Saturday, August 23, 2003

LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS In my last installment or blog,  I promised some statistics for the success rate of the various methods to hunt for a job.  Most of these statistics are taken from the book What Color is Your Parachute - 2003 Edition by Richard Nelson Bolles.  I am using his statistics for a four reasons: 1. He has over 7 million copies of his book in print (I on the other hand have no books in or out of print),  2. His book has some very funny cartoons and I love cartoons, 3. he has a very good and helpful web site for job seekers at  www.jobhuntersbible.com, and the book only cost $17.95.   Again, I am not going to discuss job hunting for individuals who have not started careers or for individuals who want to change their careers,  I will do that later.  I disagree with some of his statistics but overall I find them in tune with my observations out in the real world and as a third party recruiter. EFFECTIVENESS RATINGS OF VARIOUS JOB SEARCH METHODS: Networking - I am going with my own percentage here because I have heard it so often, and from so many sources that I believe it is about 40%. Sending resumes to targeted companies - less than 7%. (from page 43 of What Color Is Your Parachute) Placing your resume on one of the big job boards and waiting - less than 4% (from page 42 of Ibid) Sending your resume to a headhunter - 5 to 28% (from page 44 of Ibid) Responding to Professional or Trade Magazine job postings - less than 7%. (from page 44 of Ibid) Searching the Newspaper job listings in target cities - less than 7%. (from page 44 of Ibid) Responding to job postings on corporation web sites - less than 10% (based on personal observations) Knocking on doors of potential employers and asking for a job - 47% (from page 46 of What Color Is Your Parachute) Picking potential employers in the yellow pages and calling and asking if they are hiring for the type of position you are trained to do - 69% (from Page 45 Ibid) All of these ratings and job search methods will be discussed in detail in the next several posts.     9:03:27 PM    comment []