Developing a personal network of contacts will still be the most important tool in an executive's job search in five years' time, according to a recent executive survey by recruiter Harvey Nash.

Contacting headhunters will be the second most important tool, but using job boards and social networking sites will rise in importance over the same time, respondents to the survey said.

Those participating in the survey included 83 chief executives, 128 board-level directors, 208 other directors, 236 senior managers, 63 managers and 35 'other' executives.