Save Money Finding Candidates - Use a System with Functionality

Most of us have heard of online job boards or job portals. And while they have a certain appeal to many job seekers, rarely does a job seeker focus on only one single job portal. Most candidates are willing to look across many different job boards for opportunities. Conversely most companies choose only one to advertise in given the costs associated with advertising on multiple boards.

Many companies have started experiencing great success finding candidates at a lower cost per candidate utilizing many less well known, free job boards. One of the keys to having success with any job board is the frequent "updating" and utilization of the job posting.

A System that has functionality that allows a company to create a job description and automatically posts to a variety of free job boards such as GoogleJobs, Simply Hired, Craigslist, and Kijiji will lead to an increased number of candidates. In other words a company that now posts on 10 job boards versus just one will clearly not have any less candidates and in fact will have significantly more. Subsequently, the System must automatically keep the post updated. This will keep the job listing fresh and listed towards the top of similar postings.

There are numerous examples of Systems working as described above. A major Real Estate Brokerage has utilized a System for five months now. Since the System was implemented, there has been over a 100% increase in the number of leads generated through job boards in the past. This has significantly lead to a decrease in the need to spend as much money on the more expensive job boards thereby leading to a significant return on investment. For example, here are some job boards without a System and with a System:

	Without System	With System
Paid Job Board Per Month	$695	$0
Costs for posting on other job boards	$200* (time it takes to post and update to 10 job boards once per week)	$135* (auto-poster capabilities of System)
Total costs - generate leads thru job boards	$895	$135
# of leads - paid job boards Additional leads generated	40 0	0 10
Postings on other job boards	40* (if no update leads start to diminish)	40
Total leads	80	50
Cost per lead	$11	$2.70

We'd be interested in your input with regards to your organization posting listings on job boards. Do you have a System in place for keeping your listing updated? Are you interested in finding such a System?

Gen Web: What today's newest generational group means for business

We’ve all heard about Gen X, Gen Y, Boomers, etc. and each of these generations have certain characteristics that “bond” them together with the most obvious one being age. Today a new generation has evolved that has nothing to do with age. We'll refer to the newest Generation as Generation Web or “Gen Web” as its members are bonded together by a single factor - Technology.

Everyone talks of baby boomers retiring and the future shortage of qualified workers in the labor market. Well in almost all cases it’s the new “Gen Webbers” that will fill this gap, regardless of their age. Given the current economic condition, workers from all generations that join Gen Web will be asked to fill tomorrow’s jobs. Fortunately the time it takes to be part of Gen Web can be relatively short, as today the majority of jobs are becoming more and more dependent on technology. This trend will only continue, and in fact, accelerate faster in the near future. As a simple example for boomers - remember when you first used a computer, laptop or cell phone - for the younger generation, remember when you first began to text message or use MySpace. Technology weaves us all together, especially when it comes to recruiting and business.

So what are the implications of this for business? The need for this new generation in the workplace will force businesses to change many of their HR practices. The ways in which companies recruit, hire people, train and develop their employees, and manage them on the job will take on a very different look versus today (yes even today.) We’re already seeing the rapid increase in the use of social networking to find new sources of candidates and passive job seekers. This trend will continue with new ways of training and sharing information, new ways of collecting performance data on workers, etc.

And we’re not just seeing the need for technology in the workplace. New ways of communications, gathering information, reading books and newspapers will all continue to evolve. And as the technology evolves, so will the needs and skills of this newest Gen Web generation. Grandparents will join in this generation to communicate with their Grandchildren. Politicians will connect with their constituents. And Business will use technology to better connect to its customers, suppliers, and employees.