Using This Time to Become Strategic

This week I was asked by my company (Jobscience) to facilitate webinars on advising recruiters to become more strategic during this economic slow down.  We asked the attendees what changes were their HR leaders making in their function now that hiring freezes, reductions in force and budget cuts seem to be the norm.  I was shocked that very few of these recruiters were actually taking the time to prepare for the labor shortage once the economy turns the corner.  It isn't because the industry is not telling them to prepare.  But much like the corner prophets warning for the end of the world go unheeded so is the advice of the wise recruitment consultants and teachers.

What should you be doing during this time.  Here are a few suggestions that I've picked up during my recent readings and webinars:

• Make sure your website or at least your career site is optimized for the jobseeker who searches opportunities using Google, Yahoo, etc.
• Start now by developing talent communities and establishing relationships with those passive and active candidates to call on later.
• Make a genuine effort to partner with your hiring managers and/or customers to understand their needs.
• Clean up your job descriptions and make the worthy of a look by the jobseekers.
• Populate your descriptions and career site with key words that matter.

If you don't take this time to prepare for the future you will find yourself at the bottom of the food chain wondering what happened.

Does News Print Advertising Really Deliver

This week I was the presenter for one of my company's webinars called Active Sourcing.  During this webinar the audience and I discussed the different types of sourcing typically done noting the difference between active and passive sourcing.  Of course the number one passive sourcing strategy was advertising in newspapers.

When I look at today's job market I see the need for jobseekers to be as productive as possible.  So online job hunting makes sense, saves time, and saves gas.  Why would anyone want to pay for an ad in a newspaper?  At one time I worked as a recruiter for a large healthcare system.  When I joined this organization it was spending over $250,000 per year in paper advertising.  After three years I had reduced the advertising to less than $60k and even increased the amount of jobseekers applying.

How did I do this?  First I listened to what other people were doing.  Next, we purchased an ATS from a company called Jobscience.  We had to provide a lot of education to the hiring managers who felt recruitment wasn't doing their job if they didn't see the job in the newspaper.  If you are still using newsprint as a means for sourcing, take that money and invest in Google Ads or Job Boards.  You're just throwing away money if you continue.