By Margie Davis
You turn to the Web for information and communication--so why
not when you're looking for employees? Posting your want ad on
job-search sites like Monster Board and HotJobs.com takes only a
few minutes and gives thousands of jobseekers access to your ad 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
Different job sites have different capabilities, but basic
features typically include a listing of hundreds or thousands of
jobs that jobseekers can look through for free, and a listing of
resumes that companies in the hiring mode can sift through at
little or no charge. When you post your ad, potential employees who
have specified that kind of job by the use of keywords are notified
of your posting.
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"The best use of electronic recruiting is by companies
looking to fill a specialized position, for example, not just
`Looking for a sales rep,' but `Looking for a consumer products
retail sales rep in Southern California with seven years of outside
sales experience,' " says Wayne Outlaw, author of
Smart Staffing: How to Hire, Reward and Keep Top Employees for
Your Growing Company (Upstart Publishing, $19.95,
800-235-8866). A 13-year veteran of Xerox, where he hired top
salespeople, Outlaw says, "The more specifics you can include
in your job ad, the better your chances of receiving resumes from
qualified candidates."
Job seekers can search for key words in the job title and in the
job description, so use exact words and phrases, such as
"Controller/Office Manager, proficient in use of integrated
accounting software" and avoid vague words like "Office
Help." Look at postings for similar jobs to get ideas for
composing your ad.
Most job-search sites charge between $40 and $150 to list one
job for a month. That's pretty cheap compared to about $250 for
a 1-square-inch classified ad that runs once in a major city Sunday
newspaper. But print ads are highly targeted, aimed at a specific
job category in a specific geographic location. Web sites are more
general, spreading a worldwide or nationwide net of job postings in
a variety of geographic locations for all types of jobs, many of
which have already been filled by the time jobseekers read them. To
put your ad in the right place, think about where you would look
and which ads you would want to spend time answering if you were
looking for the job your company is offering.
The best form of advertising is word-of-mouth; the electronic
equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising is e-mail. You can make
your online recruiting efforts more effective by using e-mail in
addition to job sites. Post your ad in newsgroups, chat forums or
mailing lists devoted to specialized topics or regions.
Outlaw says a common pitfall for start-ups is relying too
heavily on online recruiting. "If that method doesn't
produce candidates they really like, they might compromise and hire
someone who doesn't fit what they need." Instead, Outlaw
recommends using online recruiting as one element of your strategy,
in addition to traditional methods like print ads.
Margie Davis (MDavis1493@aol.com) is a freelance
writer and online writing teacher.
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