New survey reveals that while a vast majority of Australian executives have an active and up-to-date LinkedIn profile, only 6 percent had found a job as a result of membership. 

Recent survey by BlueSteps, the career management service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), looked into the role of social networking websites and the role that they play in career management.

Of the 100+ Australia-based executives who responded to the survey, many had been approached by a recruiter via LinkedIn at one stage or another, but only 6 percent had landed themselves a job.

The main reasons provided by BlueSteps executives on why they use LinkedIn, is to expand (35 percent) and to stay connected with people in their network (32 percent).  Only 19 percent were using LinkedIn to find a new employment opportunity.

“While clearly websites like LinkedIn have had an impact on the hiring landscape by enabling executives to make themselves publicly available to recruiters, the key to finding new roles is more often to network with the leading search consultants, to establish a unique personal brand in the market and to connect with other prominent executives in a given industry,” said Christine Hayward, Managing Director of Asia Pacific at the AESC.

A majority of the executives (55.5 percent) believed having a LinkedIn was either extremely important, or important for their overall career management strategy.

Jason Johnson, Asia Pacific Chair for the AESC, said the role of a recruiter is not to find executives who have a presence on or are contactable via social media, but to identify the best candidates for the job.

“The role of an executive search firm is to identify the best candidates for their clients, not just those executives that can be easily found online on social networks. Online tools should be considered as just one part of an executive’s overall career management strategy,” he said.

About the Association of Executive Search Consultants
The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) is the worldwide professional association for the retained executive search and leadership consulting industry. The AESC promotes the highest professional standards in retained executive search and leadership consulting through its industry recognized Code of Ethics and Professional Practice Guidelines. The AESC also serves to broaden public understanding of the retained executive search and leadership consulting process and acts as an advocate for the interests of its member firms.
About BlueSteps
Be visible to retained executive search consultants at the world's top retained executive search firms.

As a member of BlueSteps, your career details will be confidentially provided to hundreds of the world’s leading retained executive search firms in over 75 countries.  Benefits include:

•    Confidentially increase your visibility to top executive recruiters
•    Build stronger connections using a fully searchable directory
     of executive search consultants who are AESC members
•    Explore executive job opportunities being filled by
     AESC member executive search firms
•    Elevate your personal brand
•    Plan your executive career management strategy

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