Why recruitment advertising & search are now two sides of the same coin

Historically, recruitment methodology fell into two camps.

• ADVERTISING: Write an ad, post it and wait for people to apply.
• SEARCH: Identify suitable candidates and approach them.

Sometimes you did both, but they were essentially two separate processes. Not any more.

Advertising has never had more reach, and yet your message gets lost in the noise. Also, a lack of barriers to applying means an inundation of junk applications that take hours to process.

On the other hand, search has never been easier, since resumes and professional profiles are now readily available online, and search tools make it simple to track down individuals that meet your job criteria.

Despite this, hiring managers, talent acquisition specialists and recruitment industry professionals alike still fall for the "advertise and hope-for-the-best" option. When that doesn't work... panic to roll out a full-blown search campaign.

In reality a combined approach works best.

Yes, your ad should attract active job seekers, but also acts as a landing page for passive (searched) candidates.  Every job should also include a component of search and you don't need to be a trained recruitment professional to do this. With LinkedIn, you don't need to work too hard to identify candidates that fit your job.

So here's my simple to-do guide to running a modern recruitment campaign:

• Publish your ad on your own website
• Distribute to other job boards, social media etc
• Use an application form that asks "knock-out" questions (Y/N answers)
• Direct all candidate applications to your ATS (one place)
• Search for people on LinkedIn based on your selection criteria
• Send them an invite to connect, with intro text that includes your job URL
• Join relevant specialist interest LinkedIn groups, and share your ad there
• Ask everyone you connect to for referrals or to share with their network

It really doesn't matter where your ideal candidate comes from: advertising, search, social media, referrals or your personal network, but if you don't use all channels simultaneously then you are underselling your opportunity.

Thanks to modern ATS software, SM management tools, search engines and, of course LinkedIn, with a bit of initial set-up you can create a powerful distribution and candidate capture system that sweeps the market every time you hire.

Want to know more? Dr John Bethell consults to life sciences start-ups on setting up their own recruitment systems on a lean budget.  Just visit Recruitment 101 for more details.