Sometimes, it seems our whole lives have moved out of the real world and onto the internet. Whether it’s shopping, research, dating or storage, digital has taken over modern society. It’s no wonder, therefore, that so many companies are taking large parts of their recruitment activities online.
If you’re considering making the shift, or you want to improve your existing digital recruitment strategy, then we’ve got some great information and tips you can use.
The Benefits of Digital Recruitment
Digital recruitment is typically cheaper than conventional strategies, and it’s certainly a lot more convenient, since you can get started in minutes. There are several other benefits to this type of recruitment though:
- There’s a wider reach, and your ads will reach a global audience. This is great news if you’re looking for very specific skills!
- Thanks to filters and screening options, the pre-qualification process for candidates is a lot simpler.
- This type of digital recruitment strategy printed resumes.
It’s clear that this is a great option if you’re looking for a convenient and effective way to hire highly skilled people, but which of the four major online recruitment options should you choose?
1. Job Boards
Job boards are the most similar to the traditional newspaper classified ads we all knew years ago. Because most of the job boards are divided into categories and sub categories, as well as targeted by geographical region, it’s a very specific type of recruitment, but you might miss out on great candidates who aren’t doing that specific search at the same time.
2. Corporate Careers Websites
A growing trend among larger companies is to create their own corporate career sub sites, where their branches and divisions around the world can post opportunities. These are great because they attract talent who already want to work for your company, but you might also miss out on great candidates who don’t know that they want to work for you yet! This is best used as a secondary method of advertising, unless you are a very big name company, who is a sought-after employer.
3. Search Aggregators
Employment search aggregators are sites that combine job listings from a variety of other job boards and employment sites. Typically, they aggregate jobs from partner sites automatically, and they’re a great choice because they’re popular with candidates, thanks to their ease of use and large number of postings.
Popularity with candidates means a bigger pool of prospects, and that means you’re more likely to get quality applications. The down side to that, however, is that they’ll be mixed in with a large number of unsuitable candidates.
4. Social Media
The last of the big four digital recruitment strategy options is social media. Typically, this type of recruitment happens on career specific platforms like LinkedIn, and may include paid ads or directly approaching candidates that you are interested in. If you opt for the latter, you can cherry pick who you talk to, but it is significantly more labor intensive!
General Online Recruitment Tips
Whichever platform you choose for your strategy, there are several things you can do to get better results:
- Write a very specific job description for your advertisement. The more specific you are, the better quality your applications are likely to be.
- Make sure you have a pre-employment screening strategy in place before you start, and use it to filter through applications.
- Remember that online recruitment is likely to result in at least a few international applications. Make sure you have a plan to deal with international background checks too.
Online recruitment really is a great tool for companies of all sizes, and since it is quick, easy and cost effective to get started, it’s definitely worth your time to explore this option.
