No One Ever Gets Fired for Posting on Monster
Imported 9 months ago. See original articleI’ve heard this said all too often. Sometimes the person replaces “Monster” with another of the big job boards, but I think Monster’s brand still leads the way as the definitive job board online. So most of the time people say “Monster” when they want to reference one of the big job boards.
And the point people are making when they say this is that there’s no need for them to do anything else to recruit, because the big job boards are a known entity. Even if they’re not getting the results they want, they can’t be fired for doing what they’ve always done…(that’s their argument, not mine!)
So, no one ever gets fired for posting on Monster…but how long will that remain the case?
Kris Dunn points out, of course, that big job boards aren’t disappearing any time soon. And I would completely agree. It’s not that they’re too big to fail (we’ve seen that truism collapse in a number of industries of late), but they will find ways of evolving, and people still rely on big job boards for applicant flow. Kris rightly calls the big job boards, volume generators. And interestingly, he points out that his organization still hires 30% of their people through big job boards. That’s a sizable portion.
But ultimately, more and more candidates are coming from other sources - and the source of most interest is social media and social networking. The low cost is appealing, as is the apparent access to everyone on the Internet. Combine Twitter, Facebook and MySpace and I’d say you’re pretty much there…
Kris makes it very clear, “The goal for most of us who are curious about social media is to grow our overall % of hires who come from the passive candidates found in social media over time.”
That means a few things:
- Multi-pronged strategy. You can’t recruit exclusively through one avenue anymore (and posting on all 3 major job boards doesn’t count as a multi-pronged strategy!) Companies need to implement more comprehensive, long-term recruiting strategies and tackle the issues of quality applicant flow, employment branding, hiring efficiency, etc. with multiple solutions.
- Getting the source right. One of the big challenges with social media and social networking is effectively tracking the source of applicants. Jason Whitman at Indeed talks about applicant source all the time. It’s a serious issue and few companies track it properly. Applicant tracking systems don’t do a great job of it, and even automatic systems are far from perfect. But with social media and social networking it becomes even more relevant. Sure, you might be able to track a clickthrough from Facebook or Twitter, but can you track the overall impact your marketing and branding efforts are having? It will become more important, and will become a necessity to justify the investment (in dollars and time.)
- Shifting your investment. To benefit from social media and social networking doesn’t involve a huge shift in dollars spent (although it can involve significant savings), but it does require a shift in your time investment. Posting on Monster takes a lot less time than building up your identity, social capital, brand on Twitter and Facebook (or anywhere else for that matter.) Even if building up a social media profile only takes 10-15 minutes a day, it’s still an investment. And don’t forget blogging. Blogging remains the single best way of building authority and thought leadership, both of which can attract top candidates to you and your organization. You have to recognize the important of that shift, and you have to be productive when you begin the process - because otherwise you’ll find yourself wasting time on social media and social networking without benefit.
Job boards are legitimate sources of applicants. Companies are still hiring people through job boards on a regular basis. But they’re no panacea. (And most people know that and admit it, even if they just keep doing it and nothing else!) But if you’re in HR today and all you’re doing is posting on job boards, you’re in trouble. You may not be able to argue, “no one ever gets fired for posting on Monster…” for much longer.
