Online recruitment: tips for success

There’s little doubt online recruitment platforms are a great resource for employers and employees. SEEK, for example, promotes itself as Australia’s #1 job site, with over 40 million jobseeker visits each month and a database containing over 7 million candidate profiles.

While such numbers are impressive, it’s simple for a jobseeker registered on an online recruitment site to simply shotgun their resume to any number of positions advertised on the platform. The result? You end up with huge numbers of applications from candidates without the skills and experience you desire. And reviewing each one takes time. And time is money…yours.

Given the way online employment sites are set up, you’ll be challenged to totally eliminate applications from unqualified candidates. There are however a number of steps you can take to ensure those who apply are not only genuinely interested in the role but can demonstrate the right stuff. Ready? Lets go.

Write a good ad: as with many things in life, length is important. The ideal length for job ads is between 300 – 750 words, with a balance of paragraphs and bullet points. No good at ad writing? There’s plenty of other ads from which you can take inspiration.

Utilise keywords: SEEK’s Insights & Resources provides examples of keywords typically used by jobseekers in your industry. Plug in your industry details and away you go.

Request certain criteria to prevent shot-gunning of documents: this might include:

• a resume of no more than 2 pages. Most candidate resumes are longer than this…if they’re genuinely interested, they’ll take the effort to modify their documents to your requirements
• a covering letter – personally addressed to the Managing Director – describing how their experience aligns with your defined selection criteria or what the employee will bring to your business. Why personally addressed? This will identify the applicant who takes the time to find out your name…that’s the type of candidate you want.

The Employer tools available on SEEK allows you to readily see what documents are contained with each submission. No cover letter? Straight to the “Not Suitable” box. Time is money.

Create a sense of urgency: while a SEEK ad remains online for a period of 30 days, consider setting a closing date for applications of 10 days. Those with genuine interest will comply.

Use the tools: SEEK’s Employer site contains useful information on ad performance tracking, comparable jobs ads, job views and application numbers.

Edit your ad: don’t forget you have 30 days to modify the content of your ad to maximise results.

Apply the 10% rule: you should be seeking approximately 10% of applications from Job View numbers (depending on industry). Not getting that? Edit your ad.

Go to Plan B: if online recruitment seems all too hard, find a great HR Consultant to help you out. We know one.

When it comes to online recruitment and HR, Bare Bones Consulting likes 3 things: simplicity, practicality and value for money. Our solutions to your employment and people challenges are based on tangible outcomes that work for your business. Got a problem? Give us a call. We know stuff.