The Internet has added a new dimension to Human Resources and Recruiting that is both exciting and overwhelming. Technology, marketing, purchasing, and research skills are now crucial to a successful Internet recruiting strategy. The problem is, how do you go from being an excellent Human Resources Manager or Recruiter, to “Marketer Extraordinaire” and “Webmaster Guru”? Partnering internally with these departments or working externally with organizations specializing in these areas will help you to capitalize on skills needed to build a top-notch recruitment strategy. I suggest don’t try to do it all. Taking advantage of the experts in these areas is much easier and cheaper to do than you would imagine. Over my next few articles I will be focusing on different aspects of building this much needed strategy by giving you options and exploring vendors that may be able to assist you. To start, let’s look at how you are using the Internet to recruit candidates currently. If you are like most, you have your obligatory Monster subscription and probably are posting your jobs to it as well. You have not had time to focus on niche marketplaces on the Internet nor have you had time to research and review the thousands of other job boards available to you because frankly it’s a bit frustrating weeding the chaff from the wheat when you have a limited budget! Personal experience has led me to create a list of questions I use to interview each job board as well as go through an extensive demo before any outlay of cash. Unfortunately, most of the time when they have made the cut I am discouraged to find after a week’s worth of use the board does not fit my needs! Many companies have tried to use their current classified advertising agency to sort through the job board mess but have been given limited options since newspapers and publications are where their expertise lies. There is a company out there who specializes in building Internet recruitment strategies for their clients when it comes to weeding through the job boards and deciding how to get the most for your money. The International Internet Recruiting Consultants, most commonly known as IIRC, works with companies based on their current budget and recruiting needs to establish a purchasing and recruiting strategy. The best thing about this IIRC consulting is that it is free! IIRC will evaluate the types of positions you recruit for and match it to the demographics given them by each job board all within the constraints of your budget. If you decide to move forward with their free proposal, they will then negotiate rates, set up your accounts and deliver all of the training to you. They work like a one stop shop so you don’t have to work with 10+ vendors. IIRC also uses proprietary multi-job posting software that can assist you in posting to the most appropriate of places all with the use of one form. Unlike some classified agencies, IIRC does not own a job board themselves so you don’t have to worry about bias in their proposals. By capitalizing on the expertise of vendors you can save yourself a lot of time and money (especially when the expertise is free). A specialized recruitment strategy can target your search for qualified candidates so that you spend your time hiring instead of weeding through unqualified resumes. Next time, we’ll focus on building a world-class career website to measure and organize all of the responses you should be getting from your specialized posting campaign.