Millennial Branding and Beyond.com have released a comprehensive study on how different generations job search called The Multi-Generational Job Search and the results are interesting.
As you might expect, all generations are spending almost all of their time job searching online instead of offline, spending, on average, between 5 and 20 hours per week on their job search.
However, even thought you might think it would be the other way around, online job searches are conducted the most by baby boomers and more of them are using social networks to job search than Gen X and Gen Y.
Here are some highlights from the report:
Baby boomers are using LinkedIn as their network of choice. Gen X and Gen Y are using Google/Google+. Twitter was the least popular social network for job searching for all generations surveyed.
Online job searches are conducted the most by Baby Boomers, followed by Gen X and Gen Y, and few are doing offline job searching. .
Between 5 and 20 hours per week is the average time spent by all generations on job searching. 60% of Gen Y, followed by 54% of Baby Boomers and 52% of Gen X spend between 5 and 20 hours per week searching for a job. 19% of Boomers spend an average of between 20 and 30 hours per week.
Job boards are the top resources for job seekers of all generations, and are most popular with boomers. 87% of Baby Boomers choose job boards as the resource they turn to first in a job search, followed by 82% of Gen X and 77% of Gen Y. The second most popular resource are company websites (about 57% for all generations) and the third most popular are classified ads (32% of Gen Y, 41% of Gen X and 43% of Boomers).Baby Boomers use social networks as part of their job search (29%) over Gen X (27%) and Gen Y (23%).
Google (and Google+) is the social network both Gen Y and Gen X turn to first for job searching, while LinkedIn is the top choice for Baby Boomers. 35% of Gen Y followed by 31% of Gen X and 31% of Boomers turn to Google (and Google+ first) when job searching.
More Gen Y’s (21%) choose Facebook as their first choice when job searching than Gen X (15%) and Boomers (10%). LinkedIn is the top choice of Boomers (Boomers (29%) use social networking sites for their job search over Gen X (27%) and Gen Y (23%).
Twitter is the least popular job search tool for all generations (8% of Gen Y, 6% of Gen X and 4% of Boomers).
Fewer than 15% of all generations have their own professional website but more than a third manage their online reputations.13% of Gen Y followed by 13% of Gen X and 14% of Boomers have their own professional website or an online portfolio.
Stress and frustration is the top affect of unemployment for all generations, especially Gen X. 72% of Gen X, followed by 69% of Baby Boomers and 61% of Gen Y have suffered in this way. After stress, unemployment has caused respondents to be depressed (44% of Gen X, 43% of Baby Boomers and 38% of Gen Y).
The length of a job search is greatest for Baby Boomers, followed by Gen X and then Gen Y. 25% of Boomers have a job search of over a year, followed by 17% of Gen X and 10% of Gen Y.
Age discrimination is most common among Baby Boomers as opposed to other generations. 65% of Boomers feel like they suffer from age discrimination, followed by only 22% of Gen X and 21% of Gen Y.
The qualities that each generation value most in a potential employer is different. For Gen Y, 59% said location, while 57% said both meaningful work and job security. For Gen X, 65% said job security, while 62% said employee benefits like healthcare and 55% said location. For Boomers, 60% said meaningful work, while 57% said location and 55% said both employee benefits and job security.
Job preparation between generations is different. The majority of Boomers prepare for interviews by reviewing the company’s website (85%), followed by Gen X (78%) and then Gen Y (71%). Gen Y spends time practicing interview questions before an interview (68%) over Gen X (60%) and Boomers (52%).
Read More: The Multi-Generational Job Search
