A recent survey shows that 75 percent of job seekers now cruise the Internet. But how people actually find Jobs has remained much the same: most new hires start with newspaper ads or referrals.

According to the study, 79 percent of new hires read newspaper ads during their job search. Job seekers also: asked friends about openings (71 percent); submitted resume by mail/ fax (48 percent); submitted resume online (47 percent); posted resume on Internet (47 percent); called potential employers (41 percent); and attended job fair (19 percent).

However, when candidates actually accepted jobs, referrals beat out all other sources: referral (40 percent); newspaper (23 percent); temporary agency (6 percent); Internet (4 percent); headhunter (3 percent); and other (24 percent). “Other” includes nontraditional tools like recruiting from churches and putting flyers in college pizza boxes.

What do these numbers suggest about your recruiting strategy?
1) Put most of your effort where it really counts: referrals and nontraditional sources.
2) Use the Web only where it works best: technical, sales and marketing, and middle management positions. Outside of these fields, the main value of a presence on the Web is symbolic.
3) Use one recruiting channel to lead candidates to another. For example, most people who look on the Web also read want ads. If your Web site refers them to the newspaper or a referral program, you may get two bites of the apple.