StartWire research study finds that 50% of new hires applied within first week of job posting.

Lebanon, NH (PRWEB) June 2, 2011

StartWire™ (http://www.startwire.com), a start-up focused on closing the job application black hole today announced the results of a study examining the relationship between a job offer and the timing of a job seekers’ application.  

Data from over 6600 hires and across 10 industries show a consistent pattern: The early bird gets the job.

Of those hired 27% applied within the first two days after a job was posted. Nearly 50% of the hires were applicants who applied within the 1st week; approximately 75% of all hired candidates applied within three weeks. “Job seekers underestimate the importance of being at the front of the hiring line,” says Chris Forman, CEO & Co-Founder of StartWire™.

 “Once a hiring manager or recruiter does an initial pre-screen of candidates and makes an interview list, they rarely look back at applications that come in later. To optimize your chances, apply as soon as you see a job, and seek out an internal contact within the company who can put in a good word for you.”

“This research sheds light on a long known but little discussed reality in corporate recruiting,” says Mark Lotz, Principal at Camden Delta Consulting and former head of Talent Acquisition for Kimberly-Clark Corporation. “Given the upswing in hiring, corporate recruiters are often working on filling many positions. The reality is that if they find enough qualified applicants to satisfy the hiring manager, they rarely have time to go back to review the resumes of any new applicants.”

The data for this study was derived from a private, internal StartWire research project looking into online job search and hiring behavior. All participant information is being kept confidential. This study used blind application data from 15 leading employers gathered over the last 12 months. Application data was collected across all functions and levels. 

About StartWire™

StartWire™ closes the ‘application black hole’ by providing job seekers with free, automatic updates on their job applications from over 2,100 employers via e-mail and text. StartWire™ also provides a suite of tools that streamline the job search process from recommendations on where to apply and friends who can help, to status indicators of your chances of getting a call based on your application date, the age of the job, and industry benchmarks.

StartWire™ launched in early 2011 to rave reviews and write-ups in US News & World Report, About.com, AOL Jobs, CNN, ERE, HR Executive Magazine, & Career Xroads. StartWire™ is the 1st product commercialized by StartDate Labs™ – a recruiting and job search technology incubator. StartDate Labs is based in Lebanon, NH.

Want more information on the study? Contact us.

Whew…what a couple of weeks.  Thanks to all the new users of StartWire! Your passion and energy are infectious. We’ve been burning the midnight oil keeping up with your requests.

Here’s a quick list of what we’ve launched in the last 7ish days:

• Dedicated portals for Boston & NYC that integrate our wicked cool local, job search news and the powerful job search tools on StartWire. Check them out at boston.startwire.com and nyc.startwire.com.
• A much better list view on the applications tab that allows you to see not only the last time we got an update on one of your jobs…but also the last time we checked.  We also have a nifty mouse-over for long statuses updates so you don’t have to click into the detailed view.
• An integration with Glassdoor so you can get instant salary data, employer reviews, and interview questions for all your applications. 
   
• A new ‘StartWire Share’ implementation that allows you to share your job search objectives with people that you trust.

In the next few days, we are adding some major upgrades to our job search functionality (yes…we heard you…we need advanced search), a slew of new employers to our application update network, and a better UI for update postcards.

Will keep you posted. Keep sending ideas!

Best,

The StartWire Team

Want to keep your resume — and job search — out of the proverbial black hole? Check out this video interview with StartWire CEO Chris Forman, and learn how to get better feedback – and a faster response from employers.

StartWire continues to close the ‘black hole’ with new release that include SMS updates on job applications and a major expansion of employer network

Lebanon, NH (PRWEB) April 4, 2011

StartWire™ (http://www.startwire.com), a start-up focused on radically improving job search, today announced a major upgrade that allows job seekers to get daily updates on their job applications from more than 2,100 employers via text message.

“Job seekers hate the ‘resume black hole’,” says Chris Forman, CEO & Founder of StartWire™. “Today’s release builds on StartWire’s ability to provide job seekers daily updates on their applications from most of the major employers in North America. By enabling SMS alerts and growing our employer network, we’re pushing down the path to making the ‘black hole’ less dark.”

StartWire™ is free, easy to set-up, and works across all industries and functions. A user simply shares some basic information about where they’ve applied and their application. After that, StartWire provides daily updates for all ‘tracked’ applications and instantly notifies the user with an email or text message alert if their job status changes. Today’s release supports more than 2,150 employers with that number growing to more than 5,000 in the coming 2 months.

StartWire™ includes a suite of other innovative tools to radically improve job search including:

• Social & Behavioral Job Discovery: StartWire’s™ job search engine allows users to discover jobs they like based on their actual job application history as well as where they have personal or professional connections.
• Confidential Networking & Activity Sharing: StartWire™ allows users to confidentially share their job search activity with a few trusted friends to get their advice, inside connections, and support. Using what’s called a Postcard, users can share their interest in a specific job or their complete job search history and receive confidential advice and connections without the risk of data being shared on more public social platforms.

• Free, Expert Advice: StartWire™ also offers FREE expert advice from world-class job search experts. Inside StartWire, you can ask questions about any job application and get private, on-target advice from experienced job search coaches in the business.

StartWire™ launched in early 2010 to rave reviews and write-ups in US News & World Report, About.com, ERE, HR Executive Magazine, & Career CrossRoads. StartWire™ is the 1st product commercialized by StartDate Labs™ – a recruiting and job search technology incubator. StartDate Labs is based in Lebanon, NH.

Getting referred to an employer from a former colleague, friend, or even a networking contact can be the fastest way to land a job.

Here’s a piece on About.com about how job referrals work. Take a close look at the  suggestions on how you may even be able to get a referral simply by following up with the hiring manager after you’ve applied. Chris Forman, the CEO of StartWire, weighs in:

Research shows that ‘referral’ hires not only stay longer in their jobs but perform better over the long term. Anytime you can get your application tagged as ‘referral’, your chances of getting to an interview sky rocket.  And getting this designation is easier than you think… often times a phone call or email to HR or the hiring manager is all it takes.

It’s release day again at StartWire. Today, we’re happy to announce you can now get:

• An SMS/TEXT message when there is a change in the status of an application we are tracking on your behalf;
• Daily updates on your job applications from 400 more employers (the total list now stands at 2100+.

Additionally, it’s now a lot easier to:

• Mark an application for auto updates;
• Share your job search objectives, goals, and activities with people you trust.

Over the weekend, we’re gonna pop-out a dedicated StartWire site for Boston & NYC that combine our tools with some of the cool job search intelligence we’ve got on news.startwire.com.

Again, thanks for all of the great feedback and ideas. We’ve got a list a mile long…and will keep on knocking stuff down.

Happy Friday

The StartWire Team

From StartWire CEO, Chris Forman:

Our 1st ‘Inside StartWire’ Webinar was so packed and well received that we decided to more! Here’s the schedule for our new, EXPANDED webinar for the next two weeks. Sign up and you’ll receive an overview of how StartWire works!

Inside StartWire: Unlocking the power (15 Minutes)

Wednesday, April 6 @ 2PM ET (4/6) FREE
Learn More/Sign-Up

Also, check out the “10 Ways To Avoid The Black Hole & Get Hired’ session we’re holding next Tuesday. This program isn’t a tutorial on StartWire, it’s a really great ‘thought leadership’ piece built from the ideas and insights of some of America’s leading job search coaches. We’d love to have you ‘tune in’!
 

10 Ways To Avoid the Black Hole & Get Hired 60 Minutes
Tuesday, April 5 @ 4PM ET (4/5)  FREE
Learn More/Sign-Up

About StartWire: StartWire™ makes job search better. Discover jobs where you’ve got personal & professional connections, confidentially share what you’re doing in your job search to get referrals, and receive status updates on your job applications from 1500+ employers via e-mail or SMS.

Just a quick reminder!

We’ve had a ton of new people join our community over the last few days and thought it would be beneficial to offer a brief webinar on how to get the most out of StartWire for your job search.  If you want to really accelerate your job search (and close the dreaded black hole) take 15-minutes TOMORROW, Friday, March 25th at 2PM ET to join our Founder & CEO Chris Forman for a fun and fast overview of StartWire.

You’ll learn how to:

• Get daily, automatic updates on your job applications from more than 1,600 + employers
• Unlock the hidden job search knowledge and connections of your trusted friends and colleagues
• Tap into the knowledge and expertise of world class job search experts.
• Discover great job opportunities by your personal connections and actual job search activity.

This webinar is totally free. You can sign-up here.

Hope you can make it!

The StartWire Team

Secrets From America’s Top Job Search Coaches

Join Chris Forman, CEO of StartWire, for a fast-paced, fact-filled, and even fun FREE webinar that looks at simple techniques and tactics you can use to get to the front of the hiring line and out of the dreaded black hole.  Based on original research and interviews with scores of America’s leading job search coaches, you’ll learn:

• A simple 3-step methodology to ensure your resume doesn’t get sucked into the black hole that seems to power most corporate career sites.
• A fast & painless way to double your chances of getting noticed.
• The StartWire 10:  A checklist of the 10 best ways to avoid the black hole from America’s leading job search coaches.

The free webinar will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at 4 pm ET. Limited spots are available. To register, click here.

About StartWire

StartWire makes job search better by providing daily updates on your job applications from 1600+ employers as well as a suite of the most powerful, next generation job search tools on the market – all for free.

About Chris Forman

Chris Forman is the CEO of StartWire and one of the most respected veterans in the talent acquisition space.  The technologies and solutions Chris & his teams have built have won every major recruiting award and he has been quoted in leading news and HR publications including as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, HR Executive, Government Executive, SI Review and Purple Squirrel.

Good Morning StartWire Community!

It’s been a busy few months at StartWire…and we’re happy to announce a major set of improvements and new features to the platform. Specifically:

• Daily updates on your job applications from 1000+ employers. Over the last 6 months we have been working on one of the most intractable problems in job search…the dreaded black hole. You know…you apply for a job and never hear back. Well for over 1,000 companies, StartWire can now get you updates on your applications. StartWire’s application update engine is in beta, easy to set-up, and works across all industries and functions. You share some basic information about where you’ve applied and your application. After that, StartWire provides daily updates for all ‘tracked’ applications and instantly notifies the user with an email or text message alert if their job status changes. Today’s release supports more than 1500 employers with that number growing to more than 5,000 in the coming weeks and months.

• Better job discovery We’ve enhanced our job search engine and made it more effective at helping you target jobs where you have a competitive edge. First, we now show pictures of your personal and professional contacts on each job posting. This graphical approach to seeing the density of your contacts and network at a particular company makes it easier to see where you’ve got friends who can help. Second, we’ve changed how we highlight the age of a job posting. The honest truth is that if you apply when a job is 1st posted you have slightly better odds of getting in the door. We want to make the ‘freshness’ date as clear as possible.

• StartWire Share PostcardsThe response to our ability to share your job search activity with a few trusted friends to get their advice, inside connections, and support was off the hook. We’ve built on this core idea and made it even easier to share what you are doing with people you trust. In this release, we’re introducing StartWire Share Postcards. With a StartWire Postcard, you can share your interest in a specific job or your complete job search history for the last day, week, month with a couple of quick mouse clicks. You are in total control of the message you send and who gets these post cards. When one of your friends gets the post card they can quickly, securing, and confidentially reply to you…and all their responses, ideas, and connections flow back into your StartWire account…safe from your boss and other casual acquaintances on the social web.

• New, simpler user interface Less is more in product design. We think you’ll find StartWire 2.0 much easier to use.

Again, thanks for your involvement with StartWire. If we can be of any help, don’t hesitate to call, email, or pop a flair.

Best,
Chandlee, Pavel, Andrew, Leo, Andrew, Dmi, Anna, Bogdan, Tim & Chris
The StartWire Team