Tip 8

Use your web-site as a recruitment tool

"A well structured careers section on your corporate web site provides perhaps the best vehicle to sell the career opportunities within your organisation. Telecoms and IT professionals tend to be 'web savvy' and recent research indicates that 83% of them expect to find their next job using the net. Once a job seeker has found your careers site, they have access to the full range of job opportunities and also information that will allow them to decide if your company is one they would like to work for. The other benefit of on-line recruitment is that it is far more cost effective than relying on traditional media or recruitment agencies." - Jeremy Tipper, UK Resourcing Manager, Vodafone UK

Some companies are reporting that a high application rate through the use of their web-site as a recruitment tool is saving them thousands of pounds in recruitment fees. Although the use of web-sites as a recruitment tool does not always provide the kind of applicants that businesses want, when it is managed correctly it can be a very valuable resource. Some organisations have found themselves inundated with inappropriate applicants and have incorporated ‘on-line’ screening processes that help them to identify the skills and potential that the applicants possess.

It is not only the big companies that can benefit from on-line recruitment. Smaller companies have found that people applying on the web are often good quality recruits that have taken the trouble to find out about their organisation before making their application.

Some companies have carefully considered the kind of people that visit their web-site and which ones they would most like to attract into their organisation and designed the recruitment section of their web-site accordingly. For example, a recruitment section on a web-site can provide a useful way to advertise vacancies to existing contacts, either from customer organisations or suppliers, that can provide a different type of specialist experience that is useful to their organisation. Customers in particular can have a unique insight of what is important in IT roles.

Web-sites are continually being redesigned, so making recruitment a priority when developing or re-developing a web-site can be accommodated. Although companies are keen not to rely entirely on their web-site as an all encompassing approach, as different media will attract different types of people, many have found that a well designed recruitment section can provide a very useful and cost-effective recruitment tool.

Useful Links

• e-skills into Business
  www.esib.co.uk