‘Source of Talent, 2009’, a guide to the most successful channels for finding talent in Australia, is available for for download. The ‘Source of Talent, 2009’ study is a joint collaboration between Inspecht and Destination Talent. It reveals how organisations are finding great talent, and compares the effectiveness of various sources of talent.
409 organisations of varying sizes, industry backgrounds and regional locations completed the survey. A total of 92,136 recruitments were recorded using seventeen identifiable sources of talent for the period July 2008 through to June 2009.
The key findings of the report include:
- There is a wide range of talent source being used across Australia; the study found almost twenty.
- Online job boards, in their various forms, are the predominant source of talent in Australia, accounting for 30% of hires.
- Recruiters’ perceptions of the most effective sources of talent differ from the reality.
- Different industries use significantly different talent sources.
- The different regions of Australia also seem to source talent differently. In the ACT, 50% of talent is found through internal recruiters.
- Sourcing of talent by referral is not as common as many expect: it is only the fourth most successful source, providing 7.6% of hires.
- Print media, with its ‘old hat’ reputation, is still the seventh most successful source of successful recruitments.
- Employers and agency recruiters differ in how they source their talent. Agency recruiters rely heavily on job boards.
- Social media is in its infancy and ranks last as a source talent in Australia. Its use is highest in smaller organisations.
- Data collection is poor with over 7% of organizations having no reliable method of tracking their source of talent.
The full report is available here.
David Brewster is the editor of Your Balance. He is a Melbourne-based freelance writer and editor, writing on work, society, management and politics. He is also the author of two books. www.davidbrewster.com
