Learn to use the Web to find your next employee.
In a recent Sunday newspaper, the comics section featured the gang from Dilbert™ discussing the hazards of posting too much internal company information on the World Wide Web. Their big fear? Headhunters and corporate recruiters who prey on employees and lure them away to new jobs at competing firms. In the typical Dilbert fashion, of course, the tone quickly turned to sarcasm, but not before the point was made: The Internet of the late '90s has turned into a hotbed of recruiting opportunities. Today's employers have access to more information at their fingertips than ever before, and a tight labor market is driving them to take full advantage of every opportunity.
The Evolution of Internet Recruiting
Put simply, the Internet is a popular way for companies to find qualified applicants because of its tremendous cost-effectiveness when compared to traditional job listings in newspapers and trade magazines. Nationwide, the numbers certainly point to a growing trend: More than 1.2 million resumes were processed electronically in 1997, a number that's expected to double to 2.5 million for 1998, according to the Internet Business Network, a firm that monitors electronic recruiting. A similar firm, Management Recruiter International, reports that nearly 37 percent of 4,300 executives recently surveyed already recruit online, up from 26.5 percent two years ago.
"A few years ago, our client base was exclusively high-tech," says Ed Melia, managing director of Boston-based SHL CyberQuest, a company that trains companies to effectively utilize the Internet for recruiting. "Now, they run the gamut from high-tech to insurance to banking."
And as president of Milwaukee, Wis.-based Recruiters Network, a 5,000-member association for Internet recruiting that offers various resources for the Internet recruiting industry, Brian Weis says that about half of his organization's members are staffing professionals or headhunters, while the rest are corporate recruiters and human resources professionals. "Initially, information technology and computer professionals were the primary disciplines that used the Internet to search for jobs," says Weis. "As the Internet becomes increasingly prevalent in homes, and as more people buy their own PCs, a wider variety of professionals will be using the Internet as a job source."
The Small Business Angle
The ability to reduce the time-to-hire is what has drawn so many recruiters to the Web. With today's tight job market and increasing pressure to fill positions quickly, companies benefit from the immediate responses offered by Internet job postings. And small- and mid-sized businesses - with their agility and quick decision-making abilities - are finding this immediacy very beneficial. "We have many small-business clients who use the Internet to recruit employees," says Melia. "It really levels the playing field and makes them equal to the 'big boys' out there. For instance, large companies with limitless ad budgets used to have their pick of, say, engineers, but the Internet erased all of that. It's also very inexpensive; we have small-business clients who were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on headhunters, but now they're spending $10,000 or less to find better-qualified candidates via the Internet."
Betsy Cagan, president of Bargaining Power, Inc., a developer of software that conducts economic analysis for labor negotiators and human resource professionals, is one business owner who once relied on thousand-dollar "tombstone" ads in The New York Times to recruit employees. With six employees split between her New York and San Francisco locations, Cagan turned to the Internet about a year ago and hasn't looked back since.
"It's cheaper, easier and faster," Cagan says, noting that she filled several professional and technical positions in the $50,000-and-up annual salary range through the Internet. "With the Internet you have more control. With newspaper ads, you're either [filtering through] hundreds of envelopes, or using a post office box through the paper, then waiting until they forward the resumes to you. In just a few lines of an e-mail message, you can tell if there's going to be a match or not. Plus, if you're in an industry like ours, you want people who are on the Internet. Just the fact that a candidate for a technical position is successfully using the Internet is a screening process in and of itself."
According to Glenn Kaufman, president of Boston-based Corporate Alumni, Inc., a builder of online alumni groups for ex-employees of companies, his firm employs between 10 and 20 persons, depending on what types of projects are in the works. Kaufman has filled technical positions and hired an online community expert via the Internet. "It's been very effective because the ad gets out right away, rather than having to wait for the 'next issue,'" says Kaufman. "It costs less than a display ad, and, because our ad appears in job searches as readily as those companies whose ads appear in large displays, it's a very cost-effective recruiting method."
The Downside
In this Information Age, online recruiting is a logical choice to attract and hire quality employees - particularly the much sought-after information technology professionals. But there are disadvantages to focusing all of a company's recruitment efforts on the Internet. The Internet is still just one of many media that reach a potential employee. And while it can help gather, scan and sort data, the medium doesn't replace reference checks, skills tests, face-to-face interviews and other steps to assess attitudes and behavior that are vital to finding a qualified employee. Successful recruiting still necessitates the development of a one-to-one relationship.
"The primary drawback to using job-posting sites is the number of resumes generated from unqualified applicants," says Melia. "The sites make it easy to target employers for high-volume, indiscriminate mailings. Another big complaint is that smaller businesses are not getting candidates from their area. Because the Internet is global by nature, you'll always get candidates from all over." To overcome the problem, Melia says the wording of the job spec, the company's own geographic location and where the ad is posted are all key factors. Then there's the chore of managing the increased number of resumes being funneled into a company's database. "It's similar to print advertising," says Melia, who suggests setting up a separate e-mail box like "resumes@xyz.com," then adding an auto-responder that simply says, "Thanks for your response to our ad. If we're interested in interviewing you, we will contact you." "One of the things that people expect is immediacy," he says. "If they don't hear back in a few days, they'll either get mad or get a job elsewhere."
In order to avoid software and attachment incompatibility, companies should encourage candidates to send their resumes in the body of their e-mails rather than having them send attached files. "With the employment rate being as low as it is, companies need to move quickly to find top-notch candidates," says Weis, who recently posted a fictitious resume for an IT-related position on Yahoo! and got 25 e-mail responses and phone calls within 48 hours. "The resources are short right now, so whether it's a radio ad, newspaper ad or Internet posting, the competition is fierce because everyone's competing for the same resource. With the Internet, the whole process is sped up, plus job seekers can search for jobs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as opposed to only once a week with the Sunday classifieds."
Getting Started
A search on the keyword "job postings" on only one of some 400 available search engines will turn up about 14,640 matching Web sites. The trick is to whittle that wealth of information into a strategy that yields results. To locate additional job posting and resume-review sites, try searching for keywords such as "job listings," "employment" and "recruiting." You can narrow the search to job-posting sites specific to your industry or to individual job classifications. "Start at the free sites," says Weis, "those which offer free posting and free resume databases. But don't limit yourself. We encourage companies to use a multi-site strategy - posting positions in a wide variety of different locations. There is no 'number-one' job board. If there was, everyone would flock there to post so many jobs that yours would never get noticed."
When venturing out into cyberspace, Weis advises tackling the situation from the job seeker's standpoint. "Demographically, lower-income professionals or workers may not have a PC and therefore may not be using the Internet in their job search," he says. "Positions in light industrial and manufacturing may be tough to fill, although all of that is changing with the advent of technologies like browsers that use the TV rather than the PC."
There are many job-posting services where employers can post jobs and use banner advertising to entice job hunters to look up their listings. Employers can perform a search of resumes for candidates with specific skills, but this strategy excludes many employed job hunters who keep their resumes off the Web to prevent their current employer from discovering their job search. Though some job-posting sites offer free services, most charge employers a fee to post jobs or access resumes.
Unfortunately, unlike writing up an ad and phoning it into a trade magazine or newspaper, Internet job posting can be confusing and time-consuming due to the multitude of Web sites.
"You can spend a massive amount of time in cyberspace just trying to find a place to put your jobs," says Weis. "Once you go through the trial period and test several techniques, including using a 'multi-site strategy,' find out what works and document your results to reveal which sites are most effective and worth going back to. Document where you're posting, how many resumes you're receiving from different ads (for at least a month), then hone down the process based on that success."
"Small businesses should keep their postings as local as possible, namely because relocation and interviewing costs can get prohibitive for them," says Robert Nemanich, managing general partner for Racine County, Wis.-based Strategic Recruiting Solutions, LLC, a management-consulting firm that provides services to the information technology services industry. Nemanich advises finding a local Usenet group and posting jobs on regionally oriented sites.
"The best way to recruit is through your own Web site, where you can post jobs," he adds. "I found two of my own recruiters by developing a geographically-based e-mail list - through trade shows, groups and e-mail directories. We sent them messages directing them to our Web site - which is also information-based and provides genuine value to that audience. Then, they stumble upon our job listings and decide if they want to pursue them."
To be most effective, company Web sites should have a "button" on the initial screen that will whisk potential candidates off to the job-posting section of the site. There, candidates should be encouraged to leave their e-mail addresses and other relevant information so that they can receive automatic notification as new positions in their area of interest and qualification are posted. This is the most basic form of what is now known as Internet "push" technology.
Another option is to have someone else do the posting for you. For example, Best Internet Recruiter enables employers to quickly and conveniently place job listings on some of the Internet's largest and most effective employment sites and then select and analyze resumes submitted for those jobs, all through a single Web site. Users pay only the actual advertising fees to the job listing sites. Internet Recruiter handles all of the billing for the job listing sites, providing the customer with a simple statement of charges for each job advertised.
If running or managing your business has left you time-strapped, or if you're not Internet-savvy, you may want to completely outsource your Internet recruiting to an outside firm and/or consultant. Keep in mind that you will pay substantial fees for their services, a factor that makes this choice prohibitive for smaller firms.
The Future?
Although in the past an organization could seek candidates only when it needed them, today's recruiter needs to be more proactive. Coupled with an unemployment figure at an all-time low, companies are leaning towards a style of recruiting that is focused on continuous relationship-building. The days are long gone when a company could simply put out a classified advertisement and hope that the right candidate will come. As a result, an increasing number of companies are thinking out of the box and finding innovative ways to attract the right employees.
According to Forrester Research, companies such as these will spend $30 million this year on Internet recruiting, and $218 million by the year 2000. And while Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, may poke fun at Corporate America's paranoia about competitors stealing employees, it does happen. The fact is, Internet recruiting is here to stay because it's a method that offers increased exposure, more bang for the buck and the opportunity to reach job candidates worldwide. It also offers companies of all shapes and sizes the chance to run a very targeted campaign and look for the "best of the best" online.
Best Sites to See
According to the 1999 Electronic Recruiting Index, a report published annually for the employment search, recruiting, placement and employment industries (both corporate and third party), the top 10 employment Web site rankings based on results quality are:
Copyright © 2000 by Virtual Advisor, Inc. All rights reserved.