Leading the war for talent

In 2003, the number of career websites rose to over 90%.  Today, even the smallest of corporations strive to have their own websites for recruitment purposes.  Initially, corporations had rather static web pages where individuals would simply submit their resumes.  These resumes were collected, reviewed and stored but little interactivity between the candidates and the corporation existed. Many times I’m sure, it seemed the resume submission was heading toward nothing more than a “black hole” as no response or acknowledgement was ever received.

Today, recruiting is assisted by a plethora of internet sites including popular social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube in addition to the multiple general and niche job boards that are now found on the net. We also now have Twitter, Frappr, Snapfish and Flock as well as blogs and wikis.  Where will it end?

However, these multiple linkages benefit both job seekers as well as employers. As recently experienced by the young 10 year old singer who shared the stage with singing icon, Lady Gaga, word about credentials and opportunities on the internet spreads with lightning speed.  Candidates and employers alike are scouring the internet. Employers are searching for potential candidate names, backgrounds, and credentials while candidates are searching for network contacts and opportunities.

Yet, simply having a career website doesn’t necessarily produce results. In fact, candidates might be turned away quite dissatisfied with their experience interacting with your corporate recruiting website. This is especially so if the site is not easy to use and if the information is scattered and locked behind unusual icons. Candidates are looking for an immediate positive experience with their potential employer. They are looking for easy to find information, an opportunity to learn more about the corporate goals and objectives and an opportunity to develop a relationship. They want to be convinced that your company is the right one for them.

This requires corporations to improve their website so that candidates enter into an efficient job application process accompanied by a rich source of information on the company, the culture, the values and the jobs available. They want to see how their potential opportunity fits into the organization and they want to be able to quit the application process or save their draft more easily. In addition, they want opportunities for interaction and communication with the potential employer. This goes beyond a simple computerized thank you for your application. 

On the other hand, for the employer, new website and application processes allow for a recruiter to record telephone and/or in person discussions with each candidate and to save them for future review and consideration. It also allows for the development of a growing candidate database that saves time and energy for the recruiter, increases their overall recruitment productivity and decreases recruitment costs.

Another successful candidate contact strategy and one that I have adopted personally, is to create a specific web based “micro-site” for each new executive search assignment. This micro-site provides “one stop” shopping for candidates. Candidates don’t have to access the corporate mission and values page and then move to the corporate history page and then on the corporate career portal. Instead, everything in the micro site is related to the company and the specific job role is right there, easily accessible. In other words, it is a complete “information kit” that provides everything a candidate needs to know about an organization and their opportunity.

This approach provides a significant competitive edge with respect to marketing an opportunity to potential candidates. The micro-site is posted and listed with every avenue on the internet in order to create high levels of activity and it enables our firm to remain local, but have global reach in our search for candidates.