27 June 2000 - Workthing.com, a new employment network owned by the Guardian Media Group launched the largest ever survey into recruitment and the Internet in the UK.

The "Online Recruitment and Employment Survey (Spring 2000)", conducted by independent research consultancy, BMRB, was based on interviews with over 3,000 Internet users. The survey objective was to ascertain the size and growth potential of the online job market and provide a snapshot of current and potential users. The research showed that:

Job seeking online is a rapidly growing mainstream market

31% of Internet users had looked at job opportunities online in the previous 6 months, amounting 4 million people in the UK.

Of those who applied online, 400,000 had been interviewed, and 170,000 had been offered jobs.

50% of Internet users who had never visited a recruitment site were likely to do so the next time they looked for a job - implying that the market could grow by an estimated 4 million new users.

3 million Internet users currently in work were likely to change jobs in the next 6 months.

The study shows that the more individuals use the Internet, the more likely they are to look for a job online:

90% of internet users send email
40% shop online and 35% book holidays or travel
31% look at job sites compared to just 21% who bank online - equating to a massive 1.5 million more people seeking jobs online than people banking online

Online job hunters want more than just a job

The survey found online job seekers to be very demanding - requiring a wealth of advice aimed at improving their career prospects including:

- employment news
- industry reports
- career advice
- discussion forums
- CV tips
- salary surveys.

Most importantly job seekers are concerned with confidentiality - only one in eight currently upload CVs.

Clickers with attitude Eight user groups were identified by the study based on attitudes towards recruitment, the Internet and work: Clock Watching Clickers, Nervous Netty, Work Steady Eddies, Stiff Upper Clicks, Super Surfers, Mouse Potatoes, Digital Man, and Net Workers. For example:

Work Steady Eddie - the oldest of all the groups and most likely to be married and have a mortgage. A third of this group have not changed employer for over 10 years. Work Steady Eddie believes that the Internet can lack personality, and is looking for a 'human face' from sites. In terms of recruitment he is worried about confidentiality and security on the Internet, and is looking for lots of ongoing work support in the form of careers advice.

Digital Man - is the most likely of all groups to access the Internet from work. His use of the Internet is driven by business and personal productivity. He is unlikely to use the Internet for entertainment or shopping. Digital man is a confident job changer and eagerly seeks out the ammunition he needs - such as salary surveys and industry news.

Andy Baker, Managing Director of workthing.com, said, "Our goal is to connect people who want to change the way they work, develop their careers, learn new skills or find new jobs, with the employers and businesses and professionals that want to reach them. I would encourage those involved in any aspect of that process to contribute to what we are doing."

Workthing acquires PeopleBank

23 January 2001 - 6 months after the initial report, a follow-up by BMRB found that:

* 5.4 million people - 38% of UK internet users - had searched for jobs online in the previous six months - 1.4 million more than the six month before.
* 400,000 people had already found jobs through the internet
* Two million people now expect to find their next job through this medium
* One in five online job seekers had uploaded their CV onto a recruitment site - compared with 1 in 8 six months previously
* 76% of online job seekers wanted employment news or industry specific news as well as jobs from recruitment websites

28 June 2001 - Until now research into online recruitment has judged the success rate of online job postings by the number of online applications completed. But the latest ORES data shows that only 20% of job seekers apply by filling in the form online - four times as many apply by other methods such as postal applications, telephone calls or other online methods such as e-mailing the contact at the employer.

The latest results also showed strong growth with 6.3 million internet users who have used an online recruitment site - a growth rate of over 50% in the last 12 months.

When asked about the advantages of the Internet, respondents rated it above trade magazines, recruitment consultants and newspapers in terms of use, convenience, selection of jobs and the ability to remain anonymous. The survey found online recruitment to be the second most popular method through which people think that they will find their next job, behind only word of mouth, and ahead of national newspapers, local newspapers, trade magazines and recruitment consultants.

Andy Baker, Managing Director of workthing, commented: "Online recruitment has become an extremely effective, cost-efficient tool for recruiters that is capable of delivering quality candidates across all industries. The latest ORES research shows that we are five times more effective than has been suggested by recent press reports, in which data on the industry has been misunderstood."

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