By Pierce Resler, Director of Marketing, VisualCV
A few months ago we worked with the good folks over at Sway, Inc. in Milwaukee to get some new primary research on people’s views of online resumes. We actually found Jason Weaver, the company’s CEO, because he’s a member on VisualCV. One of the great byproducts of VisualCV is the ability to connect with professionals across industries. Back to the survey…
We commissioned Sway to survey over 500 people to get insight to their job seeking habits online. Here are some highlights of the findings:
We found that Americans are increasingly turning to the Web instead of the newspaper when it comes to seeking employment opportunities. 50% of all respondents currently have an online resume, have a resume posted online or have a professional profile on a job or career website. While 68% said the reason they post an online resume or create a professional profile was to find a job, more than a third do so in order to network.
In addition to searching the web for job information, career seekers also look for expert advice. For those individuals who connect with other professionals online, the top reasons are to learn skills or get educated on skills that would help them as a professional and to research other professionals’ knowledge and experiences. Word of mouth referrals and career boards are the most popular sources for learning about a job but they certainly aren’t the only ones. According to the study, Americans are most likely to leverage the following sources when seeking information on job opportunities:
Sources for Obtaining Information % of
Americans Agreeing General Job Board 58% Friend
or Colleague (i.e. Word of Mouth) 52% Company
Web Site 47% Newspaper
Classifieds/Print Ad 41% Google/Internet Searches 35% Craig’s List 27% Staffing
Agency 22% Career
Fair 20%
With one in four stated they are currently looking for a job, Americans are in need of tools that will give them a competitive advantage and help them stand out from the competition. While the look of the resume is clearly important when selecting an online resume tool or establishing a professional profile, individuals also want a solution that is easy to update and whose privacy can be controlled:
Sought After Features of An Online
Resume Tool or Business Profile Website % of
Americans Agreeing The appearance of the resume on the
screen 75% The link to your resume is automatically updated
when you make changes 73% Control of the privacy of your online
resume/business profile (i.e., share one-to-one via e-mail, make public to
anybody, etc.) 70% Being able to track views to resume (i.e. the
number of views and where they came from 70% Ability to stand out more than with a traditional
resume 68% Portability: the ability to access it/use it
anywhere online 67% Ability to search for jobs on the same site your
online resume/profile is hosted 64%
We learned a lot more from the survey but we were glad that the features VisualCV offers like privacy, presentation, access, tracking and control, are meeting the wants of consumers when it comes to online resumes.
Technical details: Sway conducted the online survey in mid March 2009 using an online panel from MarketTools. The data has a tolerance of +/- 4.4%.
What are you looking for in an online resume or profile? What does VisualCV lack that you need?
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