Internet Job Sites

By David Carter

Internet job sites first appeared in the UK in around 1995, but before that, switched on recruiters were using Internet newsgroups to attract some types of candidates, though it was pretty much restricted to IT jobs.

The Internet job boards still exists today, but are crammed full of Spam and are not a good place to be whether you are a recruiter or a job seeker. They are the Internet's equivalent to lineage advertisements and are generally a waste of everyone's time.

Place a recruitment advertisement on an Internet news group and you will receive tons of unwanted and often pretty vulgar emails forever!

Once the Internet started to develop into the web sites that we see today, a number of specialist job sites appeared and of course, some were better than others.

It's hard to know what makes a good recruitment web site. It can look great and have all the functions you'd like, but if it gets no visitors, then it's probably going to of no use to you.

The key then is to stick with the bigger names. You'll see them advertised in HR and other specialist magazines, usually in the recruitment section.

If a web site calls you on the telephone offering great rates for recruitment advertising, don't commit to anything until you have had a chance to investigate further.

Do some searches at Google.com for the web site name - see if anyone is posting anything negative.

View the site and see who is advertising. Call up some advertisers and see what levels (and quality) of response they are receiving. Most people will gladly tell you - even if they are a direct competitor to you.

The key to successful recruitment advertising on the Internet is the quality and quantity of traffic the site receives.

If a site claims 10,000 visitors a day, you want to know who those visitors, where they are coming from and what they are doing whilst on the site before you spend a single penny with them.

Some job sites have candidate databases that you can search by keyword and location. You are charged for every CV that you view or download and of course, this can be very cost effective.

It can also be problematic. In many cases, people register with numerous web sites and then forget all about it.

When you come along as a potential employer, the candidate might be surprised to hear from you and will often assume that he/she is being head-hunted - so the price goes up!

Ask yourself though, are the BEST candidate really going to be registered with these sites?

Will the BEST candidates really leave their careers to chance like this?

Will the BEST candidates want their details available to anyone who can afford to buy them?

You know the answer don't you?

The BEST candidates are probably not actively looking for a job at this moment. Chances are that they perfectly happy doing exactly what they are doing. They are not scanning job boards and they aren't reading the papers looking for a new job.,

If that's the case, how do you attract them?

Really, it all comes down to the advertisement and where you place it.

Job boards are really best left to the recruitment agencies who like to fish for candidates online. They regularly place advertisements on line and have the resources to pay for the CVs from the online databases.

My advice is to let them get on with it. The quality of candidate you attract from job boards is nowhere near as good as if you use the trade, national or local press, simply because applying for positions online is so easy.

If you are an employer and would like assistance with any aspect of a recruitment exercise, whether it's advertising, candidate screening, interviewing or selection, please call David Carter on 01564 824554 or 07800 790427.