Students don’t mess around with job boards and employer postings according to survey findings from 8,088 university students from the Class of 2011. More than 87 percent say they will target their employers of choice and submit job applications directly to them. That’s up from 49 percent in 2010. Other methods used by these students are:
- On-campus career service (72 percent up from 43 percent in 2010)
- LinkedIn (28 percent up from 5 percent in 2010)
- Newspaper ads (28 percent down from 34 percent)
- Facebook (7 percent)
- Twitter (2 percent)
Online search methods
When searching online for a job, students most commonly use the following terms:
- Position title—25 percent.
- Entry-level jobs—23 percent.
- Entry-level careers—19 percent.
- Company name—18 percent.
- Industry title—15 percent.
Students surveyed
The respondents—mostly engineering, economics, psychology and political science students—were divided evenly across the gender line. Nearly two-thirds were optimistic about their job prospects. Respondents were among a database of more than 150,000 students at more than 1,000 universities.
Online survey
The online survey, Understanding the Class of 2011; How to Recruit, Retain and Inspire the Future Workforce, was conducted in January and February 2011 by I Love Rewards, an employee recognition company, and Experience Inc., which runs career center websites for U.S. colleges and universities.
Local schools
Experience, Inc. provides services to students at local colleges such as College of the Desert, University of California, Riverside, University of the Redlands, and Loma Linda.
More information about job search
See Using social media for job search for more tools and techniques.
Comments