Unseen Job Market for Executives Lurks Beneath the Surface

A high percentage of unemployed professionals means recruiters are inundated with the requests of job seekers who span a broad spectrum of capabilities (e.g. from the highly qualified, to the not-so-qualified) whenever a job posting goes online. Sifting through all that information, even with technology, can be a challenge. Many hiring organizations are therefore circumventing the visible job market altogether, instead spreading word of open positions through “unseen,” under-the-radar personal-professional.

According to a survey by ExecuNet of 697 search firm consultants and human resource leaders, just 22 percent of all positions with an annual compensation of $200,000 or more are posted on job boards or websites. This number is down from 30 percent in 2008 and 24 percent in 2009. A separate survey of 168 executive recruiters reveals that 92 percent believe there is a hidden market for executive level job opportunities. Indeed, to source candidates for these high-level jobs, executive recruiters rely on networking (44 percent), internal database (21 percent) and research (14 percent).

Posted by RecruitingTrends.com on September 8, 2010. Filed under Data Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry