If you’re not a part of the online hiring trend, you’re really missing out. The hiring process is no longer limited solely to print ads, job fairs, or word-of-mouth advertising — when looking for employees, with all the advancements made with the internet, there is now a plethora of new outlets to showcase your available positions.
But maybe you don’t know how best to go about this whole online hiring thing. Just like the traditional hiring sources, it has possible pitfalls. However, those pitfalls are not all the same. Plus there seem to be so many options in general for hiring online. Well we want to help you out. This is an overview and the first entry in our “Finding Employees Online” series.
Whereas traditional hiring sources offer limited places to look for employees (post an ad, put a sign in the window, use a recruiting agency, etc.), online hiring offers not only digital versions of that, but other options as well.
Freelancer Marketplaces
For freelancers and telecommuting jobs (and independent contractors), these are currently the places to go. Countless numbers of these sites exist, but the two names that seem to come up the most are Elance and oDesk (honorable mentions include Guru.com and freelance.com).
Elance and oDesk are very similar in that clients post jobs and contractors bid on them, they offer freelancers in similar categories (writing, editing, graphic design, programming, marketing, etc.), and you can find both one-off and long-term employees along with client and contractor ratings. However, the two sites do have their differences. Aside from the fees (Elance takes 8.75 percent of each contract, while oDesk charges 10 percent), oDesk seems to attract a more internationally diverse crowd and services can often be purchased for lower rates. If you choose to use any site of this type, make sure to create a VERY specific ad, pay close attention to contractor applications and profiles, and try to devise some sort of test assignment if possible for potential contractors before awarding your project. Also, make sure you’re familiar with the tax situation(s) for utilizing independent contractors both in the U.S. and internationally, should you choose to go that route.
Classifieds
Let’s face it, there’s really one big name in online classifieds …
Craigslist
Though it came from humble beginnings (originating in 1995 as an email list of San Francisco Events), Craigslist is now an international classified-ads juggernaut, with more than seven hundred local sites in seventy countries. Currently, it receives more than 1 million new job listings per month. Now if you’re looking for a new CEO or CFO, Craigslist probably isn’t an ideal destination, but for less top-level positions or freelancers, it’s a viable free or flat-fee option (certain major local sites have a job posting fee that help keep Craigslist up and running). Probably the biggest downside to Craigslist is its risk potential — there’s obviously no vetting of applicants in any way, shape, or form, so you’ll have to be extremely cautious when it comes to sifting through responses to your advertisement. You’ll need to figure out if the free or low rate posting is worth the extra time you’ll need to devote to checking out applicants.
Social Networks
Currently, a majority (55 percent) of American job listings are on at least two social networks at a time. Considering 92 percent of employers either currently use or intend to use social networks for finding employees, social recruiting is a valid bandwagon to jump on. Also, seeing people’s social networking profiles often gives you a chance to see their public presentation of themselves. Considering that’s usually the version of them that comes to work, it’s pretty important (just make sure you can separate things that will affect their work abilities from those that won’t).
The most popular social recruiting site, LinkedIn has over 150 million members worldwide. LinkedIn not only allows you to search through all their members (with lots of options to help you narrow searches down to the top talent you’re looking for), but they allow you to post jobs there as well. Posting a job on LinkedIn comes with various benefits including the site’s “Jobs You May Be Interested In” feature that recommends your job to qualified candidates, being able to see exactly who has been viewing your job (to make sure you’re hitting your target demographic), and profile-matching technology that suggests qualified candidates to you once your job posting has gone up. It’s also a good idea to join LinkedIn groups specific to your industry and see which member seem to be the most active and helpful. This can take a little more time, but the best candidates are worth it. If you’d rather not do any of the work, LinkedIn offers a recruiting option that encompasses its passive as well as active members.
Most of the big boys have already flown to Twitter and created handles specifically for recruiting purposes (@PepsiCoJOBS, @xboxjobs, @JobsatGates, etc.). This step can help a company find qualified candidates who aren’t necessary LOOKING for a job (just because an excellent candidate isn’t actively seeking, doesn’t mean he or she wouldn’t be interested) and also help to make an employer more attractive to those who are. Christopher Hoyt, one of the tweeters behind @PepsiCoJOBS, explains that Twitter is “a fun way to interact that acts as a reminder for both parties that there’s a real person in that recruiter role or at the other end of that resume,” and that “the recruiting handle has directed more traffic to PepsiCo’s available jobs than any of the other social networking sites.” Twitter allows you to post job openings (which when re-tweeted can reach an untold amount of candidates), let potential employees know what the atmosphere of your company is like, and see how candidates interact with those around them without having to worry about the troublesome privacy options of other sites.
The least utilized out of the big three social recruiting sites (and yet the most popular of the social networking sites), Facebook can still help to broaden your candidate base. The Facebook Marketplace is the internet giant’s version of the classifieds (which are 100 percent free) and you can also post job openings on your company’s fan/business page (if you don’t have one, consider getting one). You can also use facebook to learn more about potential candidates depending on their privacy settings. Unfortunately, most job hunters don’t regularly think of looking for work on the site they love to visit to waste time.
TweetMyJobs
If dealing with the whole social recruiting shebang sounds like too much to handle yourself, consider TweetMyJobs whose “powerful service instantly distributes jobs to every corner of the digital landscape — social media, job sites, email and mobile — so you don’t miss out on finding great candidates.” They have a free option for small (hiring fewer than twenty-five employees a year) businesses and a bells and whistles option for “enterprises.”
Job Boards
There’s defintely a ton of worthy job boards out there (Snagajob, LinkedIn, etc.) and each is worth looking into if you’re serious about finding the best candidate, but for the purpose of keeping this post from going on forever, below are a few highlights we’ll look at specifically.
Niche Job Boards
Whatever business you’re in, odds are there are job boards devoted specifically to it. Future entries in this blog series will connect you to specific ones, but in the interest of this remaining in overview territory, we’ll just tell you that they’re out there and they’re an excellent place to find a large pool of candidates with the specific expertise you desire.
College Job Boards
You’re virtually guaranteed to find eager and educated candidates here. If you’re looking to fill entry-level positions, especially locally, definitely give surrounding colleges and universities a shot. Just remember, college students may not have a lot of experience in the working world in general, much less your specific industry (hence the “entry-level” recommendation).
Monster
While the internet is filled with job boards, first place still belongs to the original big gun, Monster.com. With 23 million candidates, 35.5 million site visits per month, a vast number of posting options, and free hiring tools, you can’t afford to NOT post on this consistently reliable source (though their prices might give you pause). Other general job boards have similar pricing, but on the net, names matter, and Monster is still the first one that comes to mind for most jobseekers.
CareerBuilder
The largest online job site in the U.S., with more than 24 million unique visitors a month, no discussion of job boards would be complete without mention of CareerBuilder. Founded in 1995 and now with approximately two thousand employees of their own, CareerBuilder also offers its own free hiring tools and serves as a hub of activity for employers and job seekers not just in the U.S., but throughout the world. Again, it may look pricey, but they offer volume discounts and excellent exposure to help you find the right type of candidate for your position.
Looking for Employees Online — Where to Go from Here
While traditional hiring sources seem to be fading in the current economy, the online hiring trend seems to have nowhere to go but up. As more job seekers take to the web, so do more employers. Some of the busiest and best candidates may have no other option than to job hunt online. Also, keep in mind that any applicants you attract through the web will at least be semi-computer savvy, a necessity in today’s workplace.
And never forget that ClearFit offers a vast array of tools and services to help alleviate any of your concerns about hiring online applicants. We’ll make sure that your final candidates are not only qualified, but that they are also the best fit for you, your company, and your position.
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