We all know that consumers spend a lot of time researching options online before purchasing a home.

But, did you know most recruiting prospects do the same thing when considering a career change or pursuing a new opportunity?

According to researchers, 

83% of job seekers spend more than hour researching a company/opportunity before engaging.

48% of job seekers spend more than three hours before taking proactive actions such as applying, submitting a resume, or requesting to be contacted.

60% of job seekers report that what they find online about a company is “very influential” or “extremely influential” in their decision to engage.

When researching an opportunity, recruiting prospects find the following type of information most helpful:

Current job opening information (specific information about the opportunity)
Pay and benefit information (what’s in it for me?)
General company information (is this a company I want to work for?)

And, they find the following type of information least helpful:

Answers on ‘why’ people want to work here (this often comes across as staged)
Information on the company culture (this becomes important later in the process)
FAQs on the industry and organization (for some reason, prospects don’t seem to like this format)

Your online reputation paints a picture, and it’s the first impression most prospects receive of your company.