Online Recruitment Strategies for Business Owners

Many growing businesses face the ongoing challenge of recruiting qualified employees for open positions. When it comes to identifying and screening potential workers, business owners typically rely on strategies ranging from tapping informal networks or outsourcing their company's hiring needs to a staffing agency. The Internet has also become an integral part of recruitment.
The Internet offers efficiency because it reaches a wide audience and is popular with many job seekers who sign up for daily e-mail job alerts from recruitment websites. Electronic job postings generally allow employers to post detailed job descriptions for long periods of time. In an online ad, you may also be permitted to include a link to your company website, where you can post more in-depth information about the position and your organization.
While posting jobs online is only one of several recruitment channels available, you may find that posting on job boards and emailing targeted candidates is faster, more efficient, and less expensive than placing print ads or paying a new hire fee to a staffing agency. Depending on the size and scope of your recruitment needs, you may want to explore recruiting software with tools for posting online ads, scheduling interviews, evaluating applicants, getting job referrals, and communicating with candidates.

Getting Started

Before you begin the recruitment process, regardless of your strategies, it's important to clearly identify the needs of your business and how new employees can best contribute to your company's success. For example, you may be inundated with paperwork and phone calls, and decide to hire an administrative assistant. You would make a detailed outline of all the responsibilities required of an assistant and how the tasks should be completed. You would also need to consider the skills and experience a qualified candidate should have to do the job well. Simply wanting help isn't enough—create a list of the performance expectations that you can use as a starting point in your search for the right candidate. You may find that recruiting software can help you analyze your needs and write an appropriate job description for an ad.
To start, make the most of your own website. If hiring new employees is a priority for the growth of your business, prominently feature employment information on your home page. At the very least, be sure that visitors can easily locate your career opportunities page. Be sure to use descriptive language that will attract potential applicants. Include information about whom to contact for further details and how to submit resumes. Recruiting software can also help you design and manage the recruitment function of your website.

Internet Job Boards

Determining which third-party Internet recruitment sites would be the most appropriate can be challenging. There are countless job posting sites, and more are added every day. While posting ads on well-known national job sites may allow you to reach large numbers of applicants, you may end up being overwhelmed with more resumes than you can read—let alone respond to—particularly if the job is entry level.
To reach a more targeted group of job seekers, look for employment sites based in your geographic area or sites dedicated to your type of business. If the position you are seeking to fill requires specialized skills, advertise on sites that are frequented by workers in that field. If you belong to any professional or industry associations, check out their websites to see if they have a section for job posting. You may also be able to post positions at little or no cost on the job boards of educational institutions or state and local employment agencies.
To get the best results from your electronic posting, take advantage of the keyword and location filters supplied by the website. These filters help ensure that your ad is seen by the type of job seekers you are targeting.
Be aware, however, that not all Internet employment sites offer the same level of service. Spend some time browsing potential sites, making sure that the posted information is up to date, the site is easy to navigate, and the search engine operates smoothly. To find out if the job seekers who use a particular site are likely to meet the required qualifications, you can purchase access to the site's resume database. The site may also be able to provide information about the number of visitors it receives and how much time they spend on the site. If you are still uncertain about whether to post an ad on a particular job board, ask yourself if you would use the site if you were job hunting.

Using Social Media

Besides using job boards, take advantage of the speed and convenience of posting job openings on social media sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Qualified candidates who may not necessarily visit online job boards may be more inclined to check out social networking sites for job openings.
In addition, you may want to email your job description directly to your network of professional contacts, and ask them for referrals. This can be a very effective way to find good candidates. Some recruiting software packages also scour the web for potential candidates, and can automatically email people whose posted résumés match the job description.
Whatever recruitment strategies you choose, it will be well worth the time, effort, and resources to find and hire the right person. Taking on a new employee is an investment in your business—choose carefully and that investment will deliver impressive returns. As Internet job boards become a mainstay for job seekers, you may find that online recruitment strategies can be a faster, more efficient, and less expensive way to recruit top candidates.