College Recruiter and Other Job Boards Highest Source of Hire for College Grads

Sources of Entry-Level Hires

About one in four employers recently surveyed said their most of their entry-level recruits were hired through an internship program.  In the survey conducted among 100 human resources professionals in early April by global outplacement and coaching consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the employers surveyed said that the same percentage — 25.5 percent — came from College Recruiter and other online job boards.  Just over 20 percent of companies said on-campus recruiting visits and job fairs were the primary source for their entry-level recruits. Unclear from the survey were the sources of hire for the internship program. Clearly some came from job boards, others on-campus recruiting, job fairs, and other such sources.

“Soon-to-be graduates cannot expect to hand out a few resumes at job fairs and reply to some online postings and simply wait for a phone call or email.  As our survey results show, job fairs and online job boards have their place, but to be successful a well-rounded strategy is required,” said Challenger.

“One of the most important elements of a successful job search, for both entry-level job seekers and their more-experienced counterparts, is networking and meeting face-to-face with people who can help advance the job search.  College graduates who believe they are too young to have an effective network are simply wrong.  Parents, professors, former internship supervisors and even college and former high school classmates can be valuable sources when it comes to building and expanding one’s network,” said Challenger.

“Graduates or soon-to-be graduates should not confine their searches to a specific industry or occupation.  The job market is not robust enough to provide the ideal job situation for every individual.  It seldom is.  So, someone may come out of college with the plan to find a marketing position with a consumer products company.  There’s nothing wrong with having a specific goal, but graduates should not make the mistake of adhering to it so closely that they overlook opportunities in marketing for a chemical company or health care provider, for example.”

The survey results were:

Based on past experience, from which source are most of your entry-level recruits hired?