The rise of social media is often touted as eclipsing (even "deep sixing") job boards and online search  as "candidate gateways" in talent acquisition/sourcing.  But but this assertion did not seem to be supported by our recent analysis of of data collected from about 4,000 temps (associated with over 50 staffing firms). 

Temps were asked to respond to the question: "How did you first learn about this [your current] staffing firm?"  They were provided with thirteen broad-ranging, multiple choice options, along with an "other" [please specify] option.  Here are some relevant observations drawn from our data:

• The most frequent answer (28% of respondents) was that the staffing firm approached them ("They contacted me"), which included cases where the temp may have posted a resume on a job board and was then found by a recruiter. 
• The next three most frequent answers were:
  • agency recommended by a friend/colleague (20%),
  • job posting on a job board (17%),
  • and web search (11%).
• Only one percent (1%) of the approximately 4,000 temp respondents identified "Social networking website (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook) as the initial coupler between themselves and their staffing firm.

There could be a number of explanations for these findings in the data.  We certainly have to ask ourselves if there is something unique about temporary staffing that would lead to such results.  In any case, these data--at least--speak loud and clear.  Job boards and online search are high traffic "candidate gateways" when it comes to temp staffing. 

For more information about how temps responded, members can access the Insight report at: "How did temps first learn about their staffing firm?"