#1, get promoted within your company.
#2, get referred to someone at your target company.
Surprising? I think not. The 9th annual “Sources of Hire” report from CareerXRoads reinforces what most of us have known to be true just as long as people have been hiring people. And in the past recession year, when external hiring was down, more than half of new hires (51%) at the companies surveyed came from their internal ranks.
I was fascinated to see the comparison between 2009 and some findings from 1997. Of most interest to me was that – even in an age of job boards and ubiquitous online postings – the percentage of hires from referrals jumped from 19.7% in 1997 to 26.7% in 2009!
For job seekers, the implications are clear:
- Minimize reliance on online postings.
- Ramp up your network and ask for referrals to your target companies.
- Once hired, be alert to upward mobility within your new company.
Unfortunately, there is no “magic bullet” for job search. It requires lots of time and hard, slogging work. If you’re among the many who have “never had to look for a job before,” count your blessings from the past and invest the time, effort, and energy needed when you DO have to look for a job.
And read the report – it’s a fascinating look into the good, the bad, and the ugly of internal recruitment/hiring.