1. Networking Professionally: Employee Perspective
January 12, 2009

2. Networking Professionally: Employee Perspective
• The findings covered in this presentation are from the
perspective of a sample of U.S. employees. The SHRM
Omnibus Employee Survey included a wide range of questions
that
th t centered on the viewpoint of employees on a variety of
t d th i i t f l i t f
workplace issues. The data that follow are from a section of this
survey that asked employees about how they network and if
they used professional and social networking websites as one
y p g
of their networking sources.
• SHRM collects a wealth of data on organizational and
workplace issues. Please visit www.shrm.org/surveys to access
our publications.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 2

3. Through which methods/sources do you network professionally?
n=367
Note: Excludes 238 respondents (39%) who answered “N/A, I do not network professionally” and those who did not answer the question. Employees from
privately owned for-profit organizations were more likely than those from nonprofit organizations, non-management employees were more likely than middle
management employees, and those in the manufacturing, retail/wholesale trade and services (accommodation---food and drinking places) were more likely than
those in educational services/education to report that they did not network professionally. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple response options.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 3

4. Through which methods/sources do you network professionally? (By Employee
Level, Organization Staff Size, Organization Sector and Industry)
n=367
•Differences by employee level:
y p y
•Executive-level employees were more likely than nonmanagement employees to
network through professional societies/trade associations and conferences/trade
shows/conventions.
•Nonmanagement employees were more likely than executive-level employees
to network through online job search/career sites
sites.
•Executive-level and middle-management employees were more likely than
non=management employees to report networking through business meetings.
•Middle-management employees were more likely than nonmanagement
employees to report networking through supervisors, managers or other higher-
level professionals in a supervisory role.
•Executive-level employees were more likely than middle-management or non=-
management employees to report networking through clients.
•Differences by organization staff size:
•Employees from large-staff-sized organizations were more likely than those from
Employees large staff sized
small-staff-sized organizations to report networking through supervisors,
managers or other higher-level professionals in a supervisory role.
•Employees from small-staff-sized organizations were more likely than those
from medium- or large-staff-sized organizations to report networking through
clients.
li t
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 4

5. Through which methods/sources do you network professionally? (By Employee
Level, Organization Staff Size, Organization Sector and Industry – continued)
n=367
•Differences by organization sector:
•Employees from publicly owned for profit companies were more likely than
for-profit
those from government entities to report networking through online professional
networking sites.
•Employees from privately owned for-profit companies were more likely than
those from nonprofit or government entities to report networking though clients.
•Differences by industry:
•Employees from high-tech companies were more likely than those from
educational services/education companies to report networking through online
professional networking sites.
•Employees from arts entertainment and recreation companies were more likely
Employees arts,
than those from educational services/education or government/public
administration entities to report networking through online social networking
sites.
•Employees from construction, mining, oil and gas companies were more likely
than th
th those f from services ( f
i (professional, scientific, t h i l l
i l i tifi technical, legal, engineering) t
l i i ) to
report networking through clients.
•Employees from associations (professional/trade) were more likely than those
from educational services/education entities to report networking through other
sources/methods.
Note: Only significant differences are presented.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 5

6. Have you ever used online professional and/or social networking sites
such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, etc.…?
n=104
Note: Includes respondents who indicated networking professionally through online professional networking sites or online social
networking sites. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 6

7. Have you ever used online professional and/or social networking sites such as
LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, etc., as a job search method (i.e., to help find a
j ) ( y g
job)? (By Organization Sector )
n=104
•Differences by organization sector:
•Employees from publicly owned for profit companies were more likely than
for-profit
those from privately owned for-profit companies to report having used online
professional and/or social networking sites as a job search method.
Note: Only significant differences are presented.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 7

8. Networking Professionally: Employee Perspective
Methodology
• Sample comprised of 605 full-time or part-
time employed U.S. residents randomly
selected by an outside survey research
organization’s web-enabled employee panel,
which was based on a random sample of the
entire U.S. telephone population.
• Survey fielded for a two-week period, ending
January 12 2009
12, 2009.
SHRM Omnibus Employee Survey, January 12, 2009 ©SHRM 2009 8