However, as easy as online recruitment may seem to be, one has to invest a lot of time and effort. Of course, you know the basics of the search, like posting vacant position on popular job boards, but there’s so much more you can do to increase your chances of getting the most qualified candidates.
Let’s review 7 laws of online recruitment that can really advance your search.
Law #1. Improve Website of Your Company
Imagine the situation: a candidate sees a job posting created by your company and decides to see that the business is all about. They click on the link that redirects them to the company’s website, and they arrive at an outdated, poorly maintained site. Naturally, this way you can create an impression of a bad company that neglects to keep its online business card e.g., the website, in order.
Tips:
- Always keep your website updated in terms of information and design
- Create a special section for candidates, like “Careers” and “Work for Us”
- Write an attractive description of your company on “About Us” page
- Clearly, describe the benefits that the company provides for candidates (“Why Work for Us”).
Let’s review an example: Ernst & Young Careers Page.
Why it is an excellent example:
- It outlines all areas in which a candidate can work with the company (Advisory, Assurance, Tax, Transactions, and Support Services).
- It describes the benefits that a candidate will obtain while working with them (Why EY? How Will I Develop? sections)
- It describes what is like to work at Ernst & Young, progress, and achieve personal goals (What’s It Like? Section).
Law #2: Use Social Media
Websites like LinkedIn and Facebook offers a free access to hundreds of thousands of potential candidates, so using them in your online recruitment strategy is a critical requirement. In the recent years, the number of online recruiters using social media has been steadily rising; in fact, social professional networks has outperformed Internet job boards in 2016, according to Global Recruiting Trends report created by LinkedIn.
Source: Global Recruiting Trends report by LinkedIn
No surprises here. Just take a look at LinkedIn – where else can you will over 500 million business professionals in one place showing their expertise and experience? Moreover, it has special tools like LinkedIn Recruiter to help with finding and engaging with the most qualified candidates. It works great, too: 75 percent of recruiters using the tool reported a successful outcome.
Law #3: Maintain Personal Touch
While looking for candidates online, you should remember that online interactions cannot replace personal ones, which are much more effective. Therefore, you need to ensure that every interaction with a potential candidate you address online should be personalized as much as possible. You know the importance of building rapport in business, right?
Tips:
- Research the candidate’s experience, educational background, and interests
- Compose a specific text tailored to a candidate’s needs
- Go for a casual tone (Hi / Hello [candidate’s name])
- Use name. Never, ever write an email that starts with “Dear candidate.”
Law #4: Engage in Passive Recruiting
This may sound like a waste of time, but passive recruiting is a legitimate technique that has been rising in popularity in the recent years. The traditional search involves posting a job vacancy on the Internet and waiting for the resumes to select the most qualified candidate. The passive recruiting, on the other hand, has recruiters searching for candidates who are not looking for job.
They find them online, contact them using email (that’s the preferred method by both parties), and briefly describe the vacancy. The quality of passive candidates is often higher; for example, 2016 Candidate Engagement report from Hudson RPO and HRO Today found that the majority of recruiters left that passive candidate were better in quality than active ones.
Source: 2016 Candidate Engagement Report
Law #5: Harness the Power of Talent Analytics
In the recent decades, the amount of data used by recruiters and companies has exploded. As they continue to look for more candidates, more data is being generated every day, so this data should be used to guide recruiting approach and help to make it more strategic.
Data-driven recruiting, which is driven by Applicant Tracking Systems, is being increasingly adopted these days because it ties candidate and employee data with strategic workforce planning.
Benefits of data-driven recruitment strategy for companies include:
- Increased quality of hire
- Workforce planning
- Easy data collection and analysis
- Timely HR decisions
Law #6: Embrace Mobile
As a recruiter, you need to pay attention to mobile in order to succeed because mobile traffic has already passed desktop traffic, meaning that Google will prioritize mobile-optimized sites in the search results. If your company does not have a responsive website design, chances are the competitors will outperform you in terms of getting quality traffic.
Major job boards have already adapted. For example, a popular site Indeed provides a mobile site. It has a user-friendly interface, which is critical to deliver a pleasant experience for candidates.
Law #7: Use Premium Options
Don’t be afraid to invest in advertising of your company when needed. Facebook and LinkedIn have premium advertisement options that can really expand your reach. They won’t burn a hole in your pocket and can be a great source of traffic, too.
Time to Recruit
There is no question that online recruiting has helped to find new talent in a much more effective way. But being online is only a piece of a puzzle, you have to do more. The most successful hiring strategy follow the laws of online recruiting, how about you?
Tom Jager is professional blogger. He works at Awriter. He has degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+ or Facebook.
