Commentary

Just an Online Minute... Career Sites Draw 17 Million

It's not a sign of a stable economy, but it's music to the ears of Monster, HotJobs and CareerBuilder. Nielsen//NetRatings today reported that more than 17 million surfers, or nearly 13% of the active online population, logged on to career websites from home and work in April 2003.

According to NetRatings, professionals comprised the largest portion of surfers using career sites, with 3.2 million unique visitors representing this segment of the workforce. Overall nearly 20%, or one in five professionals logging onto the Internet, visited a career site in April. Internet users with executive or managerial and technical titles recorded the highest reach, with 26% of surfers in those occupations visiting a career site. Clerical and administrative employees were also heavy users of career sites, reaching 18% of the total segment audience. Rounding out the top five occupations were full-time students who comprised nearly 1.3 million of the category's total audience.

More than 765,000 "blue-collar" workers, described as those individuals working in a service, craftsman, factory operator or laborer capacity, also used the Internet as a job-hunting tool. Covering just 7% of the total blue-collar online population visiting career sites, this group, along with the full-time student demographic segment, signifies a prime target audience, NetRatings says.

Patrick Thomas, senior Internet analyst at NetRatings, said, "Totaling more than 10 million online, the blue collar labor force has typically used more traditional channels when searching for employment. Their sheer size online represents a substantial growth opportunity for career sites looking to expand their existing user base."

Additional Nielsen//NetRatings data show that Monster.com ranked at the top among career development sites, with close to 11 million unique visitors logging on from home and work. Yahoo! HotJobs, claimed the No. 2 spot with nearly 3.6 million unique visitors, while CareerBuilder followed closely with 3.3 million surfers, rounding out the top three career sites.

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