The Internet Effect

How has the Internet changed your business in the last five years? As a Recruiter it feels like a giant tidal wave has taken my old recruiting model and flipped it on it’s end! In fact, Internet Recruiting and Job Hunting has been growing at compound rates so that “…with an estimated 5 million resumes available online at more than 300 web sites, finding qualified new employees over the Internet has already become a tedious and time-consuming process for recruiters,” Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research for Computer Economics told Newsbytes. “With the number of employment sites expected to grow to 1,200 by 2002, and the number of available resumes expected to increase to more than 16 million during that span, the sheer volume of resumes poses a dire threat to online recruiting, he added.” So now I ask you again, how has the Internet changed your business in the last five years and more importantly, are you planning and preparing for the next five years of Internet growth? Here are a few points to consider when building your Internet Recruiting budget and plan…

Think Globally – Is your corporate Internet site sensitive to a global audience? It’s hard to wrap our mind around something we can place in cyberspace that anyone in the world can view and will view. Luckily for us in the United States, English is the primary language on the Internet when it comes to recruiting. In fact, most countries post their jobs and resumes in English. For the first time in history, a recruiter is able to hire internationally and potentially not have to pay a cent! A Recruiter’s pool of candidates is not only citywide but statewide, nationwide, and worldwide! Let your site reflect this perspective.

Consider Paying Relocation – This point builds on the last. Our old recruiting model told us to pay for relocation for only the very senior level positions and this usually always was accompanied by using a nationwide Headhunter. Not so anymore. The Internet offers a worldwide pool of candidates at your fingertips which means a larger variety of talent to choose from.
Know Where to Search on the Internet OR Outsource to Those Who Do – Based on the article above with over 16 million resumes on the Internet, the importance of knowing where to search, what tools to use, and how to be most efficient in your search process is a daunting task. If you don’t have the time to research, learn and grow in this area, either hire a pure Internet Researcher (as many companies are currently doing) or outsource to those who are experts. I recommend you use a firm that guarantees their work or else you will spend a lot of money and may get very little results!
Be the Job Seeker – Have you ever gone onto your corporate site and pretended to be a job seeker? How easy was it for you to drop off your resume? Did you have a clear understanding of each job? Does your company sound like a great place to work? You may become dismayed at what you first see but take notes and make those changes! Some things to maybe include are an email link to a person in the department of the position that you use as an ambassador of sorts or a link to your local Sidewalk.com. **Make sure you specify whether you will pay relocation for the different positions you have and you may even want to add salary ranges in order to attract appropriate candidates.
Recruiters As Marketers – Currently you probably place your jobs on a few job boards but are you actively marketing your jobs, and more importantly, your site on the Internet! You can work with your Classified Advertising Agency to help you with this or get online and research your industry using a variety of software tools like Alexa. Many places are free to link to and by getting your company name out there, you will quickly become an employer of choice.
Focus! – The Internet has expanded the HR and Recruiter role so much so that it is important to know what you are good at and possibly look to outsource some of the other things. If you are not a creative, marketing guru then use a classified advertising agency. If you are not into reading resumes all day and searching on the Internet then hire a researcher. If you are working with a zillion temp agencies and have over 25 temporaries on site at any given time then use an on-site service. With so much to do and so many options, it is important to prioritize, plan, and delegate. Don’t let the Internet tidal wave pull you under!