There’s no question that the recruitment process has been transformed since the widespread adoption of online Curriculum Vitae posting. In the old days before the Internet, recruitment agencies had to roll up their sleeves to find a substantial number of CVs for their clients.
Now that the times have changed and online job listings offer a wealth of Curriculum Vitaes for almost any field imaginable, the tide has turned. Now, those looking to recruit quality candidates have no problem finding willing applicants. Instead, locating quality candidates among the hordes of applicants require even more effort than it once took to advertise the position in the real world, before everything became virtual.
Numbers Can Be Deceiving
Just because your online job listing yields a bumper crop of applicants doesn’t mean that you’ve been successful. What matters much more than the numbers is how many truly qualified applicants are among those CVs.
While job boards are an easy way to advertise your opening to the world, you must remember that they are also an easy place for applicants to make themselves visible. Although it’s exciting – at first – to discover such a host of ready employees, it can quickly become overwhelming to sift through the many oft-unqualified to locate the few potential winners. Since it’s an easy thing to pose as a qualified employee on random job sites, discerning which applicants are genuine and which are not can become a major ordeal.
Job Boards Aren’t Always Up to Date
Another frustration for many looking to hire quality candidates is the time factor. Since it takes so long to sort through the wanna-bes and wish-I-coulds and find the few shining stars, many applicants have moved on and forgotten about this particular posting. By the time you get around to calling the great prospect, chances are someone else with a more stringent assessment process will have hired them first.
Advertising Has Its Bright Spots
When you find that online job postings require more work than they save, what can you do? Well, you should never forget about old tried and true advertising. Whether in print or online form, classifieds are a classic method of getting the word out that you are ready and waiting for quality employees.
Unfortunately, classified ads run into the same problems as online job boards: They are often frequented by less-than-serious job seekers. Don’t get me wrong: They’re completely serious about finding a job. They just haven’t been serious about preparing for one.
If you plan to count on traditional advertising to land you great employees, be prepared for another long season of careful sorting, especially since online advertisements will yield many more CVs than you can quickly peruse.
How to Locate Quality CVs Rather Than Great Quantities of CVs
Even though the world is bursting with offers to provide you with a wealth of potential candidates, there’s no getting around the fact that none of these offers eliminates plain old hard work.
The good news is that there are more ways than one to fill an opening. Here are some of the best:
Get to know people currently successful in the niche you’re looking to fill.
Sure, these people are probably completely satisfied in their jobs and have no intention of leaving to come work for you. Still, many of them probably have contacts who are currently seeking employment. Instead of paying to list your opening on a job board, why not offer a reward for anyone who offers you a successful recommendation?
There’s a reason word-of-mouth is the most successful form of advertising in any field: People don’t tend to push bad products for fear their reputations will suffer. Not only that, people do tend to share when they are enthusiastic. What better way to locate great employees than to seek out those who are impressive to their peers already performing well at the same positions?
Recruit lower-level managers in the hiring hunt.
Just because you’re the boss doesn’t mean other people won’t be affected by the hiring decisions you make. It’s always a good idea to include those who will be working most closely with the potential employee to tell if they would be a good fit.
Be prepared to deal once you find a star.
Once you find a candidate worth pursuing, make sure you don’t skip any steps. Sure, you’ll want to perform an interview, but if you’re already optimistic about the chances your applicant has of fitting the qualifications, don’t lose him by allowing him to lose interest.
Be prepared to convince the stellar applicant that your job is the one for him, and try to do it in a manner that makes him feel privileged to come aboard. Be ready with information about compensation, benefits, and potential awards your new employee can gain – whether or not you’re ready to share that information during the interview process.
Remember, your applicant isn’t the only one on trial. If you decide to skip the lengthy vetting process and ignore the piles of less-than-qualified candidates, you’ll be able to spend your focus where it matters most: building a rapport with your new employee so that stellar can become superstar.