Most Job-Seekers Choose Newspapers Over the Web to Find Employment

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Planning on making some new hires in 2006? According to a new survey from The Conference Board, a combination of traditional newspaper advertising and online job postings may draw the most applicants. Despite the proliferation of online job boards, three out of four job-seekers still use newspapers to look for employment, according to a report released today by The Conference Board, the global research and business membership organization. The Internet, however, was not far behind, with 60 percent job-seekers using the electronic medium as part of their job search.

The report is based on a nationally representative sample of 5,000 households surveyed monthly for The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index and was conducted on behalf of The Conference Board by TNS.

Newspapers are still the most common method of looking for a job in three of the four major regions across the country and in all but the top income group. The western United States is the only area of the country where the Internet topped newspapers among those seeking jobs.

"Despite the growth of the Internet, help-wanted advertisements in newspapers are still attracting large numbers of job seekers," says Linda Barrington, research director at The Conference Board and co-author of the report with June Shelp, director of special economics projects for the organization. "Job seekers are combining newspaper ads and checking Internet job postings as part of their job search efforts. It is a minority that only uses the Internet."

Other findings in the research include:

Just over 75 percent of those looking for jobs said they used help-wanted advertisements in newspapers (print ads) in their search. More than 66 percent said they looked on the Internet. Just under 60 percent reported using some other method such as friends, professional organizations, search agency, etc.

Nearly 60 percent combined newspaper searches with the Internet or another search vehicle such as a search agency. Of those who reported using only one search method, just under half chose newspapers. This is double the percent that chose to job search only using the Internet.

In all four regions of the United States, job searchers under age 35 reported higher usage of the Internet than newspapers for job searches, with little “digital divide” among these youngest job seekers. Among job seekers with household incomes of $50,000 and over – the highest group – more than three-quarters reported using the Internet in their job search, while roughly 70 percent used newspapers. Those with household incomes below $25,000 were more likely to search newspapers than the Internet (80 percent to roughly 50 percent, respectively). Internet activity reported by employment seekers under 35 years old, however, is essentially the same for those with household incomes below $25,000 and those at or above $50,000.

The vast majority of recent job seekers who used the Internet did so by reading help-wanted ads posted online (88 percent), and nearly 60 percent submitted a resume/application online. Almost 50 percent of job searchers are researching potential employers on the Internet. While 43 percent posted a resume with an online search service, just over a third signed up for email notifications of job listings.

On the advertisers' side of the job market, the Internet job boards have moved from being part of the technology boom of the 1990s into a more stable growth industry. More than 1,200 Internet job boards are now tracked monthly in The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series, a companion to The Conference Board print Help-Wanted Advertising Index.