Search Jobs

February 2009

The New World of Online Recruiting

With unemployement rates higher then ever, 6.3% in the UK last month, it would seem as though it’s a buyer’s market.  Job seekers are flooding online career tools, and setting themselves up with profiles on interactive social networks.  Monster.com boasts over 150 million CVs from which to choose.  Yet, while exceptional talent may be available, one can’t help but notice the proverbial “needle in the haystack” scenario.

How does online recruiting work?

One thing to recognise is that the old methods provide, at best, only a partial answer.  In addition, there are endless angles at which to approach online recruiting, without leaving the comfort of your desk.  Job seekers are all over the web, so where is the best place to start looking for your shining star?  The passive approach is to visit a job search website, such as Monster or Careerbuilder, and pay to post a job advertisement to their registered users.  Within moments of your posting, you will begin to receive CV submissions from all over the world.  Other tactics are slightly more aggressive, but still easy to achieve from your own office.  Maintaining a profile on social and professional networking sites provides you with the opportunity to meet and interact with talented prospective hires.  Web 2.0 elements such as blogs, online communities, specialty boards, and search engine advertisements can also be successful.

What are the costs?

Online recruiting provides you the opportunity to reach out beyond your geography and personal network, and to find the uniquely qualified individual for your organisation.  Undoubtedly, these same or greater benefits can be achieved through a relationship with an experienced recruitment firm.

Recruitment firms are traditionally considered a costly option when looking for potential hires, with the expectation of upfront costs or percentage-based fees.  However, the use of online recruiting can incur significant hidden costs as well.  Your team may require days or weeks to properly navigate and engage in social media and online communities.  If an online job posting is successful, you may have hundreds of CVs to review in order to reach an exceptional applicant.  If you do not have a master profile database, then you risk making a costly mis-hire and have to go through the process again after the first candidate washes out.  Can you quantify the cost of time?

Whether you weigh your choice based on definitive costs, or in time required – it cannot be denied that the evolving online environment plays a major role.  Whether you use your phone or your mouse, you have the opportunity and the responsibility to find the perfect hire.  Ultimately, a professional – whether internal to your company or through a quality recruitment firm - with access to all channels, custom software to evaluate the effectiveness of a candidate or CV based on specific criteria, and experience in navigating through the new options of social network sites and web blogging, offers the best potential for success.