A new survey from Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, reveals that the key pieces of information that job seekers and workers in the U.S. hone in on when researching job ads are salaries (67 percent) and benefits (63 percent). Nearly six in ten (59 percent) U.S. workers/job seekers say that location is one of their top considerations, while 43 percent look for commute time and just under one in three (32 percent) look for employee reviews in job ads. While these are the top findings in this Glassdoor survey, the survey also explores where people are looking for jobs and what matters most to workers/job seekers when deciding where to work.

The online survey, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Glassdoor in May 2018 among over 1,100 U.S. adults who are either currently employed or not employed but looking for work, also highlights that offering attractive benefits and perks is a key factor for enticing prospective employees. When asked what would make them more likely to apply for a job at a company, nearly half of U.S. workers/job seekers (48 percent) cited attractive benefits and perks (e.g., gym memberships, paid time off, etc.), followed closely by a convenient, easy commute (47 percent). More workers/job seekers seem to find these two factors, plus high salaries (46 percent), good work-life balance (43 percent), and work from home flexibility (41 percent) important compared to a great company culture (35 percent), whether the company's financial performance is good (26 percent), or familiarity with the brand (23 percent) when it comes to factors that would make them more likely to apply for a job.

"Job seekers crave transparency on pay, not only to make an initial judgement about whether to consider applying for a job, but also to assess if an employer holds long term potential for them,"  said Julie Coucoules, Glassdoor's Global Head of Talent Acquisition. "Quality candidates are typically well-researched and those that go beyond job ads and look for a richer set of background data that includes benefits and employee reviews, among other specific traits about an employer. This means that employers should make information available to job candidates proactively, or they risk missing out on quality candidates applying."

When it comes to what workers/job seekers look for when assessing long-term potential as an employer, more than two in five (44 percent) report company transparency on pay and benefits. This was followed by more than one third (39 percent) of workers/job seekers who report that an explanation from employers about how they can grow within the company after joining represents long-term career potential. Thirty-seven percent of workers/job seekers say a company having a track record for promoting from within would signify a company has long-term potential for them as an employee.

However, what matters most to prospective employees when deciding where to work or assessing long-term potential is in contrast to what keeps them satisfied long-term once in the job. A separate study², by Glassdoor's Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, shows that money does not have a huge influence on employee satisfaction long-term. Once in a job, culture and values is the biggest driver of employee satisfaction, followed by career opportunities and senior leadership.

Where Do Job Seekers Look For Jobs?

Roughly half of workers/job seekers (51 percent) say their preferred source for finding a relevant new job opportunity is an online job site, such as Glassdoor, compared to 45 percent preferring to hear about a job from a friend and 35 percent via a company's careers site. Slightly less (34 percent) say they'd like to have a recruiter or hiring manager proactively reach out to them and only 20 percent prefer to find a new job via social media. Nineteen percent want to become aware of a job through a staffing agency. This suggests that the majority of job seekers want to be in the driver's seat when it comes to managing their job search process.

"Job seekers are taking control of their own destiny by harnessing the power of information to find the right job and employer for them. Today, job seekers are more informed than ever. For employers, by helping prospective talent find and access the information they want, you'll be helping your recruiting efforts by attracting quality and informed candidates who often translate to top performing employees who stay longer too," said Coucoules.

In addition to job sites being the top source to find a job, workers/job seekers also report that job sites are the leading source to research employers too, not company career pages. When it comes to researching information about a potential employer, more than half of workers/job seekers (53 percent) say job search websites are where they would look for information on a company they might like to work for, followed by word of mouth (43 percent), professional networking sites (35 percent), social media (32 percent), personal networking (32 percent) and company careers pages (26 percent). 

How do Men and Women Differ?

Just as it's important for those in HR and recruitment to understand what information is important to job seekers and how job seekers are making decisions about a company, they must also consider how audiences may differ in how they research jobs and what is important to them. For instance, 49 percent of women indicate that the option to work from home would make them more likely to apply to a job, while only 35 percent of men would be enticed by a company that offered work from home flexibility.

In addition, this survey data shows that among workers/job seekers, women (63 percent) are more likely than men (45 percent) to say they would look to job search sites like Glassdoor when doing research about a company they might want to work for. For added perspective, of Glassdoor's nearly 57 million unique users each month³, half (51 percent) are women and half (49 percent) are men.

Men and women also demonstrate differences when it comes to what they look for when assessing long-term potential as an employee. For instance, nearly half (48 percent) of female workers/job seekers report company transparency on pay and benefits as important information for assessing long-term potential at a company, compared to just 40 percent of men. Similarly, 44 percent of women report that a company's explanation on how they can grow after joining would make them think the company offered long-term potential, compared to only 34 percent of men who report the same.