Five steps to successful online recruitment  What are the keys to successul online recruitment advertising? In this article we have laid out the five steps to success in online recruitment. Each step signifies not only a milestone on the road to a successful hire but also gives you pointers to the work or research that you must undertake to make a success of your online recruitment campaign.

Step 1: What Job?

First of all, identify the vacancy you are trying to fill. You'd be surprised how many employers start on the process of filling a vacancy without a clear idea of what vacancy they are trying to fill. It is this lack of clarity which leads to unsuccessful job ads and recourse to costly recruitment consultants.

The easiest way of avoiding such an outcome is to prepare a job specification. A job specification is a written document which outlines the duties of the job, skills required, personal aptitudes etc. and can act as the basis of your entire recruitment strategy. Read our article, First things first: write a Job Specification, for help on writing a job specification. And use our handy Job Specification Template to write your job specification.

Actions:

1. Read First things first: write a Job Specification
2. Download the whatjobsite Job Specification Template
3. Write the Job Specification.

Step 2: What Person?

The next step is to decide who is going to do what in the recruitment process. If yours is an organization with a Human Resources department you may be happy to leave it to the experts to look after everything. If, on the other hand, yours is a smaller organization you will have to decide who is going to choose the job sites, post the ad online, reply to applicants, sift the CVs, write rejections, set up interviews etc. Relevant parties will need to review applicants and individual tasks can be assigned to different people, but we would recommend that you assign overall responsibility for the recruitment process to one person.

Actions:

1. Choose a single person to manage the recruitment process.
2. Assign tasks, (if applicable) to other people.

Step 4: What Ad Copy?

You have to make sure not only that candidates find your job but also that they want to apply for it. To do that you have to write good ad copy. Writing job ads for online is different to writing ads for other recruitment media. Our article “Writing job ads for job sites” gives tips on writing job ads for online. But even if you don't read the article, remember it is a job advertisement. You are selling the vacancy. Sell the job, sell the salary and benefits, sell the prospects, and very importantly, sell your company. Make people want to apply for your job rather than another one.

Actions:

1. Read Writing job ads for job sites
2. Write the job ad.

Step 5: What Response?

The job specification is done, the recruitment manager selected, the job copy written, and the ad posted on the best job site you could find. So, it's time to sit back and relax, right? No. That isn't the end of the story. It is crucial that you check and monitor the response to your ad.

If you are getting applications from wonderful candidates then you can sit back and thank the good Lord for the internet. If, on the other hand, response is poor either in terms of quantity or quality of candidates, then try to figure out what is wrong and fix it. It could be that the salary is too low or that the ad is posted in the wrong sector on the job site. It could be one of many things but find out what the problem is and fix it. Talk to your job site for advice. They know all about online recruitment. They can help.

The great thing about online recruitment is that, unlike with newspapers, job seekers will come back to a job site the next day to look for more vacancies. In other words, you get a second chance. Take advantage of it!

Actions:

1. Monitor response.
2. Make changes if necessary.

If you follow these steps we are sure that you will be well on your way to having a successful recruitment campaign.

Article updated: September 2007

We hope this article has been of help to you. For more information and articles on online recruitment advertising please visit our Recruitment Advice area. If you would like to comment on any of them or on whatjobsite in general, please click here to email us. To find the right job sites and job boards to advertise your vacancies, use the search box above. To find specialist or niche job sites to advertise your vacancies click here.

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