Beware the Pitfalls of Using Employment Websites for Recruiting

I have been working on an article about improving hiring practices. This snipet is something that I feel strongly about but did not include in the article - the potential downsides of recruiting using website job boards.

For companies with open positions, the job website has many attractive features. External sites like Monster.com or internal company job boards can offer benefits such as a broad communication of job openings and increased applicant flow. Even so, HR professionals and hiring managers should assess their use of job websites to avoid falling prey to the following potential pitfalls:

-Increased applicant flow turns people people into paper pushers.

-Collecting and processing stacks of resumes reduces the time spent on reviewing resumes/applications and verifying credentials.

-Employment websites can become a gatekeeper, with the mission of keeping people out (conscious or inadvertent). How user friendly is your recruiting website? Are the only people who have the time and patience to get through your process the ones that are not currently working?

-False comfort caused by increased applicant flow from websites. Just because you have lots of resumes does not mean you don't need to seek out the best talent.

-Application processes that evaluate and eliminate people based on job requirements might be eliminating many great candidates. Lots of brilliant people have nontraditional career histories.

HR professionals and hiring managers should evaluate the application process from the perspective of potential candidates. What does your process and protocol communicate about your company culture and the value it places on its people?

Food for thought.

I think that posting jobs on your website is generally a good thing, but I get concerned when the recruiting function begins to hide behind the technology. The focus should remain on the people by building positive impressions and relationships.

Comments

[Christopher Bailey]

Lisa, I recently posted an entry called "Let's Change the Way We Hire Talent, Okay" and talk about how the hiring process is broken from the applicant standpoint. Currently being on that side of the process, I find it frustrating when I hear from potential employers, "You have some wonderful talents that we could use, but unfortunately we don't have a position for you." It's precisely what you say here:

-Application processes that evaluate and eliminate people based on job requirements might be eliminating many great candidates. Lots of brilliant people have nontraditional career histories.

Maybe it's folks like us who need to be the radical advocates who go into companies and start to shake the pillars of the traditional hiring process. You game?

[Lisa Haneberg]

If I said "yes, I'm game!" without a qualification, it might not be genuine. You see, I have been at the top of the HR org chart and I fell into many of the pitfalls that I listed. It was a small but highly seasonal business, so my recruiting resources were low, but applicant flow (due to posting on websites and ads) was high.

If I were to take a position in a company today, I can say that I would look at the recruiting and hiring processes differently. So I am NOW game to try and make a positive difference by being a radical advocate.

Thansk for your thoughts and good luck on your search!