Home : Newsletters : 2004 : November
Internet use in the UK is changing and one factor driving this change is the increased uptake of broadband amongst UK internet users.
The telecommunications watchdog Ofcom published figures earlier this year showing that approximately one third of internet users now connect via broadband and that the UK is a mid-ranking country when it comes to levels of broadband access across Europe. 7.5% of the UK population have access to broadband compared to 15.8% in Holland and 6.1% in Spain (the top and bottom ranked countries on which data was available).
The increased use of broadband has been fuelled by a reduction in subscription costs (similar to the reduction in costs that fuelled the growth of narrow band dial up connections in the 1990's). Ofcom's figures show that the average cost of a monthly broadband connection has fallen from £45 in 2000 to roughly £22 in 2004.
But what impact is this having on the recruitment market? Broadband is about more than just faster connection speeds. The increased use of broadband is changing the way that we use the internet. More satisfying online experiences are encouraging internet users to stay online longer and to use the internet in a deeper, more interactive fashion. Figures from BMRB's Internet Monitor confirm that internet use is changing. 51% of users go online every day and the average length of a home-based online session is now 74 minutes. This is up from 21% going online every day and an average session time of 51 minutes in 1999. BMRB's Internet Monitor also shows that broadband users visit an average of 42 different sites each month compared to an average of 32 different sites for narrowband users.
This change in attitude will have a significant impact on the way that employers communicate with candidates online. Features of corporate careers sites that are currently considered as advanced (and usually restricted to the graduate area of the careers site) will become standard in the future. Interactive functionality such as employee video profiles, virtual office tours, business sector presentations and online aptitude tests will allow employers to engage and educate potential candidates online more effectively than ever before. The challenge for employers that want to take advantage of these new opportunities is to decide how best to use new interactive features to communicate their employer brand and to add true value to the recruitment process.
BMRB's Internet Monitor also offers a valuable update on the number of internet users that use the internet to look for jobs
August 2000 - 5.6 million
August 2001 - 7.3 million
August 2002 - 7.9 million
August 2003 - 8.6 million
August 2004 - 9.4 million
The latest figures show that 9.4 million internet users have used the internet to look for jobs in the last six months, an increase of 68% since August 200. (Please note that although Workthing's E-Recruitment Study of 2003 showed that there were 11 million online job seekers it used a longer time period to assess which activities users had engaged in online - asking what they had done in the last year, rather then the last six months as above).
The increasing popularity of using the internet to look for jobs coupled with the improved communication opportunities offered by broadband make a compelling case for investing in the internet as a recruitment tool. The internet is becoming embedded as the norm in everyone's lives (even more senior candidates) and it would be foolish to unwise to ignore the benefits that it offers employers as we move into 2005 and the next ten years of online recruitment in the UK.
For more information about BMRB or BMRB's Internet Monitor please visit www.bmrb.co.uk or email trevor.vagg@bmrb.co.uk and please don't hesitate to call me on 020 7801 6266 if you want to discuss how you can best use interactive features to get more from the internet as a recruitment tool.
All the best
Tim.
Tim Ekington
Managing Director
Enhance Media Limited