Job Ads the Most Important Means of Recruitment in Germany
External job advertising is the tool of choice for German companies when searching for new employees, with 84 percent using the traditional job ad. This is a finding of the most recent Personnel Manager Survey conducted by the ifo Institute in cooperation with Randstad. Employment agencies play a key role in the search for new hires at 44 percent of the respondents, as do recruitment agencies for one-third of respondents.
Approaching potential new employees directly is not yet a widespread tactic: 35 percent of companies do not use this method, while it plays only a minor role for 27 percent, and a major or medium role for 38 percent. Personal recommendations from current employees are important for 77 percent of the companies surveyed. This is followed by social media channels, which are important for around one in three companies, ahead of online career networks and collaborations with (higher) educational institutions. Career fairs are significant for just under one-fifth of the companies surveyed. “Social media is more relevant in trade than in other economic sectors,” says ifo expert Johanna Garnitz. “Collaborations with schools and colleges, on the other hand, are cultivated more intensively by industrial companies in particular.”
Personnel managers were also asked about a diversity strategy for filling vacancies: 24 percent of companies with 500 or more employees are specifically pursuing one, while 8 percent of the companies surveyed plan to take action in this direction. “Not having a strategy for promoting diversity does not necessarily mean that it is not in practice at the company. Nevertheless, for an objective and critical view, and above all for open communication in the search for talent, it can be beneficial to look at developing a corporate strategy in this direction,” Garnitz says.
