Leading IT resourcing company Metaskil today reveals that 1 in 2 senior IT roles are secured via a word of mouth recommendation. The findings, from the firm’s recent survey of over 100 of its registered high calibre IT candidates, also revealed that 27% of those surveyed usually rely on a job board application to obtain their next role and 19% rely solely on a recruitment agency to source roles.

The survey aimed to identify how candidates look for their next interim position, what job boards they use and the impact of social media in looking for their next role. Just over 90% of respondents had set up a LinkedIn account, but surprisingly only 3% cited LinkedIn as their preferred method of sourcing their next job.

When questioned about candidates’ use of job boards, Jobserve proved the most popular with almost one third of candidates (31%) confirming it is their first port of call when looking for roles on-line. CW Jobs and Jobsite were the second most popular, both with 13%, with Monster.co.uk the preferred option for 8% closely followed by IT Job Board on 7%.

Richard Smith resourcing manager at Metaskil says:
“It is unsurprising that for many high calibre candidates personal recommendations are the way that most secure their next role in IT. Our candidates are of the highest quality and therefore are likely to have a network of individuals already within the sector willing to vouch for their capabilities. However, one thing all our respondents have in common is that they are combining this network with our own by registering with us to help them to find work. Clearly good old word of mouth and the recruitment consultant still play a major part when people are looking for work and the most sensible candidates use a variety of sources both new and old to try and secure the best role for them.”

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Smith continues:
“Whilst Social Media plays a big part in everyone’s life these days, it is interesting to see that a significant number of jobseekers have a LinkedIn account, but a very small minority utilise this when looking for their next job. Although relied upon by a minority at the moment social media still has a part to play for those searching for jobs in high-level IT and it will be interesting to see if this channel develops in years to come.”