http://rickbaron.freeservers.com/
PREPRINTED FROM THE ELECTRONIC RECRUITING DAILY
__________________________________________________________
Developing an Internet Recruiting Strategy - Marketing 101
By Karen Osofsky
Thursday, August 19, 1999
____________________________________________________________
Determining how to spend your recruitment advertising
dollars is not unlike what a marketing manager for a
consumer products company like Kraft or S. C. Johnson
does in developing their marketing plans.
In recruiting, your product is your company and your
consumer is your potential candidate. Your role is to
develop the ideal "marketing plan" (recruitment plan)
to attract the "consumer" (potential candidates) to
consider purchasing (being employed by) your "product"
(company).
STEP 1:
Define your product attributes, features.
Your product attributes and features are those things
that differentiate you from your competition (broadly
defined as any company who is seeking to hire candidates
with similar skill sets).
Attributes can be defined as a general description of your
company, the type of product or service it provides, the
number of employees, location, revenue -- all the basic
information about your company. The product features are
things like casual work environment, great compensation
and benefits plans, cutting edge technology, free
training, flexible hours, challenging work etc... Taken
together the product attributes and features define many
of the reasons why a candidate would be attracted to your
company.
STEP 2:
Define your target market.
Who are your potential employees? This will be different
for each job just as the target market for Kraft American
Cheese slices might be different than the target market for
Kraft Shredded Mozzarella and different than the target
market for Kraft Fat Free Salad Dressings.
Try to develop a description of the types of people that
would make strong potential employees. What are their
skills? What types of jobs might they have now? What type
of work experiences do they have? Who could be their
current employers? What colleges and universities did
they attend?
STEP 3:
Marketing Research.
Now that you have defined who your target "consumer" is,
you need to find out where they work and play on the
Internet.
* What type of career sites do they visit?
* What associations do they belong to?
* What online periodicals do they read?
* What discussion groups are they in?
* Are you targeting diverse ethnic and racial groups?
Where might they be on the Internet?
This can be achieved without having a marketing research
budget. If your current employees are a reflection of what
you want in your future employees, your research population
is just an e-mail away. Develop an employee survey asking
them questions related to where they spend their time on
the Internet both for work and play purposes. To achieve
strong survey results communicate the following to the
employees:
* Tell them the exact purpose of the survey
* Make the survey confidential
* Develop the survey such that it has specific sections
related to areas on the Internet. For instance you can
have a section on favorite search engines, career sites,
association sites, trade journal sites, newsgroups,
humor sites, general interest sites, financial sites,
product purchasing sites etc....
The research results will play a significant role in how
you develop your plan.
For example - your results may indicate that a
significantly high percentage of your employees use
Amazon.com on a regular basis. It's expensive, but part
of your plan could include a banner on the Amazon.com site.
Or you may find that employees use their college alumni
sites on a regular basis. Then you may consider placing
ads and banners on selected college alumni sites.
STEP 4:
Develop your Unique Selling Proposition.
Match up the specific company features and attributes that
would be attractive to your target market and develop your
Unique Selling Proposition. Your unique selling
proposition is what you would want to tell a potential
candidate about your company and your positions that will
make them interested in learning more. What would you say
to different types of candidates? If you were allotted
just one or two sentences to persuade a potential candidate
to submit a resume or personal profile, what would that be?
STEP 5
Outline your marketing Plan:
Combine all the information from steps 1-4 and develop
a plan that provides the broadest reach within your
allocated budget. This will allow you to achieve the
visibility that you need to spread your message.
STEP 6
Message Communication.
With all of the above pieces in place you can now develop
a clear, concise and consistent message about your company.
All of your Internet advertisements, whether they are
simple banners with just a few words or complete job
postings with over 500 words, should all communicate the
unique features of your company. Describing the job
requirements is not enough. You need to focus on the
key features that will attract a potential candidate to
take the next step.
Different ads may highlight different company features
depending on where they are placed and the audience.
For example your company may have the following features:
Cutting edge technology, flexible work environment, high
bonus potential, and a strong training program. Postings
in a technical trade journal may put more emphasis on
cutting edge technology and training than on the potential
financial rewards. An ad placed in a Women in Technology
journal may highlight the flexible work environment rather
than the training opportunities.
Despite what each individual ad focuses on, they all must
communicate the same essential message ---- what it will be
like to work at your company.
In a nutshell, recruiting is marketing. All recruiters
should be required to take at least one marketing class.
If your company has a "corporate university" as many do
today, encourage them include recruiters in the marketing
courses. The results will be amazing.
____________________________________________________________
Karen Osofsky, karen.o@tiburongroup.com, is a principal
with the Tiburon Group Inc. www.tiburongroup.com . Tiburon
Group provides Internet Recruitment solutions to Fortune
1000 companies, consulting firms, and start-up organizations.
They provide a broad range of recruitment consulting,
sourcing and screening services. Tiburon Group manages the
recruiting resource site www.RecruiterResources.com and is
a Certified AIRS Solutions Partner.
____________________________________________________________
Please support our sponsor!
____________________________________________________________
Dice.com is the premier job search site for IT job seekers.
As a Dice.com subscriber, you'll get access to thousands of
high tech jobseekers *nationwide*! You can post your open
jobs via our Web-based posting system and search our
exclusive Hotlist of IT candidates - hundreds in most cities.
You'll benefit from Dice.com's great exposure - we advertise
via radio, Web ads, magazines, newspapers, and billboards.
Dice.com drives qualified IT candidates to your jobs. Go to
http://www.dice.com to find your candidates now!
***Dice.com - the core tool for IT recruiters***
v: 515-280-1144 f: 515-280-1452 e: sales@dice.com
____________________________________________________________
* Editor -------> Galina Nemirovsky
mailto:galina@erexchange.com
* Publisher ----> David Manaster
mailto:david@erexchange.com
* Subscribe ----> http://www.erexchange.com/settings/
* Unsubscribe --> http://www.erexchange.com/unsub/
* Archives -----> http://www.erexchange.com/daily/
* Home Page ----> http://www.erexchange.com/
http://rickbaron.freeservers.com/