Evaluating Recruitment Websites

With the thousands of websites offering online recruitment how do you establish a standard of evaluating these sites? The steps outlined below will help you in creating an evaluation guide.

Determine Your Goal For Using The Internet As A Recruitment Tool: Ask yourself a few questions when determining your reasons. Are you looking to receive a lot of resumes? Are you looking to reduce your cost per hire? Will you be combining your online recruitment efforts with print advertising? How much time do you or your staff have to invest in an additional recruitment tool?

Evaluate Your Recruitment Budget: Consider what you currently spend on recruitment and determine if you will receive additional dollars for online recruitment or if you will have to budget your current dollars. If no additional dollars are being budgeted then decide how much of your current budget can be allocated to online recruitment. Having a clear idea of the funds you have to work with will assist you in developing your online recruitment program.
Research Basic Types Of Online Services:
1. Job Listing Boards
2. Resume Databases
3. Matching Services
4. Newsgroups
5. Search Engines
Compare Pricing Models: One of the more daunting tasks you will encounter is evaluating the many different pricing models of online recruitment sites. Before you begin know that there is no standard pricing model in the online recruitment industry. It is almost impossible to make an apples to apples comparison of prices between sites. To overcome this obstacle approximate how many job postings you have per month, per year, if you need a resume database, automated resume agents, display ads etc. Once you’ve identified your specific recruitment needs you will be able to better evaluate which pricing models provide the best value for your dollar.
Evaluate The Quality Of The Recruitment Site: What type of customer service does the site offer for employers and job seekers? Is the site easy to navigate? How long are jobs posted on the site? Where do they get their jobs? How long are resumes posted on the site? Where do they get their resumes? Is the site well kept, working, and updated frequently?
Investigate The Visibility Of The Recruitment Site: Are they listed in search engines and directories? Do they advertise and if so where? How do they attract job seekers to their site? By asking these questions you can identify if their marketing efforts are bringing targeted job seekers to the site or a random audience.
Understand The Process Of Posting And Updating Your Jobs: Find out in advance how the site will accept your jobs. Are they flexible? Will they accept email attachments, faxed copies, or download them from your corporate website. Getting this information in advance will not only assist you in gauging the customer service level of the organization but will save you headaches in the future!