Hydra's Recruitment Infographic

London, 3 April, 2012 - Over the period of December 2011-February 2012, UK online job-related searches totalled 7.3 million and queries pertaining to civil service jobs appear to have had an unprecedented surge in January, reveals data from Hydra, a leading provider of software-as-a-service tools for digital marketers.

Hydra's findings come on the back of the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). They show UK unemployment rose by 28,000 in the three months leading up to January with public sector employment falling by 37,000 in the final quarter of 2011. Nonetheless, going by the analysis of data from Hydra's One Platform, UK searchers remain undeterred, with job-related searches on Google UK peaking at 3.3 million in January.

Totaljobs and Reed were the most visible websites to generic job-related searches

Hydra's Interactive Recruitment research reveals the most visible recruitment websites, brands and advertisers in the UK in relation to their visibility to generic, location-specific and job-specific searches online. This it established via analysis of its UK search data which uncovered the most popular keywords used to look for jobs on the internet.

Over the period, generic search terms accounted for the largest share (48 per cent) of the 7.3 million job-related searches.

The five most popular generic search terms used were 'jobs', 'apprenticeships', 'job search', 'part time jobs' and 'job'.

Totaljobs dominated organic results*, the site being the most visible to generic job searches over the three month period. Reed was the most visible advertiser in paid search**.

Table 1: Job-related searches by type

  Source: Hydra (One Platform)

'Civil Service Jobs' searches saw a huge 80 per cent surge

Searches using job-specific terms accounted for 37 per cent of queries and totalled 2.7 million.

Over the three month period, 'Civil Service Jobs' dominated job-specific online searches. In fact Hydra's research shows that in January 2012, this term was queried 246,000 times - a massive 80 per cent surge on December levels. Searches for graduate jobs and those in the charity, leisure and retail sectors also proved popular.

As with generic searches, Totaljobs and Reed were the most visible sites in organic and paid search, respectively.

Table 2: Top 10 job-specific search terms (December 2011-February 2012)

 Source: Hydra (One Platform)

Unemployment in London increased by 11,000 in the three months to January, according to the ONS. Regardless, Hydra's data shows searches for jobs in London continued to dominate over the period through to February 2012. Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds followed.

Gumtree was the most visible website in natural search for location-based job searches with Reed, yet again being the most visible advertiser.

Notes to Editors:

*Natural /organic Search- Listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms 

**Paid Search- an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.

To arrange an interview or for further information please contact:

Becky Hayward

T: +44 0(20) 3326 1888

E: pr@onehydra.com

About Hydra:

Hydra is a provider of SaaS tools established in 2011. The One Platform enables enterprise marketers to strategically and proactively monitor, report and participate in the conversation that existing and potential customers are having about their brand online. Gathering the collective requests and feedback of marketing executives, digital specialists, and agency professionals, One from Hydra is focused on driving revenue and return on investment (ROI) through integrated, efficient and optimised management and implementation of Phrase Marketing campaigns across online disciplines - Natural Search, Paid Search and Social Media.