| The Internet as a Strategic Recruiting Tool |
The problem with looking at the Internet as a strategic recruiting tool is that it assumes you have a strategy. In today's recruiting world, where the shortage of information technology workers is large and growing, attracting and retaining skilled knowledge workers is an increasingly competitive issue for businesses. Often a recruiting strategy takes a back seat while recruiters advertise wildly - in newspapers, on radios, on the Internet, by word of mouth... Yet, failure to first develop a recruiting strategy can jeopardize a company's profitability.
This hit-or-miss type recruiting can actually be a disservice to the company's overall goals. Inappropriate audiences can be targeted, creating the perception that the hiring organization really doesn't know what it's doing - thus turning people off. The opportunity costs associated with the continued open job requisition can be huge. And the time and effort you've put into advertising in any medium you could find can be money down the drain.
Effective Strategies
An effective recruiting process includes several key elements that work together:
effective sourcing
the ability to attract active and passive job seekers
effective candidate screening
accurate candidate tracking
effective evaluation of your recruiting tactics
A recruiting strategy should begin by considering resources, costs, geography, and demographics. It should incorporate both passive and proactive methods to identify potential candidates. This means you need a way for them to find you and several ways for you to find them.
Developing the Strategy
How do you know where to concentrate your recruiting efforts? Begin by knowing the organization you're hiring for. Each company has its own personality, and candidates who fit that culture will be in a better position to contribute to its success than those who don't.
Differentiate the organization from all the others. Present an honest, detailed picture of it, emphasizing its advantages and unique concepts. Clearly explain job functions, levels of responsibility, training, and mentoring opportunities. Talk about life style in the organization and in the community where the organization is located.
Work diligently to create a truly magnificent job description. Don't simply list the requisite skills, but think about detailing the functions of the job, too. This can help a potential recruit find the posting by searching for keywords.
Traditional Recruiting Tools
While newspapers, trade journals, professional associations, and networking all still have their place in your recruiting plan, technology has opened new venues.
Your Corporate Site
An innovative recruiting Web strategy addresses all the elements necessary for leveraging the Internet as a recruiting tool and is an integral part of the overall corporate recruiting strategy.
According to Diane Propsner, founder of Galileo Consulting, an HR consultant firm:
For starters, your corporate Web site must include a career section. Pay close attention to the content in the career section. Use content that speaks to the top-talented candidate. By providing information/content to answer the top-talented candidate's question, "Why should I consider your organization?" your site is in a stronger position to develop a relationship with top talent. Potential employees want to know about your organization, its employees, history, culture, milestones, products and services, career paths, training, benefits, and specific opportunities.
Look at your site as a 24/7 marketing opportunity. You can post instantaneously and thus avoid the time lag inherent in other media. This can also bring a quicker response time from the candidate. Some companies say they can post a job in the morning and receive resumes within a few hours.
A caveat here. The Internet is not a broadcast medium no matter how much we'd like it to be. Instead, it's all about one-to-one communication. You can post all the jobs you want - wherever you want. But, if you forget to acknowledge receipt of resumes, applications, or even simple requests for more information, you are turning some potential candidates away by implying that no individual is worth the time and effort of a response. Acknowledge all responses with an autoresponder. An autoresponder will send a standard response e-mail message (based on a text file you specify) to anyone who sends an email to a specific email address (which you specify) at your domain.
Third Party Sites
If you are looking to fill a bazillion positions throughout several geographic regions, consider posting jobs to the large third party sites such as Workopolis, Canadian Careers, or Headhunter Net.
But, if you are looking only within a specific geographical region, target third party sites that play a big role there. Or, if you are looking for only specific-skills, try those sites, too.
Email Discussion Groups
Email discussion lists are proliferative on the 'Net and can serve as extremely valuable tools. Information is sent to one central email address and then automatically distributed to everyone who subscribes to that list. This precise targeting is especially effective for skill-specific recruitment since email discussion lists are based on subject-specific topics. Liszt maintains a searchable database of more than 90,000 mailing lists.
Usenet
Job-oriented groups make up a small, but very active, portion of the over 15,000 special interest forums that are Usenet. Placing jobs on a newsgroup is fast and often free. However, while newsgroups were once the mostly highly populated places on the 'Net, the influx of spam has driven away some users. However, there are over 75 job-oriented newsgroups in the world, ordered by geographic region - making at least one of them potentially valuable to you for posting jobs. The remaining thousands though may offer proactive possibilities since each group contains people knowledgable and skilled in its topical area. For a list of more than 40,000 newsgroups visit Deja.com.
Strategic Sourcing
Strategic sourcing means much more than merely having a plan for performing sourcing activity. It means more than posting jobs helter-skelter and waiting for the resumes to arrive. Strategic sourcing involves activity. It means aggressively locating potential candidates, contacting them, and then developing a relationship with them - all in a manner consistent with your overall recruiting strategy for enhancing your organization's profitability.
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C. M. Sumberg / E-cruiter.com |
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