“5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Company’s

Internet Recruiting Efforts”

By Joan P. Brannick, Ph.D., SPHR

One of the most significant developments in human resources in the last decade is the use of the Internet as a recruiting tool.   In fact, some suggest that there is an Internet component to every hire.  Most agree that whether it’s your company’s website, job boards, or even employee referrals, the Internet plays a major role in most company’s recruiting efforts.  So, what does your company need to do (or do differently) when recruiting online?  The following five actions can improve your company’s online recruiting efforts dramatically.

 

1.      Identify your company’s top three sources of hire.  Most recent survey data suggest that online recruiting is one of the top three ways that employers find employees and applicants find jobs.  Do you know what your company’s top three sources of hire are?  More important, do you know what your company’s top three sources for finding GREAT employee are?   Take a look.  If online recruiting is one of your top three sources, keep investing in that source and fine-tune your company’s online recruiting efforts.  If online recruiting is NOT one of your top three sources, figure out why.  Then, decide whether to improve/ramp up your company’s online recruiting efforts OR decide to invest your company’s resources into more productive recruiting alternatives.

 

2.      Create a Great Employee Profile.  Identify the top 10-15% of employees in your company, regardless of level or position.  Learn what knowledge, skills, abilities, and other qualities they have in common.  Use that information in your recruiting/hiring efforts.  Regarding online recruiting, find out what recruiting source(s) brought those people to you?  Continue to invest in those sources.  Also, find out where your top employees “hang out” on the Internet.  Find a way to have a presence on those sites so that prospective “top employees,” are aware of your company and can easily contact you about employment opportunities.

 

3.      Diversify your online recruiting efforts.  Just as you don’t rely on only one recruiting methods, you should not rely on only website for recruiting top talent to your organization.  When recruiting online (or searching for jobs online), most employers and applicants think only of the major job boards such as www.Monster.com OR www.CareerBuilder.com.  There are, however, hundreds of other niche sites that focus on particular industries (www.allretailjobs.com OR www.allhealthcarejobs.com), level of jobs (www.execunet.com OR www.6figurejobs.com), or type of candidate (www.latpro.com OR www.diversityjobs.com).  Many employers are also recognizing the effectiveness of local community sites such as www.craigslist for recruiting top talent.  For more information about various general and niche job sites, visit www.topjobsites.com.

 

4.      Move from .com to .jobs.  Many companies are making it easier for job candidates to find the employment portion of their company’s website by creating a separate, employment-only website using the extension .jobs.  Check out www.whirlpool.jobs or www.bankofamerica.jobs to see how Whirlpool and Bank of American used the .jobs extension to create an online presence that serves to attract the kind of people they want to hire.

 

5.      Give candidates what they want.  Based on the 2006 Sources of Hire study by CareerXRoads (www.careerxroads.com), the top five things that candidates want to know about a company when searching for a job online are:  (1) an accurate job description, (2) “meet” a successful person in the job, (3) expectations about daily work, (4) expectations about management, and (5) expectations about reward.  Overall, candidates want a sense of what their daily work life will be like in a particular job in your company.   Make sure your job postings and your company’s employment-related website info, give them as much of that as you can.

 

In today’s world of recruiting, you are a salesperson who is selling the benefits of a particular job in your company.  As such, you need to identify your target market and find out as much as you can about them.  Then, use that information to create your job/company information and to decide where best to place that information online.  Improving your company’s online recruiting efforts can make your life better by making it easier to attract better people more quickly.  So, improve your company’s online recruiting efforts today!

 

Joan Brannick, Ph.D., SPHR is President of Brannick HR Connections, a consulting firm in Tampa, FL.  She is also co-author of Finding and Keeping Great Employees, a Fortune Magazine, “Best Business Book.”  For more information about this article, please contact Joan Brannick, Ph.D., SPHR at 813-672-0500 or visit her website at www.brannickhr.com