ONLINE JOB RECRUITING:
HOW THE INTERNET
HAS TRANSFORMED
HIRING
BY SUSAN A. NOWICKI, APR, CAE
UNTIL A FEW SHORT YEARS AGO, MOST JOB OPENINGS WERE ADVERTISED IN NEWSPAPER CLASSIFIED ADS.
TODAY, A GROWING NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS HAVE ABANDONED PRINT VERSIONS OF THEIR WANT ADS IN
FAVOR OF ONLINE JOB SERVICES. THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE RECENTLY JOINED THOSE NEWSPAPERS WHEN IT
STOPPED RUNNING CLASSIFIED JOB ADS IN FAVOR OF THE ONLINE CAREERBUILDER NETWORK.
This trend toward online job hunting and recruiting has transformed the search process.
But the convenience of the Internet has some pluses and
minuses that association professionals need to be aware of if
they want to be successful in finding and hiring qualified candidates online.
As with any marketing effort, you need to segment your
target audience and create a multi-faceted campaign for your
online job recruitment effort. The mixture of options could
include listing the job on a Web site, searching for resumes
online, broadcasting the job on listservs or creating a job center on your own Web site.
ONLINE HIRING CHANNELS
The number of job-related Web sites has grown exponentially
during the past few years. It’s estimated that anywhere from
250,000 to 1 million Web sites now list job openings. Given
this plethora of choices, it’s tough to know which sites will
give your job opportunity the best exposure to potential candidates. First, keep in mind there are several basic choices:
1. General audience: These sites serve a broad array of interests but do feature job listings. One well-known example is
craigslist. These sites tend to reach a large group of people.
2. Job boards: These sites are similar to the newspaper help
wanted sections. They cover a broad array of industries and
occupations. Many have a keyword searchable database and
reach very large audiences. Examples include Monster.com
and CareerBuilder.
3. Targeted/specialty sites: These sites focus on recruiting
across specific job categories or industries. An example is
Dice.com for a broad range of computer technology listings,
including Web management and programming as well as
hardware and network management.
4. Professional sites: These sites represent individuals or
companies in particular professions or industries. These
groups have their own online career centers and, while narrower in scope, provide access to a more highly qualified
candidate pool. Examples include Association Forum of
Chicagoland ( associationjobs.org), Public Relations Society
of America ( prsa.org) and the Professional Convention Management Association ( pcma.org).
5. Social networking sites: These represent the leading-edge
development in social networking. For association managers
recruiting job candidates, they represent two of the best
recruiting options — access to large audiences and high
technology personal networking. LinkedIn is one example.
Besides offering access to large groups of job seekers with
the expertise you seek, online job sites offer two additional
benefits. First, your posting can go “live” within a matter of
minutes; no more waiting for a publication to be printed and
delivered. Second, many job seekers also post electronic
copies of their resumes on these sites, which are easily searchable online.
In deciding where to post your job opportunity, consider
using more than one site in order to both maximize exposure for
your listing as well as target those candidates who have specific expertise for the position. For example, you may decide to
list a meetings manager position on associationjobs.org as well
as on PCMA.org. Or you might simultaneously list an IT position on CareerBuilder, Dice.com and associationjobs.org.
CRAFTING ADS THAT SELL
With a shortage of qualified candidates for many positions,
finding the right person is imperative. This process begins with
a well-crafted ad. You need to keep in mind that creating a
Web ad is different from writing a print-based ad:
