The research was conducted in 3 stages.

First, an online survey was hosted on guardianjobs.co.uk in August 2008, which delivered detailed information from over 3,000 respondents, such as:

• Demographic information
• When, why and how they look for jobs
• Job hunting sources used
• Factors considered when choosing an employer

One month later, almost 1,000 of the respondents gave us further information via an email survey.

Stage three involved 6 focus groups in London and Manchester delving more deeply into jobseeker attitudes and behaviour.