In today’s employment landscape, “passive” job seekers with a wide network of referrals have the advantage over “active” job seekers, according to the “Active Job Seeker Dilemma” survey released today by online job board operator Beyond, The Career Network and research firm Future Workplace.

The survey found 71% of HR professionals say employee referrals make the best hires but only 7% of job seekers use them as their top resource for finding a job. Additionally, 80% of HR professionals believe “passive job seekers” become the most effective employees.

HR professionals reported the benefits of hiring a “passive job seeker” over an “active” one include:

• They have more experience: 44%
• They possess valuable skills: 44%
• They take their careers seriously: 42%

However, when asked about who has a better edge in the job market, less than half, 47%, of job seekers surveyed said “passive job seekers.”

“A strong application coupled with quality referrals will provide job seekers with an advantage in the hiring process,” said Beyond founder and CEO Rich Milgram. “You should constantly be exploring new ways to nurture and expand your referral network, and it may be easier than you think. For example, attend industry conferences and events, grab lunch with a former colleague or make new connections on social platforms – a few simple actions may help you land your dream job.”

Additional highlights from the report include:

• College major dictates career prospects. 14% of job seekers surveyed are liberal arts majors, yet only 2% of companies are actively recruiting those majors. And 15% of job seekers are engineering and computer information systems majors yet 30% of companies are actively recruiting those majors. About a third of job seekers would, or have, changed their college major to have better job prospects.
• Cultural fit matters, but GPA doesn’t when it comes to hiring. While 23% of job seekers and 24% of employers agree that internship experience carries the most weight for students when seeking jobs, employers don’t view GPA as carrying a lot of weight (6%) as much as job seekers do (12%). Companies put more emphasis on cultural fit (24%) than job seekers do (15%) when recruiting.
• Beyond communication skills, employers and employees differ on skill alignment. Effective communication skills are at the top of the skills list for both employers and employees. After communication skills, employers look for employees with the ability to adapt to change and make sense of ambiguity, followed by being results driven and goal-oriented as their most desired skills. After communication skills, employees report leadership ability, in-person collaboration and teamwork skills as their subsequent strengths.
• Job seekers and employers alike may not be fully anticipating the new skills required to operate in more networked organizations. The top three weaknesses reported by employees were virtual collaboration and teamwork skills at 48%, technical skills at 46% and being culturally aware and inclusive at 43%. HR professionals reported virtual collaboration and teamwork skills, and being culturally aware and inclusive, both at 43% as the second and third least important skills when hiring.
• Bonuses and promotions are most important to job seekers. While bonuses (80%) and promotions (70%) are most important to job seekers when it comes to rewards and recognition, top of the list for companies on rewarding and recognizing employees was recognition in front of their peers (68%), ahead of bonuses (63%) and promotions (59%).
• It’s easier to find a job somewhere else than within. Job seekers are optimistic about the job market and may perceive it as easier to seek a new job outside the company than to secure a lateral move inside the company. More than 40% of job seekers reported that it was difficult or very difficult to make a lateral move at their most recent organization, while less than one quarter of respondents reported being not optimistic about the broader job market.
• Companies need to rethink how they can help employees advance their career. Only 50% of job seekers say that their most recent employer has helped them advance in their career. Employers are focused on promotions (68%) and project assignments (47%) as how they believe they are helping advance careers. Job seekers reported that employers could best help advance their careers through project assignments (48%), promotions (39%) and leadership development programs (35%). Employers may be recognizing this need because 56% of HR professionals say they seek to enhance their employee experience in 2016 by investing more in employee training and development.
• Gone are the days where people want to work for big companies. 65% of all job seekers want to work at small to medium sized companies with fewer than 1,000 employees indicating a preference for a more manageable scale of employer or division. Fifty-eight percent of millennials want to work for a small- or medium-sized company compared to 63% of Gen X and 71% of baby boomers. Only 13% want to work at very large or global companies with 10,000 or more employees.

The survey included a national sample of 4,347 job seekers, as well as 129 human resource professionals.