How Employers Hire (WIinter/Spring 2010)
By Karen Litzinger, MA, LPC

A myth was challenged at the October 2009 Middle Atlantic Career Counseling Association. Author, Donald Asher stated that there was no citation to the oft quoted Department of Labor speech that "80% of the jobs are not advertised."
Asher hypothesized on the "hidden job market " after citing a 2008 survey by CareerXRoads of 309,600 hiring events. Not noted in Asher's talk is that an earlier survey of CareerXRoads showed that 34% of openings are filled internally. How the external openings were filled:

• 30% Referrals
• 22% Corporate Web Site
• 13% Third Party Job Boards
• 8% Direct Sourcing
• 4% College Recruiting
• 4% Print Ads
• 4% Search Engine Ads
• 3% Career Fairs
• 3% Temp-to-Perm
• 3% Third Party Recruiters
• 1% Walk-ins

Asher then offered an interpretation of the numbers that made a case for a minimum of 55% of hires coming through the hidden job market.

©2009, Litzinger Career Consulting. Permission granted to reprint this article so long as the text and by-line are not changed and reprinted intact with all links made live.
Karen Litzinger, MA, LPC, owner of Litzinger Career Consulting, provides career counseling, job search advising, outplacement consulting, and business etiquette training. More information is available at www.KarensCareerCoaching.com