for only a quarter of external hires).
This doesn't reach an 80-20 level, but does say that around 55% of hires come from non-advertised sources. This doesn't mean these positions aren't advertised, but many of them are not.
As a job seeker, the most important thing to do is to use as many search options as you can. If you're just using job boards and the newspaper, you are limiting the opportunities you see. Network, both inside your company and outside. With internal hires and referrals the top two sources of hires, it's essential to use these methods.
One additional thing to consider is the type of position you are seeking. These stats are generalized across a wide range of positions - from entry level hourly up to CEO's. My experience has been that the more senior the position, the less likely it is to be advertised.
Links:
Although I cannot site specific resources and data, my understanding in speaking with many HR professionals and recruiters is that 85% of available jobs are never posted and are part of the 'hidden' job market. These are filled internally and via networking. To coincide, less than 3% of jobs are filled via Internet job boards, so spending a lot of time on the Internet is not time well spent. Recruiters account for a number less than 10% from what I'm told. The best plan is to network as much as possible.
Gerry C.
CareerXroads: Staffing Strategies For A Networked World 732-432-9172
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (1), Advertising (1)
Joel. The statement is not true. It never was but it arose as a legacy of the print classifed culture pre-internet. In those days the Sunday classifieds section of newspapers defined "a published lead" and clearly they represented no more than 20% of the actual positions open. Today, more than 95% of all positions are published- primarily on the websites of the various firms that have approved them. The "hidden job market" has nothing to do with the opening being hidden- it is now all about the transparency of the what the job really requires, the firm, the hiring manager, etc.
Networking is absolutely not about uncovering the "hidden market" as leads- that's just a sadly misleading image that still sends job seekers down blind alleys.
For a job seeker:
Networking can be about sharing leads with others in a disciplined way so as to leverage the research of many.
Networking can be about obtaining unpublished information about the published leads to gain a competitive edge when interviewed.
Networking can be about identifying and reaching out to individuals in target firms where you have seen published leads or have reason to anticipate that a new opening will be approved...for one reason...to obtain permission for that person to be your "employe referral".
The real story about referrals is not that nearly 1/3 of positions are reported as being filled from employee referrals. Instead its that fact that so many positions are filled from so few referrals that is important. Nearly 1 of every 4 referrals results in a hire!
By my calculation [and I do have data] job seekers applying for a position with an employee referral are 70 times more likely to be hired than w/o one. (Even a third party recruiter putting forth severalcandidates is more likely to get his/her candidate past finalist to new hire if the candidate has an internal referral.)
It is better to say: The 20% of jobseekers who managed to find a job without networking probably took 80% longer than their colleagues who did. I would also suggest that they also 80% more likely to perform below average than their colleagues who network....and 80% less likely to know it.
