Online Recruitment Systems: Getting the Functionality You Need

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by Winston J Pancake

How functional is your online recruitment system? While you might think you have your bases covered if you offer an online application process and you feature listings on job board web sites, you could be missing tremendous opportunity. Online recruiting is about more than just online applications-it’s about sourcing strategically on the Internet. And this requires more comprehensive technology than basic job board applications typically provide.

Here are three easy ways to check the functionality and value of an online recruitment system:

· Does it enable you to brand your career site? Branded career sites that carry your corporate look-and-feel go a long way toward instilling candidate confidence and loyalty. Prospects need to know that you take their career potential seriously. Be sure your online career site clearly demonstrates your corporate culture-and that it’s not just a stark and boring bullet list of open requisitions. In addition, be mindful of the candidate experience. Make your career site easy to navigate, with an integrated online application process.

· Does it allow you to take full advantage of social media? Occasionally sharing job listings on your company Facebook page is not the same as having an online recruitment system that really leverages social networking power. Consider how you might use social media in your employee referral program, for example. Look for a system that makes it easy for employees to share jobs with their connections-and beyond that, make it easy for them to evangelize on your behalf. At the same time, use your company pages on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reinforce your employment brand and deliver relevant content that speaks to both active and passive candidates.

· Does it provide analytics and reporting? Be sure your online recruitment system provides some way to track which online recruiting strategies are working best for you. Before you invest more effort or resources, you’ll want to know whether it’s necessary and where you should focus.

Online job boards are certainly a starting point in online recruiting-or they were, at least. Analyst research from Aberdeen Group now says that 40% of companies believe job boards will fall by the wayside in the next five years. [1] Bottom line: It’s in your organization’s best interests to have the support of a comprehensive online recruitment system that’s designed specifically to help you source qualified talent online.

[1] Aberdeen Group, “Talent Acquisition 2013: Adapt Your Strategy or Fail.”