ANITA DSOUZAADMISSION NO – HPGD/JA14/1780

SPECIALIZATION – HUMAN RESOURCE

PROJECT TOPIC – TECHNOLOGY AS A

LEVERAGE IN RECRIUTMENT –AN OVERVIEW

CONTENTS

I. What is recruitment………………………………………………………….……………… 3

II. Traditional recruitment methods…………………………………………….……………… 5

III. Modern recruitment methods ……………………………………………….……………… 6

IV. What is Social Media recruiting.…………………………………………….……………… 8

V. Facebook…………………………………………………………………….……………… 9

VI. LinkedIn……………………………………………………………………….…………….. 15

VII. Twitter…………………………………………………………………….…………………. 22

VIII. Traditional recruitment Vs Modern recruitment……………………………….……………. 25

IX. Why Social Media for recruitment…………………………………………….…………….. 27

X. How effective is SM in Indian context………………………………………….……………. 29

XI. Job Portals / Naukri………………………………………………………….……………….. 31

XII. Monster…………………………………………………………………….…………………. 32

XIII. Technology changing face of recruitment…………………………………..………………… 33

XIV. Impact of technology on recruitment……………………………………..………………....... 40

XV. 5 technology trends transforming recruitment………………..………………………………. 43

XVI. Advantages of social recruitment…………………………………………………………….. 47

XVII. Disadvantages of social recruitment………………………………………………………….. 49

XVIII. Undertaking by Candidate…………………………………………………………………….. 52

Technology as a leverage in Recruitment

What is recruitment?

Recruitment is the ability of the organization to source new employees, keep the organization operating and improving the quality of the human capital employed in the company. The quality of the recruitment process is the main driver for the satisfaction of managers with the services provided by Human Resources.

The main goal of the recruitment and selection is about finding the best recruitment sources, hiring the best talents from the job market and keeping the organization competitive on the job market. The recruitment and selection process is about managing high volumes of job resumes and the ability to choose the right candidates and pushing them quickly through the organization. The recruitment process usually needs a strong support by the dedicated recruitment software solution. It can be provided externally, or the software can be run internally. Many vendors provide the recruitment software solution, but the organization has to choose carefully the right solution to meet its needs.

The recruitment process needs a complete process description. It is not possible to solve the job candidates individually. HR Recruiters have to follow the process, and they have to keep the candidates flowing to right managers to achieve the consensus, and decision about the hire quickly. The described process helps to set and achieve the right limits. The performance of the recruitment process has to be measured, analyzed, and new, innovative recruitment solutions have to be implemented.

The recruitment is the expensive HR Process, and it eats a large proportion of the HR budget. The recruitment is about time to hire and the cost of hiring in most organizations. The HR is responsible for the proper management of the process to improve the performance of the recruitment process to keep the managers satisfied.

The competitive HR management always starts with the competitive recruitment process. The organization builds the competitive advantage with its employees. The recruitment process has to determine the best sources on the job market. The HR Recruiters have to utilize the recruitment sources and managers have to make the right and quick hiring decisions. This is the basic set-up of the competitive recruitment process.

One may argue that the most important task that your company has to undertake is recruitment. Finding new talent in the market is incredibly difficult and HR managers across the country have tried different methods of recruitment in order to find the best possible candidates for their organizations. The employee is an integral part of the organization and recruiting new employees who will improve the organization and take it forward is easier said than done.

Overtime there have generally been two different types of recruitment methods that are employed by HR managers across the globe. One is the traditional recruitment method, while the other is the modern recruitment method. One may argue which methods of recruitment are the best, but overtime both have their positives in helping organizations hire the best possible candidates.

Traditional Recruitment Methods

When it comes to recruitment, organizations around the world have reaped the benefits of the traditional recruitment methods which have served them well and delivered employees which have played a key role in defining their organizations. Presenting the traditional recruitment methods:

Local Paper Advertisements

The best way to spread the word about new jobs is through local newspaper advertisements. One can argue that this is the simplest form of recruitment and yet the most effective method of all as well.

Local Employment Office Postings

Many organizations have employed recruitment methods which are based on postings at local unemployment offices, where there are bound to be people looking for a job and you are likely to find all types and sorts of employees.

Temp Agencies

One of the most used recruitment methods is through temporary employment agencies that can shortlist potential candidates for your company and find you experienced professionals in your field easily.

Internal Hiring

Another way of recruitment which has been extremely successful over the years has been the internal hiring program, through which the company often promotes employees who are already part of the organization into the positions for which they are hiring. This is one of the safest methods of recruitment, since you know all about the employee and the level of work you are getting from them.

Modern Recruitment Methods

Over the past decade technology has changed the recruitment industry dramatically. Undeniably, recruitment industry has now been relying on technology heavily right from sourcing to background checks to references. Traditional recruitment methods are slowly fading away. 20 years ago recruitment world was a lot different. Mail, fax, and word of mouth were the most preferred methods of resume submission. Employers didn’t expect hordes of job applications for any open job as it was impossible to receive that many applications. Technology has changed the recruitment industry radically.

A recent research done by Jobvite estimated that at least 86% of the job seekers had an account with at least one social media network and LinkedIn is where they did most of their job seeking activity. Social media has changed the way we communicate. This change has also created a significant challenge to recruiters. For recruiters it’s the hordes of applications they receive via their ATS plus the potential passive candidate pool available online via social networks. It’s

extremely essential for recruiters to have the right strategy in place to attract the right talent in this extremely competitive environment.

Improve productivity by sourcing smart: Companies want to spend less time and money on recruitment. It is essential for recruiters to spend their time wisely to find the right talent. As hiring has become extremely competitive and complex, sourcing smartly and going beyond resume is extremely important. Today recruiters have various channels to connect with potential candidates. It is best practice for recruiters to spend time interacting with potential candidate pool via online channels and build a warm pipeline of talent. This will help recruiters to gain a better overview of the potential candidates fit ahead of interview.

Reduce time by building online talent pools: Onset of professional networking channels like LinkedIn has created a common platform for recruiters and candidates. It is best practice for recruiters to leverage these platforms to create their brand identity and awareness among potential candidate communities. Via these channels recruiters can create virtual talent pool which can save time and create more efficiency in the hiring process.

Improve productivity and quality: Advancement in technology has made it easier for recruiters to understand their success of the hiring process. Keeping track of yield ratio, time to fill ratio,

interviews to offer, etc., will give a good overview of the overall success of the hiring process. Best part, recruiters don’t have to calculate these numbers and these are readily available in your recruitment technological tool.

The 21st century has seen a significant rise in technology and has seen modern day recruitment methods grow in influence and make a difference in landing candidates for organizations all over the United States.

The Power of Social Media

It is quite common to use the services of social media, when you are recruiting today, since it is both inexpensive and allows you to form a vast pool of potential candidates, within a very short period of time. Social media websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have communities where potential employees submit their resumes and credentials in the hope of landing a job.

There are dozens of other mediums you can take advantage from, when it comes to modern recruitment methods in general and the age old debate of which method is better, is one which will go on for quite some time.

What is Social Media Recruitment?

Social media recruitment is the process of recruiting or sourcing candidates through social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We’ve divided this practice into two main categories:

Social Engagement – the use of social media to distribute information related to job openings, company culture, employer brand and more to a targeted network of quality candidates.

Social Sourcing – the use of social media to search for and communicate with passive candidates

Different social media platforms used for hiring activities.

Facebook LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

Facebook is an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his Harvard College roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The founders had initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to high-school students. Since 2006, anyone who is at least 13 years old is allowed to become a registered user of the website, though the age requirement may be higher depending on applicable local laws. Its name comes from a colloquialism for the directory given to it by American universities' students.

After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile, add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post status updates and photos, share videos and receive notifications when others update their profiles. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as "People From Work" or "Close Friends". Facebook had over 1.18 billion monthly active users as of June 2015. Because of the large volume of data users submit to the service, Facebook has come under scrutiny for their privacy policies. Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012 and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13, 2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to reach a market cap of $250 billion

Advantages hiring through Facebook.

Oftentimes, when dealing with recruitment responsibilities, the use of social media can prove to be both an efficient and effective measure. Trust us when we say that it’s no coincidence that more and more companies are using Facebook recruiting to their advantage. In this article, we will be giving you 13 reasons as to how Facebook recruiting will prove to be beneficial for your organization.

1. It Helps Your Company Gain More Traffic In Recruitment

Recruiting through Facebook will gain more applicant traffic for your company jobs. Yes, job boards, blogs, and websites are available. But, Facebook possesses an entirely huge bulk of internet users that these other mediums just fail to provide. If done right, you’re bound to have more people come across your recruitment ventures on Facebook than on any other network. From the perspective of a potential recruit, it is always easier to apply to a job posting on Facebook and connect with your business as opposed to other channels. With that in mind, you’re already at a competitive advantage compared to those who aren’t recruiting on Facebook.

2. It’s A Diverse Recruitment Pool

When you recruit through Facebook, you are taking your recruitment efforts globally. Facebook is the largest and most widely used social media network in the world. When you recruit through this medium, you are given the opportunity to select from a world’s worth of talent to help your business succeed. Traditional recruitment methods can only get you so far. Facebook takes recruitment to a whole new level by giving you the opportunity to fill positions for your specific needs. It works in multiple different hiring scenarios such as Graduate hiring, Diversity Recruiting, Seasonal Hiring, Niche recruiting or filling out a few strategic positions.

3. It Boosts A Company’s Image To Potential Recruits

When your organization/company engages in Facebook recruitment, it goes to show that your company is flexible and willing to adapt to the calls of time. This is something that your potential recruits will notice and will certainly find attractive in a potential company. This reputation will help your company grow by attracting some of the best and brightest minds to help further your company’s market status.

4. It Increases Employee Referral Activity

It’s so much easier for your employees to participate in referral activities through Facebook Recruiting. Facebook gives your employees the opportunity to have a synthesized and very systematic way of referring contacts to your company with sharing and messaging features. Your employees can serve as a very special resource especially when you can maximize their networks as well.

5. It Establishes A More Personal Connection With Job Seekers

When attracting recruits and job seekers through social media, your company is engaging with these people on a much more personal level as opposed to them finding a job recruitment ad on a job board or newspaper clipping. When pressed, these recruits are always more likely to choose the job opportunity with a more personal approach to recruitment.

6. It Helps Lower Attrition Rates

Usually, when recruiting through Facebook, your company will most likely come across those who are interested in your company as a result of referrals. This is good because it entails that these people are genuinely interested in the jobs and positions that your company can offer them. They are also given a good idea of what it’s like to work in your company, based on the information that they received from the person who referred your company to them. In the end, there is a good chance your company will be hiring people who are good matches for your recruitment needs.

7. It Increases Brand Awareness

When your company engages in Facebook recruitment, you’re also inadvertently increasing your brand’s presence in your industry. Studies have shown that people will tend to trust brands more when they are socially active on Facebook and other social media sites.

8. It Helps You Recruit Faster

With the influx of information that is accessible on the web, and the amount of users who are constantly online, traditional recruitment cycle barriers can be broken with Facebook recruitment. With traditional job postings you distribute your jobs and wait for candidates to

apply for your job openings. On the other hand Facebook ads provides you an opportunity to reach people who can suit your hiring needs, faster than ever before. With Facebook ads, your company can recruit at a better pace by attracting potential recruits effectively .

9. It Helps You Attract Passive Candidates

Most of the time, the most talented potential recruits aren’t really aggressive in the pursuit of their careers. Facebook recruitment gives you the opportunity to actually come in contact with these passive applicants and tap them to join your organization. Sometimes, the greatest minds are the hardest to find. Fortunately, Facebook has made it easier for us to find them especially with the ad targeting features.

10. It Helps You Establish Important Networks

If your company is actively recruiting on Facebook, you are not only getting the opportunity to acquire the services of the best possible people to help your company, but you are also building networks and relationships with various individuals. These networks and relationships might prove to be useful and beneficial to your company in the long run.

11. It Gets You Connected To the Student Community

College students comprise one of the highest demographics in the Facebook Community. This is a perfect opportunity for your company to attract the freshest minds that you can help mold with proper guidance and training in your organization. Most of these students will probably be looking for part-time jobs or internships and engaging with them through Facebook is a great way to get in touch with them.

12. It’s Cost Effective

Other than Facebook providing you with a seemingly infinite network of potential recruits, it’s not too heavy on the wallet as well. If your company is already active on Facebook, all you need is a small investment in a good Facebook recruiting software, and the optional ad promotions on Facebook. There isn’t really any much financial expenses that your company will have to shell out for Facebook recruitment.

13. It Enables Anyone To Recruit For You

With Facebook recruitment efforts, you don’t even have to be affiliated to a company to recruit for them. Many a people who don’t even work for your company have the opportunity to share your Facebook recruitment posts with their friends and contacts if they find your post interesting or suitable for those who are in their social circle. This is free networking and advertisement for your company, and you might not even have known about it.

When you look at the bigger picture of things, Facebook Recruiting can bring so many benefits to your organization that transcends traditional recruitment parameters. Engaging in Facebook Recruitment can help company branding, increase referrals and job traffic and so much more. As long as you play with the tools that are provided to you in a creative and effective way, there is no harm in practicing Facebook Recruitment

Drawbacks hiring through Facebook

Job candidates might be concerned how recruiters view them after checking out their Facebook page, new research shows employers that use social media recruiting should have the same worry.

A North Carolina State University (NCSU) study has found that organizations that implement online screening practices through sites like Facebook and Twitter may reduce their attractiveness to both applicants and current employees.

As part of the study, 175 students applied for a fictitious temporary job they believed to be real and were later informed they were screened via their social networks. The results showed that the student applicants were less likely to take a job offer after learning their Facebook page and other social networking accounts were reviewed by the potential employer.

One of the study's authors, Will Stoughton, said the students in the experiment not only felt their privacy had been invaded, but that the action also reflected poorly on the organization's fairness, trust and treatment of employees.

"By doing this, you assume the applicants that organizations end up choosing are more conscientious, but no studies show that these individuals are any better," Stoughton said. "They could actually be losing better applicants."

Screening applicants' social media presence as part of the recruiting process can also impact the view current employees have on their employer. Stoughton said employees that see the organization looking at their social networking site might be likely to leave because their perception of the companies' fairness and trust has changed

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn, is a business-oriented social networking service. Founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. In 2006, LinkedIn increased to 20 million members. As of March 2015, LinkedIn reports more than 364 million acquired users in more than 200 countries and territories.

The site is available in 24 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Korean, Indonesian, Malay, and Tagalog. As of 2 July 2013, Quantcast reports LinkedIn has 65.6 million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 178.4 million globally, a number that as of 29 October 2013 has increased to 184 million. In June 2011, LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier and surpassing MySpace. LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares on May 19, 2011.

LinkedIn's CEO is Jeff Weiner, previously a Yahoo! Inc. executive. The company was founded by Reid Hoffman and founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, and Chris Saccheri).

Founder Reid Hoffman, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is now Chairman of the Board. LinkedIn is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Omaha, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, Madrid, Stockholm, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India and Dubai.

LinkedIn has more than 7,600 full-time employees with offices in 30 cities around the world. LinkedIn started off 2012 with about 2,100 full-time employees worldwide, up from around 1,000 at the beginning of 2011 and about 500 at the beginning of 2010.

Advantages of using LinkedIn

It has a high passive to active member ratio — One of the primary differences between a good and a great recruiting source is the ratio of passive over active prospects that populate it. Although both types of prospects are desirable, those who are not actively looking for a job (the so-called passives) are much harder to find and communicate with. If your target is active job seekers, you must realize that in a tight labor market, they don’t require advanced direct sourcing techniques to identify and sell them on applying. With little more than a job posting, they will find you on job boards or your career site. But if you’re seeking the roughly 80% of prospects who are not actively looking for a job, you have fewer sourcing choices because they will not look at job announcements or visit career sites. But fortunately, these employed and not-looking individuals comprise the majority of LinkedIn members. There are other communities dominated by non-lookers (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) but LinkedIn is superior because its content focuses exclusively on professional contacts, sharing, and communication. Without the high percentage of “information clutter” from pictures, small talk, and family matters found on other sites, recruiters on LinkedIn have less information sorting to do. Obviously finding top employed prospects alone is only the first step in sourcing; you will also have to contact, build a relationship, and work hard to convince these non-lookers to even consider a job opportunity. After the connection is made, LinkedIn is not the best relationship-building or communications tool, so supplemental prospect research may be required including creating “Google alerts” on individuals and of course, direct communications and relationship building through e-mail, text, voice, Facebook, or Twitter.

The number of members continues to increase — Because of its professional focus and its many uses outside of recruiting, it has become a standard practice for most professionals to have a profile on LinkedIn. In fact, one of its strengths is that its members can be visible on LinkedIn without being suspected of looking for a job. As LinkedIn has added more professional features (i.e. answers, groups, events, etc.) employees have even more professional reasons for joining, expanding the percentage of members who are currently not active job seekers. Having a profile does, however, provide the added benefit of making a person “visible” to recruiters. So even if you’re not actively looking, having a profile will provide you with an opportunity to be periodically “found”, so that at the very least you will know if you’re still marketable.

Its database quality can be verified — Although LinkedIn has more than 150 million users, volume doesn’t always mean quality, so you always need to verify the quality of the membership of any prospect database. The best way to verify quality is to use your own employees as a benchmark measure. First, make a list of your very best performers in a high-volume key job at your firm. Then check the LinkedIn database to see what percentage of your best employees are found in a search of their database (you can do the same analysis for your worst employees). Then compare the percentage of your top performers found on LinkedIn with the ratio of your top performers found on other sites including large job boards, referral sites, Facebook, and Twitter. Don’t be surprised when you find that the highest percentage of your top performers are found on LinkedIn.

It is referral-friendly — The most effective recruiting source both in volume and quality are employee referrals, so any sourcing option becomes more valuable if your employees will regularly use it find referrals. Because LinkedIn has many features that are not related to job search, your employees probably already frequent LinkedIn to benchmark, to gain mentors, to ask questions and to learn. LinkedIn makes it easy for your employees to identify and connect with others in the same profession that may eventually become an employee referral. Recruiters, who have a broader access to the entire LinkedIn database, can also “suggest” names within LinkedIn that an employee may want to build a relationship with in the hope of eventually making them a referral.

Its profiles are easily comparable and searchable — Because resumes come in dozens of different formats, they are a nightmare to search and compare side-by-side. LinkedIn profiles are consistent, meaning that they all contain the same format in every profile. This consistency makes it easier for recruiters and hiring managers to compare different prospects side by side on the same factors. LinkedIn makes it easy to search their database on a variety of topics including industry, connections, current and previous companies, job title, location, profession, and education. LinkedIn also provides targeted updates and follower statistics which allow you to limit and target the updates that you receive.

Its profiles are accurate — Research has shown that LinkedIn profiles can be more accurate than resumes. Because their profiles are seen by so many colleagues and individuals (many of whom would’ve attended the same schools and worked at the same organization), it’s much harder for an individual to “get by” with a profile that contains inaccurate information. LinkedIn profiles are also more likely to be up-to-date than resumes, in part because LinkedIn will periodically encourage you to keep improving and updating your profile.

LinkedIn can help you identify when someone is about to begin looking — Smart recruiters can learn that certain actions by an individual may “signal” that they are about to enter “job search mode.” The signals might include updating their profile, joining new groups, becoming a LinkedIn answer “top expert” or increasing other networking activities. Contacting a targeted individual who in the past has expressed no interest in a job may get a completely different result when they are considering entering job search mode. And if you get there early, you will likely encounter little recruiting competition.

LinkedIn makes it easy to apply — Allowing individuals to apply instantly for a job without having to update their resume is a powerful advantage. Some firms are beginning to use a LinkedIn profile (at least initially) as a substitute for a resume. One way to do that is to add an “Apply with LinkedIn” button to your job postings.

It has a job-posting capability — LinkedIn makes it easy to post and distribute current job openings to both types of prospects. When you are seeking active candidates, use LinkedIn job postings as a supplement to your normal job-posting channels.

It provides recommendations and facilitates introductions — If you need additional information on a prospect, LinkedIn provides a recommendations feature, which although subjective, it can provide additional insights into the individual and what others have experienced when working with them. LinkedIn also has an “introduction” feature that allows an employee to introduce a recruiter or another colleague to one of their contacts.

It facilitates event recruiting — Professional events can be a great place to recruit and the LinkedIn events tool has a limited capacity to help you learn what current professional events are being attended by your target audience. It can also be used to publicize your own events.

It includes executive search capability — Because many executives have LinkedIn profiles, the LinkedIn database may allow your internal recruiters to replace some external executive searches.

In addition to direct sourcing, there are many other reasons to use LinkedIn.

A powerful talent management research capability — Perhaps the most unique feature of LinkedIn is that it provides you with the ability to conduct talent management research. For example, LinkedIn is the only database that allows you to identify which firms are hiring and which individuals got hired there. Research can also help you measure the turnover at a particular firm, and more importantly which firm those people turning over immediately moved on to. The research capability also allows you to find out whether the number of individuals in a particular job title at a firm are increasing or decreasing and whether employees at a particular firm are being promoted internally. If you’re interested in strategic recruiting, internal movement, and retention patterns, there is really no alternative to LinkedIn.

It offers many professional learning groups — Although many think of LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, it is also evolving into a professional learning and sharing site. There are more than a million professional groups that employees and recruiters can use to learn and share. The site allows you to create your own group or join an existing functionally targeted professional group (e.g. The Recruiter Network). A group may include thousands of members, so in addition to the obvious prospect identification goal, LinkedIn groups can provide frequent opportunities for employees to share ideas and to test new approaches. Because LinkedIn is more professional than social, you are less likely to get bogged down in a lot of outside of work conversations in their groups.

It provides an easy reference snapshot — In addition to recruiting, LinkedIn is a widely used reference source for quickly getting to know an individual. Many professionals use LinkedIn to get a quick snapshot of a stranger who contacted them or an individual whose name they come across while reading. With permission, it is also possible to conduct 360° reference check surveys among the connections of an individual you are considering hiring.

It supports employer brand building — Building a strong employer brand is essential if you want to eventually attract the very best. LinkedIn provides the capability for firms to create their own “company page” and to populate the page with materials that help to build their employment brand. Individual employees can also send updates to their connections with links to relevant articles, news items, and blogs, which taken together may also help to strengthen your employer brand. The company page can also be used to highlight your company’s products and services.

It allows you to poll — LinkedIn provides the capability of polling a large number of individuals on professional issues. Not only will polls provide you with valuable and current information but they will also signal to others that you (the poll sponsor) are a key information source on that topic.

It is integrated with many other services — LinkedIn is integrated with sites like SlideShare, you can also view the presentation work of an individual prospect who you are interested in. LinkedIn allows you to link with blogs of your choice and it is at least partially integrated with many other vendors including Twitter, Taleo, Amazon, and Windows Live Messenger, just to name a few.

It allows InMail for communications — LinkedIn has its own internal e-mail tool for sending messages. However, unless your messages are scripted perfectly, you can’t expect fast responses or a high response rate on your InMails. In addition, if you make the mistake of frequently spamming messages or job postings, your response rate will quickly degrade.

It provides an advertising capability — Although its advertising approach is not as strong as other portals, LinkedIn provides the capability of strategically placing ads covering your products or jobs.

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets".

Registered users can read and post tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices around the world.

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and launched by July 2006. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with more than 100 million users who in 2012 posted 340 million tweets per day. The service also handled 1.6 billion search queries per day. In 2013 Twitter was one of the ten most-visited websites, and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet." As of May 2015, Twitter has more than 500 million users, out of which more than 302 million are active users.

Twitter is a great tool. There are millions of people who are tweeting this very moment and the phenomena is not going to end anytime soon. The idea of tweeting what you are doing right now has caught on so well that we see even the President Barack Obama on Twitter!

Twitter is here to stay at least for a while till something much simpler than Twitter comes on the net.

Advantages of Twitter

Using Twitter for marketing means you're able to contact your brand's biggest advocates directly, and they're able to contact you. This kind of communication can help bolster your company and spread the word about new products, new initiatives, and new ideas, as well as collecting valuable feedback.

Twitter is direct, compact, and simple to use: The hard 140 character limit means you have to be concise. It's helpful to staying on message and forces you to think clearly before posting something.

Tweets are designed to spread quickly and easily, and there are multiple options. Tweets can be made a user's favorite, or can be "retweeted" which posts your content directly in their timeline. It's very easy for content to go viral if you attract the right amount of attention, making Twitter marketing fast and effective.

Hashtags offer simple indexing of content, making marketing on Twitter quick and concise. If you click on a hashtag, you'll see every tweet related to it, and the list will be updated in real time. A snapshot of how your campaign is working can be had with a simple click.

Media such as photos and video are automatically embedded in the tweet, so fans can see the content without leaving the site.

Disadvantages of Twitter

The hard character limit can make it difficult to spread links and other information, especially if you're forced to be vague when you describe it. This can make it difficult to share sites with long URLs, and you'll need to factor that into your Twitter marketing strategy.

Your Twitter feed can be hacked and used to spread misinformation or otherwise damage your brand. Twitter is seeking to fight this, using methods such as two-factor identification, but it's still a problem you'll need to account for using Twitter for business marketing.

As a result of the hacking risks, users can be hesitant to click on links without a full address visible, even from brands they trust.

Using Twitter for business can backfire. Hashtag campaigns can easily be hijacked by anybody from a competitor to activists, and once users decide to have fun at your expense, it can quickly get out of hand. A good example of this is McDonald's, which sponsored a hashtag only to see everyone from disgruntled employees to animal rights activists use it to embarrass the company. This can also draw negative media attention.

If the wrong employee is put in charge of the Twitter feed, it can lead to a PR mess, whether it's a problem with an angry customer that gets out of hand or a very public expression of personal opinion. And as the Red Cross found out, there's the potential for very human mistakes. You'll need to weigh this risk in your Twitter marketing plan.

Traditional Recruitment Vs Modern Recruitment.

Traditional Recruitment Modern RecruitmentNewspapers are one of the oldest methods of connecting with people in their homes, and are still picked up and read by a large segment of the population today. In addition to traditional home delivery papers, most media companies now operate parallel online news sites.

Facebook and Twitter are used more than any other medium nowadays. People use it for everything ranging from news to updating their job requirements. Organizations and recruiters use this medium to engage with their prospective candidates, employees, and even with trade patrons, in a few cases.

Traditional method of posting vacancies in newspaper, then waiting for responses for a week or so and then beginning the process of sorting the received applications – this took a lot of time

Online systems, needless to say, are quick, fast and reduce the time requirement. However, in online systems, the job openings are posted instantly, responses can be received in real time and sorting can be done very quickly based on eligibility and required criteria, using softwares. All this saves a lot of time.

Traditional methods were long and costly ways to fill up openings

However, online systems are cost effective and offer a variety of services at half the rate of traditional methods.

Traditional Methods adapted a process wherein next phase could begin only after previous phase had completed. This meant that time increased and the error of one phase was carried on to the next phase. Thus, a mistake in beginning phases would result in erroneous processing throughout

However in modern systems, processing is done in a parallel stream and the error can be identified and corrected then and there. It saves the risk of carry forward of errors.

Can reach out to a limited audience as geographical boundaries play an important role.

Online methods give a wider reach as compared to traditional methods. The number of recruiters and job seekers using internet for their career related searches is increasing day by day. It reaches out to people beyond boundaries of geographical and national restrictions. Thus it gives access to larger pool of talented and qualified people.

Traditional Methods have a personal touch to them which is lacking in non traditional

This is often missing in online methods.

methods. Lack of human contact, everything being done through electronic means, over the internet or through an outsourced agency makes it unsuitable for some organizations. In traditional methods, the recruiter can discuss their requirements, ask for additional details or assess a person through his personality. Also, they can be asked for their opinions on a large myriad of topics, apart from the job requirement, just to weigh their overall competence

Why Use Social Media for Recruitment?

There are many benefits to implementing a social media recruitment strategy for your company. In addition to helping increase awareness of and engagement with your employer brand among both active and passive candidates, recruitment through social media is faster and more cost-effective than through most other communications channels, including job postings and print ads. Social media recruitment also generates increased sharing/word of mouth, more employee referral activity, a higher acceptance rate of job offers and lower attrition rates.

Furthermore, social media gives your company access to a more diverse range of candidates, including those in niche audiences. Candidates sourced through social media typically have obtained or are pursuing higher education, likely are to become full-time employees, and inevitably use the same mediums (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) to learn about and evaluate your company and its competitors. And since all of your competitors are or will be

using social media for recruiting, sourcing and employer branding, it’s important for your company to establish a strong online presence and a reputation as an employer of choice.

Key Facts:

1. 98% of 18-24 year olds use social media.2. The average Facebook user spends over 15 hours on the site each month.

3. Twitter users post more than 190 million tweets per day.

4. 94% of companies used or planned to use social media in their recruitment strategies in 2013.

5. 64% of recruiters prefer candidates sourced through referrals, while 59% prefer those sourced through social media (this gap is becoming increasingly smaller).

6. 40% of job seekers found their “favorite or best” jobs through personal connections, while 21% found them through social media.

Social Media Recruitment: How effective is it in Indian Context?

Way back in 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook to the world, No one would have imagined about the huge success and acceptance it has achieved today. Social media platforms have completely changed the way people used to communicate earlier. After that many social media platforms came into frame but only few of them actually survived or are able to gain significant user-base. The things that attracted the attention of internet users across the globe is ease of using these platforms and above it the dialogue approach wherein they invite users to respond unlike traditional website with the purpose of pushing out information.

Another significant change it has brought with it is, over past few years, social networking has evolved from personal interest to professional ones and this is where all the big companies were forced to give a serious attention to social media. From last 2 years, on staffing and recruitment front, a whole new concept has emerged and it has been coined as “Social Media Recruitment”.

Considering the amount of time people are investing on these platforms there is no surprise to the fact that this is going to be the next big thing in Staffing and Recruitment Industry. Every stakeholder needs to understand that social networks aren’t the replacement for traditional recruitment strategies but considering the high level of engagement they command, social media have become more and more fundamental to the overall recruitment strategy of companies. As everything comes with a price, so does social media. It could turn out to be a boon or a bane, depending on how does a company use it? Social media can be fast, effective and efficient when used as a tool for recruitment, but like all it has its own limitations and every company needs to

take care of these limitations while planning to go ahead and incorporate social media in their marketing and communication strategy.

As far as Indian context is concern, there are multiple views presented by experts about which particular platform is actually leading the way but one thing is for sure, “Social Media Recruitment” has actually taken off and Indian have accepted with open hearts. One thing that favors the use of social media in Indian context is the personalization factor which is the crux of communication through social media channels. Indian are known to support things which have the flavor of human / personal touch in it and the way to success using social media actually follows that only.

Considering the other end of horizon, even job seekers have understood the importance of social media in getting new jobs. The challenge in front of Indian organizations would be to look into the fact that how would they balance this personal and professional touch in their offering? That would stand-out winner from crowd.

Job Portals.

What are Job Portals?

A job portal is also known as a career portal, is a modern name for an online job board that helps applicants find jobs and aid employers in their quest to locate ideal candidates. Career websites such as Monster, Indeed and SimplyHired, have job portals that offer a broad range of jobs in a vast number of fields. Some government agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities and private businesses have their own job portals that applicants can access on the organizations website.

Naukri

One of Indias popular Job Portal or Job search engine is Naukri

Naukri.com is an Indian job portal operating in India founded in March 1997.

Naukri.com is the brain child of Sanjeev Bikhchandani and started the company, Info Edge (India). Info Edge is a listed company on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. It went public in November 2006.

As of March 31, 2014 Naukri.com had a database of about 37 million registered job seekers and an average of about 11,000 resumes were added daily while about 130,000 resumes were modified daily during the Fiscal year 2013-14. During the Fiscal year 2013-14, 51,000 corporate customers (including hiring consultants/firms) paid Naukri.com for services like database access, advertising / listing on the site amongst others.

Naukri.com is one of the core businesses of Info Edge India. Other online recruitment businesses are Quadrangle, web portal Naukrigulf.com, entry-level hiring website

Firstnaukri.com. According to comscore, Naukri.com leads the online job market with 70% traffic share. The website has 40 million resumes registered.

Monster

Monster.com is one of the most visited employment websites in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It is owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. It was created in 1999 by the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC), which were two of the first and most popular career web sites on the Internet. Monster is primarily used to help those seeking work to find job openings that match their skills and location.

Monster.com is one of the most trafficked employment websites in the United States as ranked by Alexa (see the Alexa ranking in the infobox to the right, as compared to other employment websites). In October 2010, Indeed.com passed Monster.com to become the largest job site in the United States. A provider of rankings of the amount of unique viewers per month—comScore Inc

—in January 2013, ranks Monster.com third behind Indeed.com and Careerbuilder.com, which is not far behind Indeed.com. Monster.com is one of the largest job search engines in the world. In 2008, Monster had over a million job postings at any time and over 1 million resumes, in the database and over 63 million job seekers per month. The company has approximately 5,000 employees on its payroll in 36 countries. Its headquarters is in New York, in the United States.

Monster also maintained the Monster Employment Index.

Jeff Taylor founded The Monster Board and served as CEO and "Chief Monster" for many years.

How Technology is Changing the Recruiting Landscape

“The sourcing piece has changed tremendously with online developments,” says Irina Shamaeva, a partner with Brain Gain Recruiting. “Recruiters who understand online sourcing are ahead of the competition.”

What key changes are driving online sourcing and recruiting as we enter the second decade of the 21st century? Here’s a rundown of some key developments and recruiting strategies.

Targeted Advertising Boosts Job PostingsOne recent innovation in online recruitment is the use of syndicated display advertising technologies (on-line media) to put job postings in front of more job candidates. These advertisements are generated dynamically and automatically distributed to a targeted audience across many web sites.

“Behavioral target networks use cookie-based targeting to look at behaviors that demonstrate an interest in a particular career,” says Joran Lawrence, senior product manager for Monster Career Ad Network® (CAN), which collects this anonymous data.

“Our customers want to address a select audience,” says Lawrence. “If they post a nursing job, they don’t need to get in front of all of the 68 Million Americans that Career Ad Network® reaches, but just those people in the targeted region who have an interest in nursing. The ad is presented to relevant seekers on whatever website they’re on,” from thematically related sites like Salary.com to geographically-oriented sites like Yellowpages.com.

This targeted advertising extends the reach of the job posting and can lure candidates who aren’t actively looking for an open position on a job board. Rather than investing substantial time and money to plan an advertising campaign, design ads, and buy media, the employer simply signs up to have the targeted ad generated from their job opening.

Behaviorally-targeted ads have proven effective in increasing views of job postings. Monster Career Ad Network® on average increases views of linked job postings by 40 percent to 100 percent for an ad that runs for 30 days.

What does the future hold for targeted advertising as a recruiting tool? “As we use semantic search to aid job seekers, we will use ontology [categorization] to make career advertising more powerful,” Lawrence says.

Reaching Mobile-Savvy Candidates Another development in job posting distribution is the adoption of mobile phones to access the Internet, including the explosion of Apple and Android devices that now offer reasonably-priced 3G data. These devices are driving behavioral changes in today’s ever-connected workforce. Catering to this mobile audience is another way to extend the reach of job postings for recruiters looking to source candidates in the prime of their careers.

"Job searching is very ‘transactional,’” says Vasu Nagalingam, senior product director for Consumer at Monster. “Job seekers typically visit job boards at frequent intervals for new jobs. The mobile-savvy audience is discovering their mobile phone to be the perfect channel for this type of behavior.” Nagalingam sees Internet-connected mobile devices as changing seeker behavior. “Supporting these changes is critical to maintaining a healthy candidate pipeline.”

Monster created its job-seeking app for Apple’s iPhone and the iPod touch to help employers reach these savvy candidates. “The emerging workforce is a popular group of mobile Internet users,” says Nagalingam. “Employers who want to target this emergent workforce should review their recruitment plans and incorporate mobile recruitment strategies to increase their recruiting efficiency.”

Why Search Engines are often FickleWhile dedicated recruitment tools continue to advance, some recruiters still attempt to harness the ever-advancing power of general-purpose search engines to source candidates from every corner of the Internet. But there’s a catch. The sophistication of these search engines, the enormous knowledge base behind them, as well as the constantly changing rules of ranking among search engines all complicate their use for niche applications such as the recruitment process.

“General search engines remain difficult for recruiters, because they’re afraid of syntax,” says Shamaeva. “Search-engine syntax is kind of like English but you have to understand search-engine software, which uses very complex algorithms. It feels overwhelming for many recruiters.”

Even as most of the general-purpose search engines of the early 2000s fall by the wayside, the winning survivors all have their limitations for recruiters. “Bing is poorly documented, and Google is now blocking the majority of advanced searches, because it thinks you’re a robot,” says Shamaeva.

Meanwhile, pioneering semantic search technologies like Monster’s Power Resume Search promise to ease sophisticated searches of resume databases. “It’s time for recruiters to start incorporating the new semantic search tools into their strategies,” Shamaeva says.

Meeting Candidates Wherever They Are, OnlineAs professionals spend ever more time with more web resources, many employers are applying a convergence model of online sourcing that brings together many Internet genres, from social media to job boards. Candidates -- especially members of the millennial generation -- expect to find out about opportunities at a given employer, anywhere they happen to be on the web.

“You have to appeal to all those students who are trying to figure out how to stand out in a competitive market,” says Holly Paul, US recruiting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Candidates have told us they want us to be on Facebook, and to provide an individual to contact.”

And those candidates have particular expectations about the performance of job-search media, regardless of the platform. They assume information will be kept current, for example. “Firms wanting to reach mobile candidates will have to update them frequently on the status of their job applications, because that’s the persona of the mobile user,” says Nagalingam.

The Changing Face of Recruitment.

Originally when I started in recruitment to apply for a role you had to write a letter, attach to your resume and post it off to the recruiter – then we were revolutionised by receiving them by fax which sped up the process and now all we need to do is click on the “apply” button

The actual principle of recruiting is still the same but the tools we have at our disposal now are totally cutting edge. I would say even to the point that a recruitment consultant in the next 10 years may just become a “coffee meter

Take for example “Video Interviewing”. As a consultant I can initially sort candidates out based on their resumes and then rather phone potential candidates (sometimes quite time consuming) I can send them a link to “video interviewing”. This is where the potential candidate logs on to a site and videos their responses to set questions. With this technology it gives the consultant the opportunity to view how they present, interact and respond to different scenarios. At this point I have not met or even spoken to the candidates.

The heaviest users of this technology “video interviews” seem to be the biggest employers with over 80% of those with more than 10,000 workers using or have used video interviewing.

Many employers are using the video interviews as a screening tool and then bringing the finalists in for the final meet and greet. It has even been said that video interviewing can give a potential employer a better sense of the applicant than a phone call. The old saying is that 80% is team fit and 20% is skill. This way you can see how they actually present themselves. Some great reasons behind this tool is it helps differentiate candidates faster and in this era we are all “time poor”. It also gives you a look at key attributes such as their personality and charisma, their communication skills, integrity and work ethic which cannot be picked up on resumes

Cutting edge though seems to be “Gamification” – having been in the recruitment industry for many years this I think could be the next revolution. Described in the news as “one of the current hot words in learning, development and marketing” I was really interested to learn what this is all about. In a nut shell instead of being interviewed in the traditional sense you play a game and depending on how you go, you get hired…

Imagine this. As usual you get ready for that interview, you are well presented, you have studied your resume inside-out and you have researched the business you are heading to. Arriving at the company you are met by the consultant who leads you into an interview room were you expect to start the standard interview process. You presume this will be you talking about your skill set, behavioural questioning, background and why you are suitable for the job, but before any of this happens the consultant says ok I would like you to play this game on this computer and I’ll be back shortly. So naturally you think to yourself – is this some sort of psych test – is there a trick behind this? But you play away.

One of the games that is widely used is “wasabi waiter”. In a nutshell – this game is based on you being a waiter in a restaurant and interacting with customers and keeping them happy.

At the end of the game the consultant comes back in and congratulates you by saying that the results from your game have told them what they want to know and you have the job. Well done.

Wow – human contact here is minimal and to me quite scary. It seems that this will nearly take out the human component of interviews in the future. I mean the recruiter will still need to have a bit of chit-chat with you in regards to things like salary, notice period and start times and this could all be done over a coffee, but the actual nuts and bolts of the interview process as we know it today can be done by a game. Obviously this will not work with all roles but it has given me a sneak peek into the direction recruitment may be taking.

Another idea that has been bandied around in recent times is that the mobile phone will dominate recruiting in every aspect. In my humble opinion this has already been seen in general with people now surfing the net, booking flights, on line shopping and Facebook to name just a few.

So will the role of a consultant change that much? The “Pony Express Rider” was only 100 years ago. Again, my humble opinion is that technology still can’t do the sell, like getting those clients on board in the first place and a statement I read recently really resonated with me – “Selling eventually replaces sourcing as the most impactful recruiting component”

The “war for top talent” will become permanent – with giants like LinkedIn, Seek, Indeed and Monster changing the face of recruitment, it will be very interesting to see where we are going to be in the next 10 years.

To be successful you are going to need that edge, something that will differentiate you from the crowd. Roll on those next 10 years.

How technology is changing the face of recruitment

What would recruitment be without technology? Rewind fifteen years and we were accepting faxed and mailed resumes, posting job adverts in the paper, filing thousands of applications and manually calling applicants. Fast forward to 2011 and the rules of the game have dramatically changed for both in-house and agency recruiters alike. Same for candidates. Once upon a time they were printing off copies of their resume (or typing them) and doing whatever they could to get them in the hands of their targeted company. The internet has changed all of that.

First came the job board to link candidates and hiring managers and then Web 2.0 took us even further. Today job seekers and recruiters alike just need to log on to start connecting. Every day we hear about a new app being created or how the power of the cloud will make the latest technology and software even more accessible.

So will these advancements actually make it easier for candidates and hiring managers to connect? Will recruitment actually benefit?

Let’s first take a look at social media. Based on research done by TNS, it is estimated that 46 per cent of the world’s population access social media sites at least once a day. In Canada or any western country, it is safe to say that this figure is even higher. Whether young or old, social media has changed the way we communicate. People are spending an increasing amount of their daily lives online and the ability for recruiters to connect with these individuals — many of whom are not actively job hunting — is essential.

The challenge for many recruiters is the sheer volume of potential candidates plus the large number of social media channels available. It is therefore important to not just use technology for technology’s sake, but to use it wisely and productively. Using a third party application like Jobcast can therefore simplify efforts and facilitate the process.

The most successful social media recruitment initiatives are those that imitate real-life scenarios. Think about how people like to connect and interact and extend that logic online. People want to see the face behind the brand and are conducting online audits of potential companies prior to and during the recruitment process. It is important to take stock and integrate your company’s digital footprint to ensure that you are presenting your desired corporate brand to potential candidates.

Another trend is the rise of the mobile app and how that is affecting the way candidates conduct their job hunt. More and more individuals are relying on mobile internet for its conveniences as well as its accessibility. The cost of mobile internet has dropped significantly in recent years and it is likely that many individuals no longer have access to a computer at home, opting for their mobile device instead. As a result, the way potential job seekers view employment opportunities at your company has changed and apps or mobile-friendly websites are on the rise. It is important to find out how job seekers are looking for your company and then make it as easy as possible for them to find what they’re looking for.

Cloud computing will also change how companies hire employees. For smaller businesses, advanced software and databases were often cost prohibitive as they did not have the budget to purchase the technology nor the onsite capabilities to manage the programs. The rise of the cloud is making it easier for companies to leverage advancements in technology and it’s likely that we’ll see many more companies harness the power in their recruitment efforts.

With so many advancements, it can be challenging to stay up-to-date, so the winners will be those who can concurrently stay ahead of the curve while also effectively and efficiently use available technology. It is about finding the business use and how it can simplify and enhance your existing program, not simply using technology for the sake of it. In so doing your recruitment program should be enhanced resulting in more efficient in-house selection or agency placements.

What is the Impact of Technology on Recruitment?

Technology isn't just something everyone is using to get work done and to stay connected. It's also impacting how employers recruit great talent and how great talent finds the right employer. Many recruiting trends for 2014 project that either new technology will impact recruiting, or that current technology recruiting trends are going to remain a big deal in the coming year. Below are our four biggest ways technology has impacted recruiting. The interesting thing about recruiting and technology is that it all works together. You can necessarily work with each of these in a silo

Social Media Recruiting

Even though social recruiting isn't new, or even a new trend, there are a few social media tactics that will become more popular in 2014 and beyond. These include video interviewing and considering a candidate's social media profiles as part of the application, instead of a way to screen candidates. Perhaps the most crucial way to use social media in recruiting is to use it as a referral source. Over 30% of companies saw an increase in their referral candidates once engaged in social recruiting, and referral candidates are often the ones who stick around longer and perform better in their positions.

However, the big trick with social media is to not get too carried away, and to remember to have a relationship with potential clients. Social media doesn't mean that you don't have to talk to candidates, or that you should be only tweet jobs, or that social media recruiting is free because the platforms are free to use. Social recruiting has its own set of best practices, much like the recruiting process itself.

How do you recruit and hire in such a challenging labor market environment? John Younger, recruiting veteran and Accolo Founder and Chairman, lays down a roadmap for recruiting success in a recent webinar hosted by the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association. Mr. Younger offers the follow seven recruiting strategies for hiring success.

Identify and Nurture Your Top Performers

The best way to fill empty slots is to keep them from being empty in the first place. Identify the top 20% of performers at your business, and keep that information in an easily accessible list. Then sit down and create an action plan to keep those employees happy and keep them with the company.

Drive Referrals as a Company-Wide Initiative

Referrals are one of the easiest ways to source talent. Using the referral networks of your entire company instead of just those of your hiring team will seriously boost your results. Make the referral initiative a theme-based, time-bound program, with prizes for employees who make a certain number of referrals and a grand prize for the employee with the most referrals. To get the most out of the program, you need to run a well-crafted, well-supported campaign. Make sure marketing and company executives are behind the program, and keep a public scorecard with real-time results and prize ceremonies.

Be Mindful of How to Use Your Words to Get the Right People to Come to You

Using boring, template job descriptions to find good hires is shooting yourself in the foot. Craft the job title and description to appeal directly to your dream hire. Be honest about the position, and give enough information for potential candidates have a good idea of what the job entails. To make sure you can effectively craft the description, ask the hiring manager these four questions:

What needs to get done by when?

How will this person’s success be quantitatively measured?

Why would the right person want this job?

What are the common attributes of top performers?

Multi-thread Your Hiring Campaigns

Use as many different channels as you can to source potential hires. Using a single source for hiring means that you’ll spend way more money and way more time. Referrals, LinkedIn, job websites, and Craigslist are only some of the channels you can use. The broader the net you cast, the quicker you will hire and the more qualified applicants you will find.

Create Relationships with Every Outreach and Applicant

Every applicant is a potential employee or referral source. As such, you want to begin creating relationships with them the second you come in contact. Building this relationship requires trust, mutual respect, honest and direct communication, and follow-through. Follow-through, in particular, is much more than a generic “Thank you for your application” email. Follow up with candidates to let them know where they stand and whether or not they got the position.

Teach Your Interview Teams to be Highly Effective

Effective interview teams interview quickly, know what to look for, know what questions to ask, and know that every candidate interviewed is a potential brand advocate. Ideally, every candidate interviewed should walk away from the interview really wanting to work at the company.

Build Elasticity and Consistency into Your Hiring Model

Hiring departments needs to be able to easily adapt to changing circumstances and workloads. Determine the likely workload for the next year and build you team around that, setting a level of what you know they can handle. Make sure you know how to handle excess demand – have contract recruiters, RPOs, recruiting agencies, or hiring consultants in place that you can go to if your team is overwhelmed. However, make sure the quality of the outsourced support is consistent.

Applicant Tracking Systems

What is Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

An ATS is one of the most important components to help streamline the recruiting process. Similar to the way a customer relationship management system works for marketing, an ATS compiles a database of applicants for your company so you can easily sift through and analyze to find the right talent for the right position. These systems are becoming more and more popular

each year, and small businesses are increasingly starting to adopt them to replace their current system.

What are the most basic set of features I’ll find in an ATS?

The very basic features you’ll find in an ATS include:

Managing candidate basic information

Overseeing where a candidate is in the hiring cycle

Tacking communication with candidates in the hiring workflow

Storing and searching candidate data

Applicant tracking systems can be the most helpful, or the most hurtful, technological impact on recruiting. It all depends on who you ask. Recruiters and hiring managers may say its a great tool for scanning all those resumes and finding matches, while job seekers may think the ATS merely hurts their chances by not considering the resume on an individual basis. With this in mind, an ATS can be best used by applying a trained hiring eye with the technology. Sure, the ATS is very good at helping a company meet compliance rules, but it's not very good at reading PDF resumes or determining that "professional experience" or "career achievements" could mean the candidate's work experience.

Mobile Recruiting

Over 60% of recruiters say this is a top trend for 2014, so pay attention. At the very least, your career page should be optimized for the mobile experience. This allows you to reach passive candidates much more easily, but if done well, it an provide a great impression of your brand. Sixty-one percent of people said they have a better view of the brand based on the mobile experience. Beyond the career page, employers ought to think about improving other aspects of the mobile user experience. This would include creating a mobile-friendly application process and improving your load times as much as possible. These two factors will lose potential candidates if they aren't fast and easy to use.

Job boards and Career pages

This aspect of recruiting and technology isn't new. Job boards are over 15 years old, and career pages were possible ever since companies could put up a website. However, technology

introduced after job boards and career pages have changed how to use these recruiting tools effectively. Mobile recruiting dictates that career pages need to be optimized for mobile, and that positions posted on job boards and career pages ought to be shared on social media also. Social media sharing means the message can be accessed through mobile, such as someone checking their Twitter feed on their phone. An applicant tracking system can help to quantify how many resumes came through the job board, versus a referral or social media source.

Five Technology Trends Transforming Recruitment

The use of technology in recruitment isn’t new. Applicant tracking systems have been around for more than 15 years now, and mobile phones and job boards for over 20. But a seismic shift in technology is now under way that is fundamentally altering interaction with candidates. The combination of smartphones and the Web is changing candidates’ expectations. With their experience of technology defined by sites like Amazon and eBay, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, they expect organizations’ recruitment systems to be as simple and rewarding to use. As a result, we’ve seen the advent of five significant technological developments that are becoming essential elements of world-class recruitment programs.

1. Content and community-enabled careers portal

For many years, careers portals provided the information that organizations wanted to convey to candidates. But that’s putting the cart before the horse. Now, the emphasis has switched to providing candidates with what they want from the organization. First, they expect to get an accurate feel about the culture of the company. They also want to understand what openings are available and gather insight into their career development opportunities. Gen Y job seekers are more interested than their older peers in benefits, flexible working options and corporate social responsibility (CSR). They don’t want to spend 25 or 30 years in the same job.

Earlier generation careers portals offered ‘About Us’, ‘Job Search’ and ‘Job Description’ sections as well as online applications, SMS job alerts and candidate home pages. Third generation career portals need to focus first and foremost on building a relationship with candidates. They will recognize that a candidate may be more interested in a particular company, rather than a particular job. Portals of the future will have a wizard that will help people figure

out their competencies and interests, and what the job families are that would make sense for them at this company.

2. Being ready for the mobile jobseeker

The growth in the use of mobile devices to access the internet has been exponential. A Mobile Web Watch report by Accenture found that 85% of people surveyed access the Web at least once a day via mobile. With larger screen smartphones, fast mobile internet connectivity and apps, consumers and candidates expect to be able to search, connect and engage with organizations via mobile devices. Last year, Google saw mobile recruitment search grow by a factor of 16.3. Beyond that, nearly one-quarter (23%) of all Google searches that contain the word “job” come from mobile devices. Meanwhile, recruiters have been slow to adapt to this shift to mobile and very few providers and organizations have delivered a compelling mobile careers experience.

3. Getting social

More and more emphasis is being placed on the ability to engage candidates early, build empathy with the employer’s brand and create candidate fans who are committed and highly engaged before an opportunity has even opened up for them. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites are moving towards smart advertising and recommendation-based content to allow organizations to target candidates with more precision, and social media giants continue to grow in terms of revenues from paid-for advertising. Facebook, for example, has about 1.5 billion users that can be targeted.

4. Understanding data and context

Big data is going to herald a major shift in how we think about recruiting. “Big data” is the mass of information that is available on the Web – numbers, forum threads, Facebook profiles, blogs, pictures and videos. The challenge over the next few years will be to harness that data and analyze it.

The process has already begun, as we’ve seen, with recruiters’ increased use of social media to research candidates. Analytics that fully interpret big data haven’t arrived yet, but there is much more that can be done with the tools that we already have, and with the data already sitting in most businesses’ databases. Increasingly, recruitment and talent management are becoming integrated. Smart organizations are using technology to carefully track the media that prompted the start of the candidate journey, the steps they took, the pages they viewed and the jobs they applied for. And then, once hired, their performance and results are captured, too. Google Analytics started the measurement revolution when providing summary insight into the performance of advertisements.

Recruitment technology is now offering more detailed ways to track sources and combine metrics around dropout rates, time to hire, competency and assessment scores and acceptance rates. The statistics can be exported and combined with talent management data to compare performance and succession data with the original source and other recruitment information (e.g., assessment and background). The analysis will provide full lifecycle insight that better predicts high quality sources or hires. Companies can find out how many hires they can source from their recruitment product, and correlate that with their employee performance data. That enables them to find out which are the higher performing sources, and they can target their recruiting effort and dollars based on their historical value profit.

5. Recruitment is no longer a silo

HR vendors have spent several years developing useful, but discrete, applications, such as recruitment, succession planning, performance measurement and so on. The game for the next 10 years is going to be the synergies between those products. Consider the recruitment manager looking to hire a candidate in one geography without realizing that there may be a suitable employee already working for the business in another geography: The succession data should feed into the recruiting system when you’re looking to hire, because if internal mobility matters to companies, they need to link up their succession process with their recruiting process.

It’s time to take the data collected in the recruitment process and optimize its full potential. We need to look at how we can integrate recruitment, talent management and reporting systems, how we export data, and how we can use the analytics applications that can turn huge amounts of data into meaningful insights for better business decisions.

Recruitment and talent management need to be treated as one continuous process, not as separate silos, making recruiters sharper, more responsive and focused. It can sometimes seem as if recruiters have to operate in a world where they have to sift through a mass of unrelated information, and deal with applications from thousands of potentially unsuitable people. In fact, if technology is used intelligently, the opposite is true: technology can enable recruiters to pinpoint exactly the right candidates wherever they may be, while avoiding wasting time sifting through applications from people who are never going to be right for the business.

Advances in technology touch every part of our lives. Social media has mass appeal for managing our personal life, but the tools, tactics and innovations in the user experience are now influencing our professional lives, too. Recruitment has not changed in terms of the process – a vacancy needs a suitable hire. However, the landscape, tools, behaviors, expectations and generations are changing all around us. It’s up to us to view new technology less as a complexity

issue and more as an agent for positive change. Effectively using new technology will redefine candidates’ recruitment experiences while improving outcomes for our organizations.

Advantages of Online Recruitment.

The explosive growth of Internet usage by companies and individuals has created a growing trend for employers and job seekers as well. Many large online recruiting websites exist for the sole purpose of matching qualified job talent with employers who need them. The convenience and automation of these sites make it possible for small businesses to cost effectively recruit talent without the need of a full human resources or talent scouting team.

Wider Reach

Using online recruitment tools and websites provides you with a much wider reach of qualified candidates. Instead of limiting your hiring pool to candidates available locally or those who read specific trade journals, you can find expert talent around the nation, within a specific region, or even around the world.

Faster Hiring

Many online recruitment sites have automated systems that allow you to start looking at resumes from qualified applicants within minutes of posting your job listing. The systems will evaluate initial selections you made while creating the listing, and will alert you to existing applicants in their system who meet your criteria. Unlike traditional newspaper or trade journal job listing, online recruitment advertisements are placed within minutes and are online available for applicants to find 24 hours each day. This allows your company to continually receive relevant applications and potentially find just the right candidate much more quickly. It's not unheard of to find just the right hire less than a day after placing your job listing.

Reduced Hiring Costs

By placing your job listings online at one or more recruiting portals, you save the traditional expenses associated with placing the ads in newspapers, magazines and trade journals. Some recruiting portals, such as the KansasJobLinks, are free for employers to use.

Screening Tools

Screening tools are available on Internet job recruitment sites, in the form of keywords. You can choose to only view applications and resumes that meet specific keyword criteria, educational or experience levels, or locations.

Confidentiality

Many online recruitment portals provide options for partial or full confidentiality. You can use search access only and not have anything about your company show up to other users, or you can simply have a job listing displayed but keep all company information completely private. These options give you flexibility when seeking to replace existing talent and allow you to keep details private from competitors when your company is planning an expansion.

Nevertheless everything has its pros and cons, its advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the drawbacks of online recruitment.

Limitations of Online Recruitment

As a way of reducing hiring costs and reaching a wider variety of qualified candidates, many companies have turned to online recruitment as a resource for filling open positions. Online recruiting allows an employer to advertise a vacant position quickly, and often inexpensively. However, some disadvantages may also be associated with this recruiting method.

High Volume of Responses

Because anybody in the world with Internet access could potentially see your job posting, you may be inundated with responses, many of them from unqualified candidates. You'll have to take time that you may not really have to wade through each application. To avoid unwanted applications, you'll need to be careful as to how you word your job posting and be as specific as possible about the job duties and the qualifications you're seeking.

High Volume of Responses

Because anybody in the world with Internet access could potentially see your job posting, you may be inundated with responses, many of them from unqualified candidates. You'll have to take time that you may not really have to wade through each application. To avoid unwanted applications, you'll need to be careful as to how you word your job posting and be as specific as possible about the job duties and the qualifications you're seeking.

Technology Issues

If your hiring process involves filling out an application, you may miss out on qualified candidates who would rather send a resume. Some candidates may not want to take the time or

may not be confident enough with the security of an online application. There's always the possibility that your application system may operate slowly or lose information during the submission process.

Poor Website

In many cases, candidates who see your job posting will be relying on you website to gain additional information about your company, its mission and method of operation. If your website is poorly designed or out of date, the candidate may not even bother to respond. There's also the possibility that the site won't have relevant information regarding the candidate's area of interest.

Too Impersonal

Because much of the online recruiting process may involve emails and possibly telephone interviews, it can be viewed as somewhat impersonal. Without the opportunity for the employer to hold multiple in-person interviews, it can be difficult to determine if the candidate will be a good fit for the company and its culture. The candidate may also have a hard time gauging whether the company is the right place for her.

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