Online recruiting has been around as long as the Internet has been around. (For those of you interested in counting, you might be surprised by how long that’s actually been.)
If you’ve been in the game since the advent of the World Wide Web, you might remember how the Internet was touted as the “end of agency recruiting.” Employers won’t need to use recruiters anymore. After all, they have the Internet. All of the candidates in the world are at their disposal. Online recruiting will vanquish agency recruiters and executive search consultants!
That, of course, did not happen. But the practice of recruiting people online lives on, because not only can companies and organizations use the seemingly unlimited power of the Internet, but so can search consultants. That’s because it doesn’t matter if you’re a corporate recruiter, an agency recruiter, or a hiring manager. The steps of the recruiting process are essentially the same.
And the reason that online recruiting did not replace search consultants? Two words: passive candidates. These candidates, some of which represent the top talent in the marketplace, rarely spend time looking or jobs online. As a result, they are more difficult to identify and more difficult to recruit. Which is why the executive search industry has continued to flourish.
But about that recruiting process . . .
How to recruit online
As you probably already know, there are many steps to the recruiting process. These same steps apply to the recruiting people online. The only difference, of course, is that the power of the Internet is being put to use more extensively during the latter. Below are the most critical recruitment process steps:
- Identifying the hiring need
- Planning the process for talent acquisition
- Searching (or sourcing) for talent
- Identifying viable candidates
- Recruiting of A-level candidates
- Telephone screening
- Interviewing (in-person or interview)
- Offering of employment
- Hiring of the candidate
- Onboarding of the candidate
So when it comes to how to recruit people online, you must ask yourself how you can put the power of the Internet to use in each of these steps and how doing so will streamline the process overall and make your life easier. Simply put, if you want to recruit online with a high degree of success, then you should incorporate online recruiting tips into the process whenever and where appropriate.
Where might you find some of these strategies and tips? You’re in luck! We have some for you!
Online recruiting strategies and tips
If you’re an agency recruiter or search consultant, then you might be pitting your efforts against those of the hiring managers and decision makers of your clients. And if that’s the case, you certainly want to beat them. With that in mind, below are six easy and effective online recruiting tips for search consultants:
#1—Design a jobs page that is mobile-friendly.
Let’s face it: mobile technology and its usage has exploded during the past several years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. More people have smartphones and more people are using them to do more things. There are countless studies and myriad statistics that will validate this claim, so much so that it’s pointless to list them all here. The overwhelming use of mobile technology is an accepted truth, same as the fact the grass is green and the sky is blue. (Okay, the sky isn’t actually blue, but it looks blue, and that’s close enough.)
The bottom line: you need to make the jobs page on your agency or firm’s website mobile-friendly. If you fail to do this, then your efforts will suffer.
#2—Create and implement a social media strategy
Social media should definitely be part of your online recruiting strategies. If it isn’t already, then get cracking! Specifically, starting networking online through social media channels, posting in forums related to your industry, and share relevant content with your connections and/or followers. Oh, and I almost forgot. Post your open positions on social media and provide a link so that people can check out the jobs and apply for them!
#3—Pre-Screen candidates with employment screening tests.
There are three areas in which you should screen. They include cognitive ability tests, personality tests, and theoretical problems involving simulated on-the-job scenarios. Balance the results of all three tests against other factors when deciding which candidates will move on and which ones will not. (Fun fact: the Big Biller online recruiting software has an integration with VerifiedFirst, the premier background and drug screening company in North America.)
#4—Utilize video for communication purposes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put video front and center, so it should definitely be part of your online recruiting strategies. And we’re not just talking about video interviewing, either. Video can be used for all sorts of other things. For one, people are more likely to share videos on social media than they are other forms of content. For another, your agency or firm can use video to brand itself in a positive fashion and also to “sell” the attractiveness of its open positons. Win-win!
#5—Build a personal brand, but keep it professional.
This is a tricky strategy. On the one hand, you want to effectively engage candidates (especially top candidates), and on the other, it’s important to establish and maintain a professional tone. Increasing the level of difficulty is the fact that the majority of today’s job candidates, namely Millennials and Generation Z, grew up with technology. They expect a personal engagement, but they also expect an authentic one. Make sure your online message checks both of these boxes.
Online recruiting software for executive search consultants
You might be asking yourself, “Hey, where’s the sixth tip?” Well, we saved the best for last, because the last tip is to use a powerful online recruiting software. It makes sense, does it not, to use a powerful online software if you want to learn how to recruit online with more accuracy and more effectiveness?
Big Biller makes it simple to recruit people online. The software takes you through all of the steps of the recruiting and process, providing tools and features for each of the step so that you can streamline them and save time.
In addition, ig Biller is not a fly-by-night recruiting software. We’ve been in the market for 20 years, so we’ve seen the advent of the Internet and all of the opportunities that recruiting online offers, as well as the challenges that it presents. The bottom line is that Big Biller gives you the opportunity to do everything on your recruiting desk better, faster, and more effectively.
The best way to find out what Big Biller can do for you is to try it FREE for 15 days. When you sign up for a trial, NO credit card is required and you’ll get the full version of the software. You can also sign up for a LIVE demonstration of the Big Biller online recruiting software.
If you’d like more information before deciding how to proceed with Big Biller, we encourage you contact us.
