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“Willingness to Recommend” a Staffing Firm Increases Year-Over-Year among Clients, Finds New Survey by CareerBuilder and the Inavero Institute for Service Research

CHICAGO, September 10, 2009 - Amidst one of the most challenging economic environments the staffing industry has ever faced, there is encouraging news. Client experiences with a staffing firms showed improvement in 2009 with an average "willingness to recommend" measurement of 8.3 (out of 10), up from 7.9 in 2008, according to new research published in the CareerBuilder and Inavero Institute’s "Opportunities in Staffing 2009: a Comprehensive Guide to Clients and Candidates." The guide, based on a nationwide survey spanning four years among more than 2,100 staffing industry clients and 19,000 job candidates, identifies key opportunities and insights for staffing firms related to topics such as improving brand awareness, communication and the overall user experience.


A Guide to Staffing Industry Clients - the study’s first set of results focuses on perspectives from staffing industry clients across industries and company sizes. Key takeaways include:

  • The overall staffing client experience has improved significantly since last year, with the average rating now an 8.3 out of 10, compared to a 7.9 one year ago.

  • Although awareness of staffing firms by clients has increased since last year, no staffing firm is “top of mind” (first brand mentioned) with more than 5 percent of clients.

  • One-in-five organizations indicated utilizing social networking as part of their recruiting strategy, with LinkedIn and Facebook the most common sites.

  • Referrals and direct contact from staffing firm sales representatives were the two most common sources of initial awareness in 2009, both increasing from the 2008 study. All other sources of initial awareness declined in 2009, with traditional media showing the biggest drop.

"Over the course of the last four years, client satisfaction with staffing firms has increased significantly." said Eric Gregg, managing partner of the Inavero Institute for Service Research."The study uncovered keys to successful, long-term partnerships with clients, how to reach them, and what messages will have the greatest impact."

A Guide to Job Candidates - the other half of the study details perceptions and opinions of the staffing industry through the eyes of job candidates. Key takeaways include:

  • While staffing firm awareness and utilization is up slightly, 78 percent of job seekers still don’t utilize a staffing firm as part of their job search. Lack of awareness and misconceptions about staffing firms are common reasons for not utilizing a firm as part of a job search.

  • The average job candidate spends more than five hours on social media sites each week, however, only one-in-five clients indicate utilizing social media as part of their recruiting strategy.

  • The majority (84 percent) of candidates utilize more than three resources as part of their job search, indicating staffing firms have to reach candidates through a number of different means.

  • Job candidates who utilize a staffing firm report having been on an average of 5.3 interviews, compared to 3.9 for those who don’t use a staffing firm.

"While staffing firms have done a better job delivering their value to clients, job seekers, however, are still looking for a more engaging and positive experience," said Todd McCormick, president of CareerBuilder’s Recruiter Business Unit. "This guide is designed to identify opportunities to expand business and support the continued growth of staffing firms in the recruitment arena." For more information on the study, to download a free executive summary or to get purchase details please visit: http://careerbuilder.com/staffingperceptions or call 800-960-5203.

Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted online within the United States by the Inavero Institute for Service Research. The staffing industry client survey included 2,121 responses over 4 years from professionals involved in their organization’s staffing decisions. The study employed a random sampling methodology and was limited to organizations who had utilized a staffing or recruiting firm within the past 12 months. The study’s confidence level is estimated at a 95% probability, with a sampling error of +/- 3.9%.

The staffing industry job candidate survey included 18,869 job candidates from within the United States who reported being in the midst of a job search, or having completed a search within the past 12 months. The study involved two sources of respondents; an online panel, and CareerBuilder.com’s internal database of job seekers. Where significant differences were found, the random sampling design of the online panel was utilized to eliminate potential bias from CareerBuilder.com’s internal database. This study’s confidence level is estimated at 99% probability, with a sampling error of +/- 0.95%.

About the Inavero Institute for Service Research®
The Inavero Institute for Service Research is the staffing industry’s premier client and employee satisfaction firm, analyzing feedback from more than 125,000 staffing industry clients and job candidates each year. The firm’s client retention tools are utilized in more than 300 locations throughout North America and currently protect more than $4 billion in staffing industry revenue for their clients. For more information, visit www.inavero.com.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world’s top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to talent acquisition. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder’s proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

CareerBuilder Media Contact
For all media inquiries and interview requests, contact:

Jennifer Grasz
(P) 773-527-1164
(E) jennifer.grasz@careerbuilder.com