LONDON (7th January 2013) We may only be seven days into the New Year, but today marks the predicted job-hunting peak of 2013, according to new research from recruitment experts Job Bounties (www.jobbounties.com). As the first full working week after the festivities begins, an estimated 11.84 million people are expected to begin a new job hunt, in what has been dubbed National Job Hunt Day 2013.

Based on historical patterns 2008-2012, 2 in 5 people within the workforce look for new work or new jobs in January. With 29.6 million people in employment in December 2012 aged 16 or over, this creates a job-hunting market of 11.84 million people in January 2013.

Monday 7th January is the perfect storm of employees searching for work and employers searching for workers. Employees are driven by “back to work blues” and the desire for a fresh challenge in the New Year, and employers need to fill roles post-holiday. This meeting of supply and demand leads to a job market that is predicted to be more buoyant and mobile in January than throughout the rest of the year. James Uffindell, CEO and Founder of Job Bounties, commented: “Monday 7th January is the recruitment equivalent of the ‘Cyber Monday’ online retail surge before Christmas”.

The most popular current search terms on Google are “jobs”, “vacancies” and “job vacancies” with 37.2 million, 9.14 million and 7.48 million UK monthly searches respectively – a total of 53.82 million Google searches. “Jobs in London” is the fourth most popular jobs-related Google search term, with 1.22 million monthly searches.

Research from social recruitment marketplace Job Bounties, also confirms that online and offline social networks will provide better returns this year than traditional internet searches. Four in ten, 41%, of Brits have found recent jobs through their personal networks. This compares to 34% of respondents, who gained employment through adverts posted on traditional job boards and only 8% who found success through approaches from professional recruiters.

The Job Bounties research also shows that the likelihood of finding a job via personal networks has quadrupled in the time of people’s last three jobs. Three jobs ago, only 7% of the UK found a job through their network; now 34% have. Almost a third of people, 31%, say that sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have positively impacted their recruitment process.

James Uffindell believes that the increasing use of social media is powering the rising trend of successful job referrals amongst personal networks. He commented: “your personal network knows you better than anyone else, and friends and family can be a great source for hunting out job opportunities that are perfect for you. The age-old saying: ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ has more relevance now than at any other time in the internet age.”

Job Bounties launched on 14th November 2012, as the pioneering social recruitment marketplace. Job Bounties is the first website that allows individuals to recommend job opportunities to each other, earning significant amounts of cash for the bounty hunter (the referrer) if their contact is hired for that role.