Online Access Creates “Perpetual Job Seekers”

A Majority of Full-time Workers Regularly Search for New Job Opportunities; Half of Workers Say They Just Have a Job, Not a Career

Few will argue that social media has not a substantial impact on business, but one shift may not be visible to the casual observer.

Regular online access has now created a group of “perpetual job seekers.”

Increased use of social media platforms have begun to blur the line between unemployed “active” job seekers and employed “passive” candidates.

In a survey by the job board CareerBuilder, 69 percent of full-time workers say their routine includes searching for new job opportunities. Thirty percent say job searching is a weekly activity.

Plugged into the job market.

The potential to be constantly online has made workers more aware of the opportunities on the market, as well as creating a changing perception of the overall work experience. This means an increasing dissatisfaction with current jobs, with over half of all workers reporting they think work is “just a job” and not a career.

Casting a wider job search net.

Online channels have also given workers more avenues to look for new opportunities; they maintain an average of 15 sources used in the search for jobs. That is more than the 12 sources employees say they apply to study insurance companies, 11 for finding a new bank and 10 for deciding on vacations.

The three principal ways workers come across jobs:

Online search – 74 percent
Traditional networking – 68 percent
Job boards – 67 percent

Digging deeper for employment gold.

After learning about different jobs, constant job seekers will go online to investigate the company further. The most common ways:

81 percent research companies on social and professional networks
74 percent see online news about the company
74 percent go to the company’s website

Younger Vs. Older Workers

For sustained job searches and deeper insights about companies online, Millennials have an advantage over experienced workers. Seventy-nine percent of Millennials are either open to new jobs or actively looking, compared to 67 percent of Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers prefer to stay at a job much longer than Millennials, for an average of eleven years versus only three years for Millennials.