Randomness and recruiting
How can job boards even continue to exist? Because they connect job seekers and those who want to employ them. If a job board doesn’t do this simple task successfully, it eventually goes out of business.
But as any hiring manager, HR director, or recruiter knows, job boards are not the only solution. Why? Because the employment market is incredibly….random.
Think about it. If you’re a job seeker, you’re expected to know about the relevant job boards for your industry, the top recruiters specializing in your sector, the best social networks, the right Twitter feeds, the best company career sites to track, and you have to monitor these every day. That’s a lot of information to pull together in order to execute a comprehensive, focused job search.
On the other side of the fence, if you’re an employer, you have the reverse problem: which of the dozens of recruiting tools should you use? The best recruiters live in their job seekers’ world – they know where these folks hang out, where they look when they’re looking, which technique brings the highest return. But many companies don’t have the luxury of such recruiters. They rely on whatever they did last time around, or whatever sounds interesting.
Thus…randomness. Each new technology (social networks? Twitter?) or tool or service promises to bring order to the random nature of the employment world. Some even do. (I believe that niche job boards and social networks are huge boons to effective recruiting, for example). But nothing is the one and only answer. Even now there is a great, perfectly qualified and motivate job seeker looking for a job. And there’s an employer with a challenging postion that needs that particular person.
I’m betting they don’t find each other. But I’ll continue to work to change that.
How about you?
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This is why employers should use recruitment agencies such as The David Group. I hate to blogwhore my own company, but we make it a specialty to be in the social media sphere, researching and learning not only where great candidates can be found, but what tools are best to reach them.
We understand ROI so you can tweak your strategy and drop what isn’t working. If you’re not getting great nursing candidates posting your jobs through Twitter, we can measure that and adjust your strategy accordingly. If more nurses can be reached through Facebook, we can deliver your targeted messages there. If your niche site is costly and unproductive, we can find better ones.
Trying to do your own hiring, especially if you do quite a high volume, and not talking to recruitment marketing specialists is rather like trying to do your own surgery. You might have a good idea of what you’re going to try, but the results aren’t likely to be as pretty or as effective.
Great insights. Thanks for reaffirming that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for both job seekers and those on the employer size. While it’s great that Twitter and other social networks exist to help with the job/employee search, they shouldn’t be used in lieu of job boards…Job seekers and employers should use every avenue that’s available (and relevant) to them – and be open to trying new ways to network or recruit. Especially now, when employers can’t necessarily just “rely on whatever they did last time around,” they need to be a little more innovative and resourceful in their talent search.
well done Jeff!! I love your new website – has a great look. I added you to my blogroll and subscribes to your feed. Looking forward to reading you.
— Eric