With today’s competitive labour environment, it has never been more important for employers to go online in their recruitment efforts.
The Internet offers a range of opportunities and tools for employers to promote their companies and job openings to potential employees. One handy tool is a company's website, which can be used to promote available positions to prospective employees. “Most websites focus on pitching their products or services to customers, but nowadays it’s just as important to focus on employees,” says Bob Dodge, co-chair of the human resources committee of the Canada West Ski Areas Association. “Companies need to use their websites to talk directly to potential employees about the advantages and benefits of working there, and to detail their commitment to employees.”
Online job boards
Online job boards are another useful tool in the recruitment process. “Along with your corporate website, online job boards, whether they’re general or specific to your industry, can also help promote your organization to job-seekers who may be around the corner or around the world,” says Peter Larose, Director of Industry Workforce Development at go2. With thousands of online job boards in North America — from popular, broad-based sites like Monster and Workopolis to industry-specific ones like Hcareers and go2 – employers need to research the sites that best fit their recruitment needs. “It is important to have some presence on these sites, but due to the sheer number of online job boards, it’s important to know that employers are by no means reaching all their potential candidates by simply posting on one or two job boards,” says Leschyson.
Web 2.0
An increasing number of online communities, known as Web 2.0, also offer unique recruitment opportunities. Web 2.0 is all about people interacting with people. It is a trend in web design and development (such as social networking, wikis and blogs) that aims to facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing between users. Recruiting 2.0 embraces all the tools that Web 2.0 has to offer. Instead of simply posting jobs on massive job boards, Recruiting 2.0 uses tools like Facebook and LinkedIn to accelerate your recruiting process. And the best part about this initiative is that most of it is free, with soft costs being the time spent by designated staff to build and maintain these tools.
Too busy to surf?
This all sounds great, you're thinking, but who has time to troll for job candidates on a bunch of websites? With hundreds of social-networking sites out there, and new ones popping up every day, it’s easy to get distracted and spread yourself too thin by participating on too many sites. The key to using the Internet effectively is to limit your search to a handful of carefully chosen sites. To do this, you first need a strategic staffing plan. Ask yourself: Which vacancies and new positions will you need to hire for, what sort of person do you hope to hire, and where do they work, live and play? Once you know the answers to these questions, select the Web 2.0 sites your candidates visit and the social media you think will best engage them.
The odds are excellent that some of your current employees are social-networking experts — thanks in part to hanging out on Facebook while at work. So why not delegate your Web 2.0 recruitment and sourcing to them?
To learn about various Web 2.0 tools, read How to Use Web 2.0 Tools for Recruitment
For more tips on online recruiting, read How to Recruit Online: A Quick Start Guide
Material for this three-part article has been excerpted and reprinted with permission from Derek Gagne, as seen in Canadian Business Online. Derek Gagné is president of West Vancouver, BC-based Talent Edge Solutions, which helps clients develop strategies to recruit and retain top talent. His column on human resources appears exclusively in PROFIT-Xtra.
