In a recent presentation with Dr. Charles Handler, I discovered that although both he and I focused on the ‘quality of candidates’ – as does anyone involved in recruiting – we weren’t able to find much data on exactly which recruiting techniques delivered the best quality candidates, according to HR and recruiting professionals. As I was preparing the annual Online Recruiting survey, I decided to ask a few questions about that specific topic. The answers were interesting:

• When asked to rank recruiting sources by the quality of candidates they produced, respondents ranked the following with Excellent or Above Average results: LinkedIn (69%), Referrals (57%), In-house recruiters(53%), Niche job boards (41%), and 3rd party recruiters (36%).
• The top reasons that respondents use job boards included: Quality of candidates (vs. other sources) (68%); Ability to interact directly with job seekers (51%); Ability to search the resume database (49%); Ability to create an employer brand (46%); Integration with ATS (46%)
• When asked which recruiting channels/tools they use most frequently, respondents said: Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) (75%);Referrals (66%); Company career site (58%); General job board (53%); and ATSs (43%).
• The biggest challenge in meeting recruiting goals is still lack of qualified applicants (51%).

Check out the survey yourself by clicking here (it’s free, but you must register to download).

Thanks to everyone who participated!