Many employees and recruiters have realised that in a digital world, digital recruiting is the only way to ensure you utilise the best ways to hire talented employees online. With so many social and professional networks out there, attracting top candidates to your advertisement requires a deep understanding of the online mediums available.
Life Online
Recruitment has changed almost immeasurably in the past few years, with the rise of social media and online-based business strategy meaning recruiters have had to adapt the way in which they search for candidates. However, it appears as though many businesses lack the actual know-how to attract potential candidates effectively, knowing they need to use the technology that is out there, but unaware of how to use it to its full advantage.
Recruitment firm Futurestep recently conducted a survey which found that 74% of HR professionals say they think their business could benefit from more innovative and contemporary ways of recruitment – and hiring talented employees online does just that. Using social media or other online recruitment platforrms allows a business or brand to appear modern and unafraid of the changing face of job seeking. Whilst only 20% of people looking at sites like LinkedIn are actively searching for work, 95% are what’s known as ‘passively seeking’, which essentially means that whilst they are happy in their job and not looking to change, if the right position for the right company came along, they would apply.
This suggests that it is as much down to the company to persuade candidates to apply, rather than candidates clamouring to get an interview. With that knowledge, recruiters must be aware that they are now in a competitive market and simply advertising a position to a static job board just does not work effectively in a modern age.
First Steps Forward
For companies looking to move the recruitment side of their business into the online sphere, there are steps to take in order to ensure you are not only promoting your brand in the right way, but also avoiding the common pitfalls that can be found entering such a transient medium.
When recruiting people online, it is important to give your brand the platform it needs to adequately attract the right kind of candidates. Some things to consider when starting your search online:
• Have a clear idea of who you are looking for – with so many online job sites and a multitude of dedicated professional networks, you need to be fully aware of the type of candidate you wish to hire so you can more accurately target them.
• Expand your current network – recruiters looking to online platforms to hire talented employees online should themselves be aware of each network and platform and how they work, adapting and expanding to give the company brand a larger online presence therefore multiplying the chance of attracting passive candidates.
• Show an interest – recruiters should be communicable at all stages of the process, and this is the same for online recruitment. Digital recruitment may not take place face-to-face but it is important that the candidate feels as though they are being considered because of their personality as well as their skills on paper. A large number of new recruits struggle to maintain jobs due to something as simple as a personality clash, so getting to know candidates is imperative before an offer is made.
The Future
The future is actually not that far away, with new apps and sites becoming available every day to help people find their dream job. Mobile recruiting has become one of the most popular ways people now search for jobs and it is thought that up to 60% of job seekers now list it as their primary searching source.
This means that recruiters who are yet to catch up to online trends may be left behind even further if they are not up to speed with mobile recruiting as well. Semantic recruitment agency Textkernal is using matching tools in order to maximise the chances of companies being teamed with workers that reach the required skill set rather than having to sift through thousands of profiles. Moreover, Textkernal also gives candidates the opportunity to apply with a range of online profiles; in the same way as signing up to new website allows you to combine the account with Facebook or Twitter, Textkernal’s ‘apply with’ widget allows candidates to choose a profile that works specifically with the job they are searching for.
Mobile recruiting, and indeed all recruiting that takes place via a digital medium, is both innovative and creative. In the same way that large companies have had to adapt their advertising and marketing processes to suit the online world, so must recruiters if they are to find talented employees online.
Castle Hill House