“I'm a people person, very personable. I absolutely insist on enjoying life. Not so task-oriented. Not a work horse. If you're looking for a Clydesdale I'm probably not your man. Like I don't live to work, it's more the other way around. I work to live. Incidentally, what's your policy on Columbus Day?”
You, Me and Dupree (2006) – Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson)
Forgive me for quoting a not so great movie. I just thought it useful to suggest the feeling of frustration employers experience when spending time with applicants who just aren’t up to the job. Times are not exactly rosy at the moment, and given the rather scary retrenchments many companies are forced to undertake, there is a stronger focus than ever on recruiting and maintaining exceptional and useful staff.
While there’s no substitute for the actual interview – you need to meet the person, suss them out (ask those tricky questions the HR guys taught you) - you do need to get the right applicants to your door first. You need to find them efficiently and effectively, which is where, you may have guessed, we believe eMarketing tactics can be immensely useful.
While Lyndi touched on general tips for recruiting staff here, we thought it would be a good idea to share some more specific advice on the online tactics you can use.
We are lucky enough to have a lady that has an in-depth knowledge of both eMarketing and the process of recruiting talent working at Quirk – her name is Janine and she’s our COO. She’s also really really busy, which is why she focuses on efficient tools and tactics to find the people she needs to keep Quirk rocking (I made her squeeze in an interview in her car on her way to SARS).
What advice did she have to share? The following:
Online Recruitment is Like Any Other Strategy
“You need to think about who you want to reach and what the best way is to reach them” and to make it easy for the right people to find you.
There are various online tools (which are much cheaper than recruitment agencies), but choosing which to focus on is highly dependent on the kind of position you will be filling. Janine mentioned the following tactics:
Word of Mouth
Nothing is as useful as word of mouth. For Quirk, Twitter and other Social Media channels often prove hugely effective in recruiting staff that can be vouched for. If you work in an industry where people aren’t necessarily on Twitter, it obviously won’t prove as effective a channel.
Your Company Blog
Arguably, someone who is reading your blog already has knowledge of and an interest in your company. If you have a blog it may prove the most useful channel from which to recruit staff.
A Targeted SEO Strategy
An SEO strategy built around keywords that are relevant to a particular position is certainly useful. Janine suggests placing the job description on your website, but points out that this must work in line with an existing SEO strategy for your business (which, if you don’t have one by the way, you should look into).
Third Party Websites
This is where specific targeting can be quite effective. There are a million niche sites online and placing job ads in the right places, says Janine, can help you make the right people aware of the positions you have available. “Everyone starts their job search online now; you just have to make sure they can find you”. We, for example, often use BizCommunity to reach people in our industry.
Pay Per Click Advertising
A quick solution would also be to run a PPC campaign for a particular position, making it easy for people searching for options here to find your company.
Facebook Ads
While these haven’t proven immensely useful to Quirk thus far, Janine suggests that targeting people based on their interests or current job titles is an avenue worth considering.
Using Social Media for Research Once You have the Applicants
This is a fairly tricky area, and Janine suggests you consider very carefully what you mean by “research” when wanting to use these channels.
Someone’s Facebook page “really shouldn’t influence whether or not they get the position”, says Janine. This is both because this is unfair in a professional context and because it’s a grey area legally (particularly under South African law).
A Facebook, MySpace or Bebo page can give you an idea of what someone’s interests really are though. A Quirk employee, for example, would be someone who's fairly active online and enjoys Social Networks or other online mediums.
Social Networks and blogs are also rather useful for gathering information that can sometimes get left off a CV; like someone’s location or the URL for their blog.
While Janine isn’t yet convinced that personal blogs will replace CVs, as a few others are, she adds that they can give you “a feel for someone”. “This may change as blogs become more career orientated”, but we’re not there yet.
“If you’re funny or a good writer, that’s great, but I don’t really care what someone does on their weekends, I’d rather know they have the skills for the job”.
Currently a site like LinkedIn, says Janine, is more useful as an evolution of the CV.
HR and Recruitment is an Ongoing Process
Janine pointed out that the kinds of staff that are available can fluctuate.
“A few years ago it was virtually impossible to find a top notch SEO Guru whereas finding a really good Java Developer now presents the challenge.”
For this reason it’s useful to build a talent pool or database of applicants, and consider using Email Marketing to maintain some kind of relationship with them. “Every business should have a newsletter…when people apply to work at Quirk we encourage them to sign up for ours” – that way they can learn more about the company and be reminded every two weeks of how awesome we are. ;)
While we still use recruitment agencies for certain positions, online channels can offer a direct line to people who are actively searching based on criteria we set out. Who wouldn’t want an employee with the right skills and a specific interest in what your company does?
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