OnlineAssessment-based Recruiting

Finding Quality Candidates from an Applicant Pool

If you’ve ever been involved with hiring, then you are probably familiar with the manual process of applicant filtering – sorting résumés into piles; possibly getting other people involved; and eventually interviewing the “A” pile of candidates. The next stage may involve an initial telephone interview to determine the “fit” of each candidate. This is a useful way to determine the suitability of candidates before expending the effort required of a face-to-face interview. The initial telephone interview typically includes a set of very specific screening questions. An aspect of telephone interviews is the extra time and effort required. As a result, these interviews are mostly limited to those fortunate enough to make it into the “A” pile. Advantages of initial telephone interviews include the opportunity to begin the assessment process sooner and ability to consider more “A” pile candidates that otherwise would be excluded from face-to-face interviews.

Internet-based recruitment tools offer organizations benefits and challenges. At the risk of oversimplification, we now enjoy a variety of options:

Recruitment Sites – advice and information for job seekers and employers

Job Boards – an online solution to advertising job postings

Résumé Banks – online search for potential applicants from a pool of résumés

Recruiting Solutions – varying degrees of automation including résumé capture, filtering, assessment and candidate tracking

Employers usingjob boards and résumé banks are familiar with the potential of getting an overwhelming increase in applicants and the advantage of finding applicants sooner than is possible using traditional media. Most organizations recognize that the Internet is certainly a vehicle for increasing the quantity of applicants and shortens the time required to capture applicant information. However, most solutions do not help identify quality applicants. With more résumés, but without an effective selection tool available early in the process, you increase your effort, costs and risk. The risks include overlooking quality candidates and not getting to them before the competition. net>HIRE, a real recruiting solution, assesses ‘fit’ of applicants so that finding top quality candidates is assured.

The primary mechanisms for matching applicants with job requirements include:

Search – Text search the contents of job seeker résumés and profile

Filter – Select applicants based on direct match with pre-defined specifications

Assess – Determine applicant level of fit with occupational requirements

Search and filtering tools do not guarantee that you’ll find all qualified candidates and only those who truly are qualified since they don’t determine the level of each applicant’s competency. A typical result of using online searching and filtering is that a new process is added – online applicant selection with the objective of filtering applicants – because, as is often the case, there are simply too many résumés to review manually.

The Internet makes the task of finding job seekers easier. The challenge is convincing the right job seekers to apply online to your job postings.

Searching assumes that the existence or absence of specific keywords implies a “fit” with the requirements for success in a given position. Filtering solutions place emphasis on removal of applicants from consideration if they don’t meet all of the filtering criteria. Since any single filtering criteria can exclude an applicant, there is great danger of eliminating top quality candidates.

In contrast, competency-based assessment solutions, such as net>HIRE, provide rating and ranking of applicants against the specific requirements of the position and are therefore superior to searching and filtering tools. net>HIRE is a leading example of a next generation assessment-basedrecruiting solution.

Using net>HIRE, job seekers and employers finally have a tool for matching each other’s requirements in a context specific to each job posting. net>HIRE dramatically reduces time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, and consistently finds the best quality candidates for an interview. These are critical metrics for defining the success of recruitment processes. Results are realized by focusing on the most important indicators of on-the-job performance: each applicant’s level of competency as measured against requirements for the position.

The key success factor with net>HIRE is based upon asking the right questions that guarantee finding the most qualified candidates. net>HIRE assessments predict, with a high degree of assurance, that the highest ranked candidates will in fact demonstrate performance and improved retention rates. This is a rigorous, yet simple and reliable process that avoids traditional bias, and meets ethical and regulatory requirements. Importantly, it also garners the support of applicants, who recognize that with net>HIRE they are respected as individuals, that they are compared fairly with each other and with legitimate success criteria and that they are treated as complete persons.

As labour markets tighten and as more companies post jobs online, there is a corresponding increase in competition for job seekers. Attracting the attention of job seekers requires a recruitment strategy that focuses on relationship management with potential applicants. As a result, a new trend is emerging – private applicant pool development. Use of recruiting solutions does not negate the use of job boards or résumé banks. In fact, the value of solutions such as net>HIRE increases with each corresponding increase in applicants. Long term use of net>HIRE results in development of a private applicant pool that enables organizations to perform Just-in-Time Recruiting from their Just-in-Time Inventory.

This document provides an overview of various approaches and solutions to the challenges of online recruitment and compares each on their ability to achieve quality results i.e., identifying the highest quality candidates from a large quantity of applicants.

We do not cover general information recruitment sites. While they are great sources for information about trends and tools, they do not represent recruitment solutions that assist in converting job seekers into candidates.

In the Appendix, there are definitions of important recruitment, terms for your ease of reference.

Job Boards

With the availability of nearly 40,000 job boards and counting (Interbiznet, 11/2000), selecting suitable ones is increasingly a challenge. Use of job boards for advertising job postings is certainly worthwhile. Be sure to track applicants by referral source (a standard feature of net>HIRE) to ensure that each job board is producing the desired results.

Strengths

Many job seekers are familiar with at least one job board and may already have their profile/résumé setup on multiple systems. Organizations are beginning to utilize more than one job board and Usenet newsgroup (on average, 11 locations per job, according to Interbiznet.) Job boards typically provide very fast turn-around – often producing responses from potential applicants within hours. Traditional media require at least one (if not several) day(s) lead-time prior to when a job posting is actually published. Job boards consistently provide better economic value versus print advertisements – in terms of responses per dollar spent. Typical costs are in the hundreds of dollars for 30 or more days of online posting versus thousands of dollars for a single print ad run.

For these reasons, employers use Job Boards to:

Capture more applicants sooner

Broaden geographic reach – can attract global audience via the Internet

Lower costs – lower than traditional media

Weaknesses

For most Job Boards, it’s strictly a numbers game. As a result, employers have the challenge of finding the proverbial ‘needle in a haystack.’ Job board effectiveness lies in their ability to drive traffic to each employer’s online application process – period.

It is not uncommon for job boards to fall short in several key areas, including:

Link to an employers online application process – for direct capture of applicant data

Screening tools – that consistently identify qualified applicants

Job seeker communications mechanism –for reaching out directly to prospective applicants

Private labeling – the ability to build and differentiate the employers’ brand

Ease of use by job seekers – a factor that often determines the continued use and thus the accuracy of job seeker data

Job boards should provide effective matching tools – enabling employers to match job seeker profiles/résumés with the requirements of each position. Without an effective selection mechanism, search results are sure to consume considerable time and patience. Once a list of potential applicants is selected, there should be an easy way to contact them. Be aware that job seekers consistently give many of the largest job boards poor marks in terms of flexibility and ease of use – using them therefore could reflect poorly on your organization.

Additional challenges with job boards include:

Competitors have easy access to your hiring requirements.

There is a high potential to miss quality applicants because of poor selection tools

Requires effort and expertise relating to each job board’s capabilities and selection tools

Recommendations for Use

It is definitely worth the effort to find job boards that work for you … especially industry, regional and occupationally specific services. No single approach or job board will work for all employers. Here are some basic considerations.

Look beyond the name brand Job Boards. You may find fewer but better quality applicants from postings on industry specific (e.g., associations), geographically relevant and niche occupation job boards. Most job boards also function as résumé banks – enabling you to tap into active and passive job seekers. Keep this in mind when evaluating available job boards.

We like “WEDDLE’s Law of Excellent Recruitment Vision”whichgoes like this:

When picking a Job Board for recruiting …
Big is good ... lots of eyeballs.

Little is bad ... hardly any eyeballs.

Focused is best ... the right eyeballs.

We also recommend that you select job-posting sites that will display …

Your Corporate web site URL ... at a minimum.

Or …
Your Careers Section web site URL ... is better.

And …

The web site URL where you Apply Online for each Job Posting … is best.

This implies that a custom branded web site is an important tool in the recruitment process. You should have a Careers Section on your web site (managed or internal) that enables job seekers to apply online. Having applicants apply online is the first step in building a private applicant pool that is useful for fostering relationships and as a source for future recruiting campaigns. Ideally job boards will drive job seekers to your site – where the most qualified applicants are added into your private applicant pool.

Don’t use job boards for online recruitment at the exclusion of other tools. Best practices include use of various methods that drive job seekers to your private applicant pool of active and passive job seekers. Over time, with your own private applicant pool, you may not need to advertise. Make sure that you have a way to measure applicant responses by advertising source. And finally, don’t expect that postings on a single Job Board will result in success. The clear trend is towards carpet-bombing multiple job boards and Usenet newsgroups. Carpet-bombers beware – be prepared for an onslaught of applicants. If you encounter bottlenecks in the selection process, use a competency-based assessment solution that begins the selection process as soon as applicants apply online.

Résumé Banks

Résumé banks are online repositories for job seeker résumés. They vary by target audience, quantity of résumés on file, source of data, selection/filtering services available and the costs associated with their use. In many cases, résumé banks are no-charge for applicants opting instead, to charge employers for the right to search for job seekers in the résumé bank database. Some résumé banks offer direct access to applicants while others are more careful to protect the privacy of job seekers.

Some services categorize résumés by occupation often simplifying the search process. The flexibility and strength of the search and filtering capabilities are important criteria when considering use of a résumé bank.

Strengths

Résumé banks are great for tapping into job seekers before you begin the advertising process. Some boards keep résumés for long periods of time, others don’t. In certain cases, you may be capable of tapping into active and passive job seekers. There are résumé banks boasting that they manage the profiles of in excess of 8 million potential job seekers.

Résumé banks are a fast and inexpensive source for a “first look,” to identify the likelihood of a successful search before you spend time and money advertising. Your initial search may result in finding quality prospects. If not, there is likely merit in using the results of the initial résumé bank search to fine-tune your recruitment campaign. Some of the best résumé banks target niche occupations and industries which may lead to more precise matches.

Weaknesses

The following quote from the article "Secrets of Online Recruiters Exposed," by Glenn Gutmacher (an internet-based recruitment specialist, author and presenter), typifies the challenges of selecting potential candidates from a large pool of résumés …

“Last but not least, for whichever searches you do, don’t forget to dig deep into the results. Many Internet searchers stop after the first page or two of résumé links, but good candidates may be 10, 20, or more pages deep. In fact, the deeper you go, the more likely you are to find candidates who have not already been contacted by many recruiters” … as published in the October 2000 issue of Workforce Magazine.

Since résumé banks contain information for job seekers who likely haven’t yet applied to your organization, there are no assurances that they’d be interested. As a result, there are no guarantees that your résumé bank selections will result in online applications.

Search results are only as good as the last time the résumé content was updated. This could result in a lot of wasted effort and worse yet, may alienate job seekers that you contact. By one industry estimate (Interbiznet), job seekers have their résumés posted in five places online. This makes the process of targeting and identifying job seekers all the more difficult and further risks the alienation of those who feel they’re being spammed by multiple unwanted emails.

Many résumé banks do not provide job seekers with tools enabling them to keep their content current. As a result, don’t be surprised when you get a lot of mismatches and out-of-date information – especially for popular occupations and skills. You may find yourself spending a lot of your time wading through the résumés and profiles of unqualified and recently employed prospects.

Résumé banks often attract as many job seekers as possible, sometimes mining them from various sources across the Internet. From the perspective of the largest résumé bank services, quantity is a more important bragging right than quality. They do not pre-qualify job seekers –anyone is capable of submitting their résumé.

Recommendations for Use

There should be an easy way to contact prospective applicants. You should compel applicants to come to your site, without being too obtrusive. Once contact is made, prospects should be capable of reaching a destination where they can obtain more information about available positions and the organization and apply online. It is also important to track all prospects and ideally provide them a way to opt-out of further contact. Be careful when using mass emailing techniques to résumé bank users – this may result in job seeker backlash.

It is a good idea to become familiar with résumé banks specific to your industry and the occupations for which you are hiring. Use a combination of niche and bigger boards. Be sure to understand the limitations inherent with each résumé bank, especially their searching/filtering capabilities. Bear in mind that they attract job seekers from around the globe with various levels of education and experience.

Perform initial searches prior to initial advertising to determine the likelihood of finding suitable candidates. The results of an initial search may provide information that is useful in fine-tuning your overall recruitment strategy. It is certainly a good source of current information about what you can expect. It is especially useful when creating new positions within the organization – since the information is unlikely to be available internally.

Sourcing techniques and destinations are rapidly evolving. Résumé banks are currently popular sources for potential applicants but there are newer techniques evolving that offer better qualified and higher quality applicants. Many of these new sources focus on the fact that referrals are a leading source for new employees. Solutions include: