The Internet has forever changed the world of recruiting. Candidates for all types of jobs in a variety of industries now use the Internet as a key job search tool. And recruiters use these same means to find the best possible employees to fill their open positions. The world of e-recruitment is still evolving but, over the past decade, it has revolutionized the way large and small companies handle their staffing needs.
On the other hand, some things never change. Networking is still one of the best ways for recruiters and candidates to find each other. How that networking happens, however, has also evolved over time. Online social networking is now the tool of choice for many recruiters eager to find the candidates they simply can’t reach using their own personal network. A joint survey conducted by the Human Capital Institute (HCI) and ExecuNet found that 62 percent of recruiters feel that networking is the best way to source senior-level candidates. Nearly 70 percent of managers selected networking as their top job search tool.
Today’s major recruiters use a variety of online tools to target and hire the best candidates. E-recruitment goes far beyond online job sites and emailed resumes. It’s a way of embracing the collaborative nature of Web 2.0—tools like social networking, video, blogs, podcasts, text messaging, and more—to streamline and enhance the recruitment process.
Most recruiters understand the potential benefits of online networking as a recruitment tool. Keeping up with the latest sites, techniques, and trends, however, can be daunting, particularly for those who are time-pressed or less technically savvy. Here’s a quick overview of some of the latest trends.
Social networking is now a preferred recruitment tool. In the early days of social networking, many business professionals felt that social networking sites were the domain of the young and didn’t see an initial benefit to the business world. But the world of social networking has greatly expanded to reach all demographics. Today, most recruiters understand the value that online networking can offer, and many actively participate on at least one site, such as LinkedIn or Ryze. In particular, social networking has become the optimal tool for recruiting elusive, passive candidates.
In addition to searching for potential candidates, recruiters are becoming proactive and now market themselves on social networking sites. The best recruiters develop connections with candidates even if they don’t match their current search needs and use social networking as a way to demonstrate their expertise and professional reputation as a recruiter.
Although most of these sites lack a true social networking component, they embrace certain features of social networking, such as profiles. Sites like Jigsaw (www.jigsaw.com), Itzbig (www.itzbig.com), ZoomInfo (www.zoominfo.com), Spock (www.spock.com), Spoke (www.spoke.com), and others enable recruiters and candidates to find each other with greater ease.
More and more recruiters are using software that searches the Internet, including social networking sites, for potential candidates. Applications such as AIRS SourcePoint (www.airsdirectory.com) and infoGIST Platinum Recruiter (www.infogist.com) make performing a social network search even easier for busy recruiters.
Corporate HR departments have also discovered the power of social networking. Many employers recognize the value of a social networking presence as a way to entice passive job candidates. The CIA and Ernst & Young, for example, both have a presence on Facebook, aiming to attract young, college-educated employees. Other companies use video as their means of communication, posting recruitment videos on sites such as YouTube. Google, the Yuma Police Department, and the CIA all use YouTube as a way to connect with potential employees.
The recruiters who profit the most from this new world of recruiting are those who are open to new ways of doing things and focus on the benefits of e-recruitment. Adapting to rapidly changing technology can be a daunting chore to some and a time-consuming passion to others, but the technology isn’t what’s pivotal; it’s the collaboration. In essence, focusing on the increased opportunities for communication and collaboration with people you couldn’t meet in the real world is what e-recruitment is all about.