Has complacency set into your online recruitment campaign?

A time existed, many years ago now, when the Internet was still a very new and novel way of recruiting staff. As the years have passed, even the more obscure social media platforms are no longer really regarded like that. Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) would like to warn its clients of the dangers of becoming complacent about the many advantages of recruiting on the web.

Indeed, at one point many firms became very seduced by online recruitment, imagining that from that point on, it would be easy to find great candidates. Although there are certainly fine candidates out there, companies must work as hard as ever to find them, and that means going back to the basics of recruitment.

First of all, the job for which you are advertising must be well-defined, with a compelling vision of what the post entails. Rather than relying on a traditional job description, you should decide alongside your existing employees what the person will need to do in the job to be a success. The resultant job description should describe several major projects, suggesting growth opportunities for the candidate to explore.

The recruitment advertising must also be compelling, with a strong basic pitch. Rather than the traditional listing of skills and years - given that this filters out the best candidates instead of opting them in - you are advised to use creative titles and copy to describe each skill in the context of its use. The candidate should get a good idea from your advertisement, what they will do, learn and become in the post - and there should also be a clear sense that the opportunity is superior to anything that they are presently doing.

CV databases have long been central to candidate sourcing, but it can also be very time-consuming to search them for good quality potential employees. You can get a better return on the time that you invest by taking no more than a week to call the best candidates, so that you do not miss out on them.

The best of the remaining database contacts can be converted with relative ease into active candidates, if you send them a sufficiently engaging email message describing the opportunity, accompanied by a copy of the job description. You could request a response from those that are still interested in the position, perhaps asking them to describe their most significant accomplishment in a related area.

Employers can also boost their staff recruitment by networking, just as candidates would. All that you need to do is ask everyone with whom you are in touch if they could recommend someone appropriate for the job. However, the job description does still need to be compelling if details are to be passed on.

Combining such techniques as CV database searching, advertising and networking allows a company to build up a high quality pool of candidates, assisted by the services of a major recruitment agency like Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk).

Editor’s Note: Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.