Executive Grapevine, March 2005

Betty Thayer is Chief Executive of exec-appointments.com.

When your advertising agency recommends which print publication to advertise your job vacancies, it is highly likely that they will rely on ABC to provide audited data on readership profiles, circulation and reach.

Unfortunately in the online world the temptation to exaggerate statistics on internet users is rampant. How can you ensure that what you are told is what you get?

Richard Foan, MD at ABC ELECTRONIC (ABCE) comments, "One of the key reasons ABCE was set up is to deliver assurances to advertisers that money being invested online is being well spent, through the independent auditing of traffic figures to industry agreed standards. Without the assurance of independent auditing to prove a site's audience, advertisers and investors can only rely on a site owner's claims.

"The online recruitment sector should be applauded for embracing the accountability and comparability independent auditing provides, helping to increase trust in online recruitment sites, and ultimately increasing the share of recruitment budgets they secure."

ABCE is an integral part of the National Online Audience Survey (NORAS), which is now the recognized standard for providing audited data on traffic and demographics.

NORAS (www.noras.co.uk) is used by advertising agencies, corporate recruiters and recruitment consultants to make informed advertising decisions, which in turn should result in a better response to online ads.

The 2005 Winter results were announced in February. Audience profiles were compiled from questionnaires completed by 18,235 online job seekers among 24 of the UK’s leading online recruitment sites. The executive sites that participated include exec-appointments.com, telegraph.co.uk and timesonline.co.uk.

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Tim Elkington, Managing Director of Enhance Media who run NORAS commented, “The participating sites are committed to providing transparent traffic data. This demonstrates that the industry is maturing and realising the importance of online accountability.”

In addition to the statistics provided by the survey about each participating site, an overall view of the industry reveals:

• Online recruitment is now more successful than ever. 64% of those applying for a job they found online obtained an interview and 51% of those obtaining an interview got a job as a result.
• Online job seekers broadly mirror the UK population in terms of ethnic background.
• Online job seekers are experienced – the average work experience of online job seekers is 13 years with the average of the three executive sites being 18.9 years.
• 30% of online job seekers visit sites to use additional services such as uploading CVs and registering to receive jobs by email.

Reprinted from Executive Grapevine, March 2005