New research by global jobs advertiser, Indeed, says there is a large disparity between how small businesses (SMBs) recruit and how jobseekers search for employment.

According to the Australia-wide poll, 24 per cent of Australian SMBs advertise online, while 78 per cent of jobseekers say that they search for vacancies on the web.

The survey found 66 per cent of Australian small businesses in the Indeed survey said that they still rely on word-of-mouth recommendations to recruit with the next most popular method being newspaper advertising (19 per cent).

“According to this survey, almost two-thirds of small business owners say that it is difficult to find and recruit good employees, with one in five (22 per cent) saying that it is extremely difficult,” said Chris McDonald, managing director of Indeed, Australia & New Zealand.

The research also found that despite people now spending an average of 10 hours a day using smart devices, only 17 per cent of small businesses are using mobile advertising.

Indeed’s ‘hard-to-fill’ data found some of the most difficult roles to recruit for in Australia include those you might expect to see in a shop window, e.g. nail technician (83 days to fill); pizza cook (80 days to fill); crew member / wait staff (69 days to fill); barber (66.88 days to fill).

The jobs site has recently launched its Job Spotter App in Australia, which launched in the US last year, where users have uploaded over 800,000 jobs. The app also launched in the UK last month.

The app pays people to upload pictures of retail job advertisements onto the Indeed website and posters can make up to $1.50 per ad.   

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