Search4Candidates
THE 2007 Resume Sourcing Survey
By Jim Stroud
© 2007 All rights reserved
You have my permission to post this survey on your blog, website or company
intranet. You may
also email this survey to other recruiters you network with and/or print this
survey and pass it
out at Recruiter Networking functions. In other words, feel free to share this
survey with anyone you
like as long as you make no changes or edits to its contents or digital format.
In fact, I'd love it if you’d
make lots and lots of copies. However, the right to bind this material and/or
sell it without my written
consent is strictly prohibited.
So, what is The 2007 Resume Sourcing Survey?
It is a random sampling of online resume searches performed on Live, Google and
Yahoo for the purpose of
discerning which search engine has catalogued the most resumes
Why Live, Google and Yahoo?
There are hundreds of searchengines on the market, but Google, Yahoo and Live
are the most popular.
www.JimStroud.com
Resume Sourcing Survey 2007
by: Jim Stroud. All rights reserved
How did you qualify the data?
I used VERY simple search strings that worked on each engine with only the
slightest variations added to
alleviate search result noise. (I define “search result noise” as unwanted
results that were returned from my
query.) For example, here is how I searched for the resumes of software
engineers on Google, Live and
Yahoo with the qualifier being that the document’s extension be PDF.
GOOGLE:
inurl:resume intitle:resume software.engineer -submit -jobs -template -sample -how.to.write
-wizard -resource
-apply filetype:pdf
YAHOO:
inurl:resume intitle:resume "software engineer" -submit -jobs -template -sample
-"how to write" -wizard -resource
-apply originurlextension:pdf
LIVE:
inurl:resume intitle:resume software.engineer -submit -jobs -template -sample -how.to.write
-wizard -resource
-apply filetype:pdf
Sure, I could have refined the search parameters even tighter with more search
commands, but I wanted to
keep the results as general as possible so that I would be judging my data on
the widest possible amount
of search results.
So, what did you find out?
I found out a lot more than I intended when I began this project. My initial
focus was to only concentrate on
Software Engineers, but I later decided to include data on industries outside of
Information Technology as
well. I also began to wonder what formats were most popular, which
top-level-domains held the most resumes
(.com? or .net?) and just how significant were lesser-known domains (.cc, .biz
for example) for resume
sourcing and so on. Once I began the survey, it took on a life of its own. Here
are some of the results that had
me raising an eyebrow.
· Technical resumes were not the most populated resumes online.
· There are many filetypes I have overlooked (like “.PHP) in the past that I
will no longer ignore
· Yahoo has the biggest index of resumes over Google and Live
· Live outperformed Google and Yahoo on certain types of industry resumes
If you want to learn more about how to source the internet for resumes, be sure
to subscribe to my blog
where I share sourcing tips all the time and/or visit the “Recruiter Resources”
section of my blog for all sorts
of Recruitment Research (Sourcing) training materials.
www.JimStroud.com
MOST OVERLOOKED FILETYPES FOR RESUMES (IN GENERAL)
Many of these formats returned very few results and in some cases, only one
result. Still, a good
researcher should strive to exhaust all avenues when seeking the “perfect
candidate.” To get the most
of these formats, you must be very creative with the “inurl” command.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, PHP returned the most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, ASP returned the 2nd most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, XMLreturned the 3rd most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, PID returned the 4th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, PHTML returned the 5th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, MHT returned the 6th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, DOT returned the 7th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, CGI returned the 8th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, XSL returned the 9t hmost results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, WPD returned the 10th most results.
Among the overlooked formats I surveyed, SDW returned the 11th most results.
Here are a few examples of what I found online with these formats:
http://www.aloksingh.com/Content/pid=2.html
http://www.jdhancock.com/resume.asp
http://perryboy.com/resume.php
http://glascock.cc/resume.sdw
MOST POPULAR FORMATS FOR TECHNICAL RESUMES
.HTML was the most popular format for resumes online.
.HTM was the second most popular format for resumes online
.DOC was the third most popular format for resmes online
.PDF was the fourth most popular format for resumes online
.RTF was the sixth most popular format for resumes online
.TXT was the eighth most popular format for resumes online
.HTML was the most popular format for resumes online.
.HTM was the second most popular format for resumes online
.PDF was the third most popular format for resmes online
.DOC was the fourth most popular format for resumes online
.ASP was the fifth most popular format for resumes online
.RTF was the sixth most popular format for resumes online
.SHTML was the seventh most popular format for resumes online
.TXT was the eighth most popular format for resumes online
MOST POPULAR FORMATS FOR RESUMES (IN GENERAL)
MOST POPULAR WAYS TO SPELL “RESUME”
“Resume” was the most popular way to spell resume.
“Resumé” is the second most popular spelling of resume on the web.
“Résumé” is the third most popular spelling of resume on the web
MOST POPULAR WAYS TO SPELL “CV”
CV is most commonly referenced term cited for CV
Vitae is the 2nd most referenced term cited for CV
“Curriculuum Vitae” is the 3rd most referenced term cited for CV
QUANTITY OF RESUMES FOUND ON SEARCH ENGINES
Of all the resumes I sourced, Yahoo had the biggest collection in its index
(43%)
Of all the resumes I sourced, Google had the 2nd biggest collection in its index
(40%)
Of all the resumes I sourced, Live had the 3rd biggest collection in its index
(17%)
POPULAR TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS FOR RESUMES
POPULAR INDUSTRY KEYWORDS MENTIONED ON RESUMES
1. .COM was the most popular top-level-domain for resumes
2. .NET was the 2nd most popular top-level-domain for resumes
3. .EDU was the 3rd most popular top-level-domain for resumes
4. .ORG was the 4th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
5. .INFO was the 5th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
6. .NAME was the 6th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
7. .BIZ was the 7th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
8. .CC was the 8th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
9. .WS was the 9th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
10 .BZ was the 10th most popular top-level-domain for resumes
The keyword “chemical” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live
and then Yahoo
The keyword “cigarette” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The phrase “consumer goods” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then
Live and then Yahoo
The keyword “copper” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live and
then Yahoo
The keyword “distiller” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “financial” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “healthcare” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “insurance” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “lodging” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live and
then Yahoo
The keyword “manufacturing” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then
Google and then Live
The keyword “marketing” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “medical” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The phrase “metal fabrication” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then
Live and then Yahoo
The keyword “mortgage” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The phrase “oil gas” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live and
then Yahoo
The phrase “precious metals” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then
Yahoo and then Live
The keyword “publishing” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Google
and then Live
The keyword “restaurant” was mentioned in resumes the most on Yahoo, then Live
and then Google
The keyword “semiconductor” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then
Yahoo and then Live
The keyword “steel iron” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The keyword “synthetics” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The keyword “telecom” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live and
then Yahoo
The keyword “textile” was mentioned in resumes the most on Live, then Google and
then Yahoo
The keyword “tobacco” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live.
The keyword “trucking” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The keyword “utilities” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Live
and then Yahoo
The keyword “wireless” was mentioned in resumes the most on Google, then Yahoo
and then Live
The keyword “waste management” was mentioned in resumes the most on Live, then
Google and then
Yahoo
TOP 10 INDUSTRIES BY RESUMES SOURCED ON LIVE*
1. Marketing
2. Advertising
3. Financial
4. Medical
5. Publishing
1. Marketing
2. Medical
3. Healthcare
4. Financial
5. Publishing
6. Insurance
7. Manufacturing
8. Software Engineer
9. Wireless
10. Banking
TOP 10 INDUSTRIES BY RESUMES SOURCED ON GOOGLE*
1. Mortgage
2. Marketing
3. Cigarette
4. Financial
5. Medical
6. Publishing
7. Advertising
8. Food and Beverage
9. Software Engineer
10. Manufacturing
TOP 10 INDUSTRIES BY RESUMES SOURCED ON YAHOO*
6. Advertising
7. Insurance
8. Software Engineer
9. Manufacturing
10. Mortgage
*Industries surveyed are based on the list of keywords cited in the “Keyword
mentions on resumes” section
*Industries surveyed are based on the list of keywords cited in the “Keyword
mentions on resumes” section
*Industries surveyed are based on the list of keywords cited in the “Keyword
mentions on resumes” section
© 2007 Jim Stroud. All right reserved.
JIM STROUD LIKES TO NETWORK
via LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimstroud
via Email: jimstroud@jimstroud.com
via Yahoo Instant Messenger: jimmystroud
via Phone: 770-912-4300
www.JimStroud.com
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
If you find the information provided in this survey to be useful, please show
your appreciation in
one or more of the following ways:
1. Subscribe to my blog by clicking this link. On my blog - JimStroud.com, I
share
sourcing tips and commentary on the recruiting industry via articles, videoes,
podcasts, comics
and more. By subscribing, you will receive updates in email. RSS subscriptions
are available from
my website as well. (You can also subscribe directly from my site.)
2. If you know of any magazines or newsletters that cater to the Recruiting
industry,
please forward this survey to them and let them know that I am very open to
being interviewed
and/or permitting them to include the 2007 Resume Sourcing Survey in their
publication. ( I
would like to submit articles for their consideration as well. )
3. If you know of anyone who would like to learn how to source the internet for
resumes
and passive candidates, please direct them to the Recruiters Resource section of
my blog.
There you will find links to training guides, online courses on Sourcing and
more.
4. Advertise on my blog and related websites. (Contact me for more information.)
5. All of the above.
ABOUT JIM STROUD
Jim Stroud is a “Searchologist” with an expertise in the full life-cycle
placement of Executive and
Technical personnel, Recruitment Research and Competitive Intelligence. He has
consulted for such
companies as Google, Siemens, MCI and a host of start-up companies. He presently
serves Microsoft
as a Technical Sourcing Consultant and is a regular contributor to Microsoft’s
Technical Careers
Blog. Jim Stroud was nominated (and a top 10 finalist) for a “Best Blog Award”
for his blog – Jim
Stroud 2.0, by Recruiting.com in 2006.
So there I was about to perform my 386,542nd search for a passive candidate
(more or less) when a
question occurred to me. How many resumes are there on the internet and what
percentage of those resumes
are relevant to my search? Not knowing the answer to this, I began searching for
the information. When I
could not find what I was looking for, I decided to create my own and here it is
- “The 2007 Resume Sourcing
Survey.”
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