Human Resources: ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SOURCING

Boston— August 20, 2007—Bullhorn, the global leader in On Demand, front-office staffing and recruiting software, today released the results of its online survey “Making the Most of the New Tools: How online resources impact placement ratios, time-to-fill and profitability.” More than 130 staffing and recruiting industry professionals participated in the survey and answered questions about the value of online social networks, job boards and blogs in terms of how they affect sourcing and key business metrics, such as placement ratios, time-to-fill and profitability.

“Recruiters are faced with an increasingly difficult task: a variety of online sourcing tools are available to them, but sorting through them for true business value can be on a trial and error basis,” said Art Papas, CEO and co-founder of Bullhorn. “Additionally, the recruiting and staffing industry is becoming increasingly competitive and the importance of business metrics inside the process of recruitment has become progressively more important in order to survive and thrive in the industry. In order to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive industry, recruiters must be aware of the usefulness of online social networks, job boards and blogs that offer them the best candidates and networking opportunities.”

One hundred-thirty management and staff personnel from staffing and recruiting firms responded to the online survey and 68 percent said they use online social networks at least occasionally to source candidates, and more than 80 percent said they used a leading job board at least once.

Key findings from the survey include:
Online social networks are having a positive impact on sourcing for recruiters with more than half of respondents (57 percent) reporting that the online social network they use most often has a fair to high impact on their time-to-fill; 60 percent of respondents indicated that the online social network they use most often has a fair to high impact on their placement ratios; and, more than two-thirds of respondents (69 percent) indicated that they felt the online social network they use most often has a fair to high impact on profitability.
LinkedIn is the most frequently used online social network for 65 percent of all respondents. About one third of respondents have used ZoomInfo and the Electronic Recruiting Exchange (ERE) network.
Respondents use Monster more than any other online job board, with 45 percent reporting it as the online job board they use most frequently for candidate searches; following Monster, CareerBuilder is used most frequently by 31 percent of the respondents
The majority of respondents, (76 percent) reported that the online job board they use most often has a fair to high impact on their time-to-fill. The survey also revealed that 80 percent of respondents indicated that they felt the online job board they use most often has a fair to high impact on their placement ratios, while 79 percent indicated that they felt the online job board they use most often has a fair to high impact on their profitability
Online job boards are full of unemployed candidates who over-apply to posted positions and thus present a productivity challenge to recruiters
Online job boards’ low cost make them a reasonable place to find qualified candidates, but staffing and recruiting professionals must know how to use them effectively. Recruiters must be patient enough to create high filters in their searches in order to capture the most qualified candidates and then sort through volumes of auto-sent resumes. Most importantly recruiters must know how to use these job boards efficiently so as not to waste valuable time sorting through thousands of candidates.
Almost a third of respondents (29 percent) indicated they had used the ERE Blog Network at least once for candidate searches. Almost two-thirds of respondents reported having never used a blog in their work
Of blog users, 78 percent said the blog they use most often has a minor or negligible impact on their profitability
A majority of respondents (69 percent) reported using blogs to search for candidates less than once per month. Just 9 percent reported using them daily. Respondents reported using blogs for a variety of purposes, the most popular including learning new, useful tips and tricks, news on trends and for professional development. Blogs are rarely used for sourcing candidates
Blogs are growing as their own kind of social network for staffing and recruiting professionals
The most difficult industries to service, i.e. those with the longest time-to-fill rates, are engineering and IT, while office/clerical and retail/wholesale industries appear to be the easiest to service

The results of this online survey come on the heels of the publication of “Tools of the Trade 2007,” Bullhorn’s report based on a survey of staffing and recruiting professionals conducted in March 2007 and published April 10. The survey covered established and emerging websites, online social networks, job boards, professional development sites and blogs.

This report is available for free download here.

Bullhorn is the staffing and recruiting industry’s only On Demand, integrated front office solution. Comprising email, calendaring, sourcing, an applicant tracking solution, customer relationship management and job management, Bullhorn enables users to communicate and collaborate with contacts, candidates, colleagues and clients in real-time to generate, source and fill job orders, or make placements, at anytime and from anyplace. Bullhorn’s users include staffing and recruiting firms of all sizes, from a wide range of industries – including information technology, professional services, office/clerical and healthcare. The Bullhorn Blogger is the company’s online community where customers, partners, Bullhorn professionals and prospective customers share ideas and best practices to advance the productivity of the staffing and recruiting industry through the innovative use of Bullhorn’s On Demand, integrated front office staffing and recruiting software.

About Bullhorn, Inc.
Bullhorn is the global leader in On Demand, front office staffing and recruiting software, providing the only completely integrated front office solution for staffing and recruiting firms. Bullhorn enables its customers to synchronize sales and recruiting to generate, source and fill job orders in real-time, at anytime and from anyplace, at the highest rates in the industry. Delivered through software as a service, Bullhorn continually meets the evolving business needs of its customers. More than 850 firms and 10,000 users worldwide, including some of the largest global staffing firms, partner with Bullhorn to meet the employment demands of the global economy. For more information, visit www.bullhorn.com or call +1(888)GoLive8.