In this issue we look at how candidates should apply for your jobs. We also take a look at the latest National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS). We welcome another new job board partner to whatjobsite.com. And once again we round up the latest offers from our partner job sites in the UK and Ireland.

Please feel free to forward this issue to a colleague, and let us know if there are any topics you'd like to see us cover in upcoming issues. We'd love your feedback.

Many thanks to fish4jobs for the sponsorship of this newsletter.

Editor
Karl Schweppe

By what method should candidates apply for your jobs? Should they use some kind of online application or should they simply apply by email? Are there issues with one or the other? In this article we look at the pros and cons of each method.

Online Application Management Systems

Most job boards allow job seekers to apply for jobs via online application processes. The most common job board process is where candidates use the job board's own system to "apply online." That is, candidates enter their details, attach a CV, answer some screening questions and send their application. Usually, the job boards will provide you with an online account which allows you to review, rate and respond to your applicants.

There are some real pros to online applications: it's handy; it automates the application process from the start; and by using "apply online" you can keep all your applicants in one place and manage them from there.

But "apply online" systems also make it so very easy to apply for a job that many irrelevant people may apply for yours. Screening and filtering questions can reduce the number of irrelevant candidates, but applicant overload can still be a problem.

More importantly, however, is the anecdotal evidence that suggests that more senior candidates are averse to applying for jobs via "apply online" systems. The reasons for this are uncertain, but it might be that such candidates are anxious about the security of the online application processes. It might also be that only allowing senior candidates to send a speculative CV via a website, without the opportunity to discuss the role, is off-putting.

Email Applications

With email applications candidates simply send their application by email. All applications are, therefore, delivered straight to your inbox and, as a consequence, management and tracking of everything is, for good or ill, in your hands.

What's good about email applications is that the process is clear and candidates also get to feel that they are making a "real" application to a "real" company. What you may also find is that more effort goes into the application, that covering letters are specific and CVs are written for your job.

On the other hand, you may still face applicant overload. You will have to go through each application and respond to it. It's a lot of work. And with so many candidates sitting in your inbox, managing them can be a problem. It's important that you have a clear system to process your candidates.

And there is the spam problem. If you put your email address online, it may get into the grubby hands of email spammers. However, an easy solution to this is to set up a specific jobs@yourcompany.com email address for candidates. That way, your personal email doesn't get bombarded with junk but candidates still have a valid email option.

So which is better?

It really does depend but, as a rule of thumb, we think that for lower level roles online application is probably the better option. The functionality it provides outweighs the negatives. As you begin to search for candidates further up the careers ladder, however, it does seem that making "apply online" your only application method is a risk. The more senior the job, the more direct contact channels you should provide.

We hope this article has been of help to you. For more information on online recruitment and job board advertising visit the whatjobsite Recruitment Advice area.

The results of the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey 2008 were published recently. This survey gives the only independent snap shot of the online recruitment market. It featured questionnaires completed by 40,601 online job seekers across 25 UK job boards. In this article we look at some of the key things that emerged from the research.

Firstly, online job seekers are visiting fewer job boards. The results show that active online job seekers visit an average of 4.8 job boards, down from 5.3 in 2007. This is a continuing trend which would suggest that online job seekers are becoming more and more familiar with the job boards that work and those that don't.

Secondly, the number of job seekers that only use the internet to look for jobs increased from 6% in 2007 to 9% in 2008. That is, it is increasingly clear that online must be part of a recruitment advertising strategy.

Thirdly, 76% of job seekers in the survey said that they had applied for a job they found online. 69% of these got an interview and 60% of these got a job. This is also a continuing improvement meaning that more and more job seekers are finding success online.

Finally, it seems that for all the talk of social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies, online job seekers are not using them them for job seeking. They are staying with tried and tested methods of looking for a new job.

There are many more interesting facts and figues in the survey. To find out more visit NORAS.co.uk. We hope this article has been of help to you. For more information on online recruitment and job board advertising visit the whatjobsite Recruitment Advice area.

This month we welcome another new sponsor site to whatjobsite.

• SimplyLawJobs.com is one of the UK’s leading legal job websites, with thousands of jobs advertised across all areas of law. It attracts more than 34,000 unique users a month and allows law firms, advertising agencies and recruitment agencies to find the best quality candidates, whilst saving time and money in the process. Find out more

If you are recruiting for staff in their areas, be sure to take a look at them.

Here's our round up of the latest advertising offers from our job board partners:

• CareersinAudit.com, the niche site for audit jobs, is offering a 2 month trial of unlimited job postings, with logo branding on each job and a free corporate profile page for £85. Call 020 7553 6350 for more details.
• CareerStructure.com, the site for the construction sector, is offering a discounted online credit card posting for £210 (normal price £249)
• CWjobs.co.uk, the specialist site for IT jobs, is offering £195 for online job posting (normal price £550)
• Fish4jobs, the popular generalist job board, is offering a £79 online job posting (normal price £149)
• Joblux, the job board for the luxury products sector, is offering 30% off job packs and free job posting for internships. In addition, Joblux is offering free advertising on its new french site, joblux.fr.
• RetailChoice.com, the retail sector jobs board, is offering £297 for online job posting (normal price £350)
• Salestarget.co.uk, the specialist sales site, is offering a discounted £165 for online job posting (normal price £195)

Click on the links to visit the whatjobsite site profiles and contact the sites directly about their offers. Or visit the whatjobsite Special Offers Page.