As technology develops, so do recruitment methods. Especially over the past ten years, technology has played an increasingly larger role in recruiting. In looking at these technological advancements, it’s easy to see how recruiting methods have changed tremendously.
As employers and HR professionals have sought to improve upon the traditional recruiting methods, we have seen a number of new developments that have become mainstream practice in recruiting. This blog will be the first of many to come outlining these changes and giving tips and tricks as to how you can stay ahead of the game in your approach to hiring.
Traditional Recruiting Methods
Before we discuss these new developments, let’s take a walk back and review the most frequently used recruiting methods of the past ten years to see how much recruiting has changed and the possibilities that are present for the future.
Newspaper advertisements in the local paper — one of the oldest and most widely used recruiting methods and used to be the best way to advertise to reach the most people. However, current newspaper sales have dropped considerably and many papers are struggling to get by. People are increasingly turning to online sources for the news and job advertisements have followed suit in moving to online outlets.
Employee referrals were and continue to be used frequently. They’re still the best way to get quality applicants. However, now the practice of encouraging employee referrals has become more refined (and often digital) and more formal programs are often built into human resources practices.
Job agencies and temp agencies are a popular choice to fill positions quickly both for temporary and full-time positions. Temp agencies were and are great sources of candidates as the agencies do most of the hard work in sourcing and recruiting candidates. However, the costs of using a job agency are high, especially when compared with the accessibility of using less expensive online methods.
While today these traditional methods are still popular, new advancements are challenging and improving upon them.
Automated Online Job Applications
Hiring managers and human resource personnel used to spend many hours poring over resumes and application letters. Finding quality candidates for the next stage of hiring is a time consuming process, as companies often have a difficult time just addressing the sheer amount of resumes. This is where automated online job applications have come in to ease the burden upon organizations.
At a basic level, automated online job applications work as an initial screener to weed out the unsuitable candidates and choose those who are deemed suitable to progress further along. On a company’s website, applicants are directed to upload their resume details either by uploading their resume document or filling out a standardized form.
Automated online applications are still a relatively new technology that is continuing to develop and improve. There are the obvious disadvantages that come from the lack of having a human behind the scenes. However, as job seekers voice their concerns, online applications are getting more effective and more personal. Companies are now adopting more live support so applicants can engage with recruiters and receive status updates on the progress of applications.
How Social Media Has Changed Recruiting
One of the bigger game changers in recruiting in the past ten years is the advent of the social media — where companies are now engaging and being engaged with the public. If used well, “eRecruiting” can be a very cost and time-effective method of hiring. There are many sites catering to a range of industries and professions, but for now let’s look at the three of the most popular sites: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
LinkedIn has really grown in popularity and usage over the past few years and is poised for more growth. The biggest fans of LinkedIn are even predicting that this medium will be the future of recruiting. The reason LinkedIn has become such a recruitment staple is that it is replacing and drastically redefining the traditional employee database. LinkedIn has members from the largest companies in the world across 130 different industries and over 100,000 recruiters.
LinkedIn allows employers and recruiters to tap into the large “passive” job seeker pool like nothing else can. While is it easy to engage with active job seekers, it is much harder to find channels of communication with those not actively looking for a job.
Referrals are common and encouraged, and as such, LinkedIn provides a new channel for employee referrals. Because it’s easy to keep in contact with current or past employers and colleagues, LinkedIn allows people to make connections with mentors and others in a similar profession; these connections can be authentic and valuable.
Facebook is more commonly used for social and personal purposes, but can also be a valuable tool when it comes to recruiting. Out of the social networking sites, Facebook has the biggest reach by far. With a Facebook presence, an organization as the ability to connect with more people and show their employer brand. You can use your current employees to send out posts on job advertisements for your website that will attract traffic from their friends and acquaintances. You can build fans and engage closely with your following.
Twitter can be used in a similar fashion as Facebook, to identify and engage closely with your following, announce job openings, and drive traffic to your website. Twitter also boasts an enormous reach and it is free! Recruiters seem to be on two sides of the Twitter coin: some are embracing it, while some are writing it off as just a young person’s medium. As a new tool for recruiting, we are only just starting to see the potential of Twitter.
How Recruiting Methods Have Changed — The Wrap up
These are just some of the differences — we’ve only scratched the surface. But join us in the blog in the next few weeks as we look into the specifics of how the hiring and recruiting game has changed and how you can take advantage of all the new tools and techniques out there to hire the best person for the job.
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