When you need talent, you need an effective recruitment strategy.
To build an effective recruitment strategy, you need to know where candidates are looking for jobs.
The best salary, the best benefits and the best ads won’t do anything to achieve your hiring objectives if your job listings aren’t getting views.
To that end, Adecco conducted a web survey between January 17-23, 2022. We collected responses from over 1500 people in our database to learn more about their job search behaviour. We asked the questions that every employer wants to know, and, with a 3% margin of error and a 95% confidence level, we’ve compiled the data for you here.
Read on to ensure you’re spending your recruitment dollars in the right places.
Job search behaviour in Canada – resources
We asked our survey participants the question,
“When looking for a new job, what resources do you use?”
Respondents were allowed to select up to 5 resources from the list. Here’s what happened:
#1 resource – job boards
By far the #1 resource used by job seekers was online job boards, with 78% or participants selecting the medium.
Conclusion: Posting on job boards should be a priority in every recruitment strategy. It’s a staple resource that a majority of candidates use.
#2 resource – social media
47% of job seekers head to their social accounts to find out about new job openings. If your business isn’t on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, you may be missing out on roughly half of the potential talent out there (keep reading for more social media insights).
Interestingly, we discovered that Quebec respondents were more likely to use social media than job seekers from any other province.
Conclusion: Posting on social media should be the second priority for businesses, particularly organizations in Quebec.
#3 resource – staffing agencies
About a third of our survey respondents indicated that they use staffing agencies in their job search.
It should be noted that all our survey participants were individuals in our database, which is a potential source of bias for this result, as all respondents would have been aware of the staffing agency, Adecco.
Conclusion: Staffing agencies can be a valuable third-party resource in your recruitment strategy, boosting the reach and visibility of your job ads. Request talent here to find out how Adecco can help you!
#4 resource – company website
Given the prevalence of recruitment-related scams, many job candidates verify the authenticity of job listings on the company’s official website. 31% of job seekers selected company website as a used resource.
Conclusion: As you engage with external job posting platforms, don’t neglect internal ones. Keep the career section of your company’s website up to date, as our findings show roughly a third of candidates go directly to employers’ websites.
#5 resource – friends & family
30% of our respondents said they depend on their community to tell them about job openings. To put that number in perspective, the same percentage of respondents (30%) selected search engines like Google and Bing.
Conclusion: Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth! Implementing a referral program may be an ideal way to harness the “friends & family” resource. A financial bonus can incentivize people to talk to the people in their close circle about job opportunities.
Job search behaviour in Canada – job boards
With a majority of people using job boards to scope out new career opportunities, we decided to dig a little deeper into which job boards are most popular.
We asked the question,
“When looking for a new job, what are your go-to job boards?”
and invited respondents to select all that apply. Here’s the response we received:
Unsurprisingly to us, the overwhelming winner is Indeed. Indeed has established itself as the first-choice job search engine in Canada, and our 89% response rate is further evidence of its superiority over other job banks.
We also discovered that Quebec respondents were more likely than others to use Jobillico and Jobboom, and least likely to use Zip Recruiter.
Conclusion: If your organization has limited budget for job listings or only enough budget to allocate to one third-party website, Indeed should probably be it. If you’re advertising for jobs in Quebec, you might consider skipping Zip Recruiter in favour of Jobillico and/or Jobboom.
You can learn more about the top job boards in Canada here.
Job search behaviour in Canada – social media
Social media was the 2nd most popular resource among job seekers, so we asked a follow-up question to find out more about which social platforms attract the most potential candidates.
We asked our survey participants,
“When looking for a new job, what is your go-to social media platform?”
Respondents were allowed to choose up to 5 answers. Here are the results:
LinkedIn is the social leader among job seekers, with over half (56%) of respondents saying they use the networking tool to scout new jobs. Facebook is the runner-up option, with 35% of respondents choosing to log into their FB account during a job hunt. Interestingly, the third-most popular answer, at 22%, was “I don’t use social media to look for a job”.
However, just because 22% of job candidates don’t use social media to look for a job, doesn’t mean they don’t use social media at all.
We asked our survey participants,
“In a typical week, which (top 3) social media platforms do you use the most?”
Answers came in as follows:
Here we see that Facebook (60%) is the clear winner, with YouTube (43%), LinkedIn (43%) and Instagram (42%) almost all tied for spot #2.
Conclusion: Both LinkedIn and Facebook claim a spot in the Top 3 on the “most used in job searches” and the “most used overall” list. To that end, both platforms should be a priority for hiring organizations.
That said, don’t discount the other platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Just because not many people use them specifically to look for a job, they are still widely used platforms on a day-to-day basis. That means organizations can improve their brand recognition on these platforms by sharing content and advertising—and possibly even capture passive candidates.
Where do job seekers look for jobs?
We hope this data helps you understand where job seekers are looking for career opportunities and allocate your recruitment budget strategically.
If you’re interested in more market intelligence and data analytics, the Adecco team is only a message away. Our insights can help you customize and streamline your hiring strategy, increase speed to fill and improve retention rates. When it comes to recruitment, data is power!