Yesterday on Twitter a percentage was floating around, courtesy of Peter Weddle: 35% of jobseekers were able to secure jobs by using job boards in 2009. While I appreciate this statistic, I often question numbers such as these. How accurate are they? Who is being polled or surveyed to come up with this stat? Personally, I think the quoted percentage is much lower than the truth.

When I worked in-house, I rarely used direct recruitment or cold calling. I would venture to guess that, at least, 85% of all my hires were a result of posting an advert on a job board. And do you know what? I didn't fill out one survey or receive one call asking me how I was filling my open requisitions. As a matter of fact, in all my years in the recruiting industry, I have never been polled. Yes, I understand the concept of focus groups..., and with that said, I'd like to take a poll of who's been polled.

If you have ever been asked how you are filling your open positions by an outside questioner, please tell me about it. I question the precision, I wonder at the audacity and presumptiveness. It's like quoting unemployment rates based on those that are receiving unemployment benefits. Who isn't reporting that they are unemployed? Who didn't qualify for those benefits, thus being disqualified from inclusion in those numbers? Who worked part-time, becoming under-employed, because their hours were cut?

Let's talk a bit more about the truth of 35% gaining employment through job boards. Higher percentage, I say. Why? Because how many recruiters maintain a CRM or database rich with candidates they have inputted as the result of previous recruitments? Candidates who sent resumes to the recruiter or organization as the result of preceding job postings? Candidates who responded but were not quite the right fit for that particular search? Savvy recruiters do not throw resumes away, do they? I never do, I save every resume that crosses my path. That resume is either a future candidate or a future client. No question.

How many times, when given an open requisition do you just start from scratch? A smart recruiter goes to the bull pen. A smart HR professional has been keeping records. Ever heard of an Applicant Tracking System? Job boards are dead, huh? Here's some news..., interestingly enough, Big Monster is still big, Careerbuilders is still building, theLadders is still being climbed and craigslist is making Craig rich. No funeral here folks, just change. Evolution has always been a part of the plan. Welcome to technology.

©by rayannethorn