What Employers Are Looking For In Job Candidates: Survey Results

On March 18^th, I launched a poll asking employers what they would find most valuable in job candidate profiles. Those responses have helped shape the sorts of search filters being designed for the new Arts Admin Jobs Candidate Database. A few the responses were genuinely surprising.

The Three Most Important Items

Hands down, the three most important items to employers were:

1. Desired employment level (full, part, freelance, etc.).
2. Desired department (development, marketing, ops, etc.).
3. A link to the candidate resume.

No big surprises there, however, I was surprised to see “Authorization to work in the US” coming in at #4. I expected to see “Desired Salary Range” score higher, but it was solidly in the middle of overall importance. Least important was knowing a candidate’s education level.

Overall Results

Here’s how respondents ranked all ten criteria:

LinkedIn: The Big Surprise

Having recently gone through a hiring wave, I’ve discovered firsthand just how important it is for candidates to have a LinkedIn profile. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of LinkedIn, but I place far more value on data-driven decision making than nothing but gut feelings.

For all the things that bother me about LinkedIn, there are a number of added value points, such as uniform formatting of critical employment info and the ability to see business networking connections.

In the end, I can’t imagine hiring an employee without first going through their LinkedIn profile.

Consequently, you can imagine my surprise when respondents placed low value on candidates having LinkedIn profiles. The survey asked ” How important is it for candidates to have a link to their LinkedIn profile?” where respondents could indicate “Very Important,” “Important,” “Somewhat Important,” and “Not Important.”

Based solely on those who responded to the survey, it seems that the nonprofit performing arts sector doesn’t really find LinkedIn profiles as important as other sectors. Nonetheless, it’s been interesting to see how many of the initial candidates submitting profiles for the resume database are using their LinkedIn profile URL for their resume link.

If nothing else, this should give employers something to think about.

Almost Ready To Launch

At the time this was written, the database only needs four more profiles before it crosses the launch threshold. Submitting a profile is free and easy:

Candidates: Get Started On Your Free Profile

Once we get over that threshold, all of the employers who signed up for the launch announcement will receive their special discount code for early subscribers. If oyu haven’t already signed up, do so now before those last few candidate submissions come in!

Employers: Sign Up For Early Access