In this issue we take a look at recruitment branding, we give you the pertinent results from the National Online Recruitment Awards 2007, we introduce you to two new featured job sites on whatjobsite, and we bring together the latest advertising offers from our job site partners.

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.

Editor
Karl Schweppe

There's a lot of talk about recruitment branding at the moment and how important it is in a recruitment campaign. Indeed, it's said it can make the difference between success and failure. But what is recruitment branding? How does it impact on hiring? And what are the benefits of it?

Recruitment branding is really just the communication of your company's recruitment values to potential employees. Your recruitment values are those things that make working for your company or organization unique, compelling and worthwhile for employees. Your recruitment brand, therefore, seeks to capture the good things about "what it's like to work for your company."

The exercise of recruitment branding is what you do to communicate "what it's like to work for your company" to potential employees. These methods of communication can take many forms —visual (the look of your job ads), written (how your ads are worded), verbal (how you or your staff talk about your company to others), or any other medium of communication that gets that message across.

Of course, recruitment branding means knowing what your recruitment brand is. That takes a bit of work. Think about the advantages for employees in working for your company. Are there opportunities for advancement? Can they develop valuable skills? Will they get paid lots of money? Will they work in a fun and vibrant atmosphere? Is there flexible working?

Talk to your staff. And listen too. Your staff are the people who really know what it's really like to work in your company. Ask them about it. Ask them what attracted them to the company in the first place. What do they like most about working in it? Ask them how they describe it as a place to work to their friends.

The most important thing about defining your recruitment brand is to be honest. If your company demands hard work and long hours, don't pretend that it doesn't. There are many people who want to work hard —but only if there is something to motivate them. What are the benefits of working hard with your company? Will employees get a thorough grounding the ins and outs of your business and be able to use that knowledge in the future? Will they earn lots of money? You have to communicate the benefits.

Once you get an idea of what it's like to work for your company, you can begin to create your recruitment brand. Create a list of messages (visual, written and/or verbal) that encapsulates the “what-it's-like-to-work-for-your-company” message. Use these messages in communications with potential employees. For example, when you are recruiting for staff and writing your job ads for job sites, be sure to communicate that brand message.

Now, you might be thinking that all this talk of recruitment branding and recruitment values is all fine and dandy for large companies who hire thousands of people every year but is of little interest or benefit to a small or medium sized employer like you. Actually, recruitment branding is even more important for small employers.

If you think about it, the success of your company is largely down to the people working in it. Hiring the right person can transform a small company and its fortunes while hiring the wrong person can be hugely costly. Smaller companies simply can't afford to "carry" poor staff. Recruitment branding can help you get recruitment right and hire the right person.

By communicating what it's like to work for your company, people will know if they want to work there. You'll get people who are attracted to your company. Remember, people choose companies as much as they choose jobs. So, if you get the "what it's like to work for your company" message right, you'll get people who'll really be able to answer the "why I'd like to work for your company" question. And they are the people you want working for you.

Find out more about online job sites and recruiting online in our Recruitment Advice area.

The National Online Recruitment Awards 2007 have been announced.

The Winners

Best General Jobsite: fish4jobs

Best Specialist Jobsite: eFinancialCareers

Best Regional Jobsite: s1Jobs.com

Best Employer’s Website (recruitment): West Midlands Police

Best Online Recruitment Section by a Consumer Publication: Guardianjobs

Best Online Recruitment Section by a Trade Publication: Caterer.com

Best Employment Advice Website: Monster.co.uk

Job boards were judged from the point of view of a job seeker, and what benefits candidates best. The criteria used in judging included: Ease of use, design, layout & speed; Volume of available vacancies; Volume of claimed visitors; Available facilities for job seekers; Prominence in targeted market. Special congratulations to eFinancialCareers, one of whatjobsite's featured site partners, for winning the best specialist jobsite award.

This month we welcome two new sites. If you are recruiting for positions in their specialities, be sure to take a look at these sites.

• JobsGroup.net is a leading niche online recruitment network. JobsGroup.net attracts over 380,000 unique users and has 200,000 registered job seekers across ten niche job sites: JustEngineers.net JustRail.net JustConstruction.net Just4Aviation.net JustUtilities.net DefenceJobs.com Just4Finance.net JustSalesandMarketing.net Just4Executives.net Just4Graduates.net. See the JobsGroup.net whatjobsite profile for more details.
• JobLux.co.uk is a job site dedicated to luxury industry professionals in the UK & beyond. It covers jobs in top-end Fashion, Jewellery, Design, High-end Hospitality, Catering, Timepieces, Automotives and Tailoring amongst others. See the JobLux whatjobsite profile for more details.

Here's our round up of the current offers from our job site partners:

• CareerStructure.com is currently offering a discounted price of £210 (normal price £249) for online job posting.
• CWjobs.co.uk is currently offering a discounted price of £195 (normal price £550) for online job posting.
• JobLux.co.uk is offering free job posting for internship opportunities on JobLux.co.uk. In addition, special trial deals are available for new clients including job posting, home page logos and banner advertising.
• RetailChoice.com is currently offering a discounted price of £297 (normal price £350) for online job posting.
• Salestarget.co.uk is currently offering a discounted price of £165 (normal price £195) for online job posting.

Go to the whatjobsite Special Offers Zone for more details.