Job Seekers Go Online in Credit Crunch (career search engines)

November 18th, 2008 admin Posted in careers |

By john mce

The social networking website LinkedIn, has seen a 25% increase in registering users since the credit crunch hit in September, as worried professionals hoard contacts and look for backup jobs. It is a website which many recruiters use to find specialist employees, and contacts on the site can recommend each other and spread information about each other.

The site claims that the downturn has boosted sign-ups and activity as business people hedge their bets by ensuring they stay well networked in this uncertain time.

Through spring and summer, LinkedIn held a growth rate of one million new users every 20 days. Kevin Ayres, the European managing director of LinkedIn said “Economic issues and uncertainty has highlighted the importance on networking and information exchange”.

“We have seen a significant increase in the rate of sign-ups and in the amount of activity our users have been conducting on LinkedIn over the last two months.”

Since the latest financial crisis began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the rate of growth has increased to one million new users every 14 days. This is attributed to massive job losses among the financial services sectors as well as some advertising-dependant media companies.

There has been a 15% increase in activity in the last two months on LinkedIn, mainly in the issuing of invitations to get users to join business networking groups. There has also been a 14% increase in the recommendations made by users endorsing other users.

LinkedIn makes its money from job listings, subscriptions for premium services, advertising and a corporate service Recruiter.

Kevin Ayres also said that the LinkedIn user group and highly targeted advertising opportunities had made the website immune to the economic downturn. Many recruiters use LinkedIn to find highly qualified or experienced individuals.

He argued the company had “very, very little wastage” for recruiters who used the site as advertising on the site could be so targeted. “As companies review their advertising spend they will look to put budget in places where there is the most impact. It is about finding the right individuals and we are highly targeted”.

He also said that despite the global economic downturn, LinkedIn was still on target to achieve its full-year revenue forecast of between 75 and 100 million dollars. It seems that in the credit crunch, the internet could be a good way for the career minded to stay ahead of the pack.

In total LinkedIn has 30 million users, with 7 million of those located in Europe.

John McE writes articles on a number of subjects including job seeking and job searching. For the best Job Search site see Check4Jobs.

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