Archives

We got a piece of email from the friendly folks at 2Ask. Initially we yawned at the sprawling press release until we scanned past the "Free Banner Ad" offer.

Imagine our surprise when we discovered that there was a tremendous new feature. While reacquainting ourselves with Ray Shoemake, the CEO of Killion Consulting, we took a quick look at their Website. The simple one page tool includes a button labeled "Employment Opportunities". Clicking it takes you directly to the IPA database and shows only the job listings from Killion Consulting. Many other recruiting alliances (mostly in the UK) have tried to implement a similar feature. This one, though, gives the seamless appearance of technical savvy.

Proactive web recruiting most often looks like traditional candidate research conducted on behalf of the client. The tricks and twists of Internet based information mining are usually seen as an extension of library research. There are even fantastic variations in practice that capitalize on the aggregate information gathered by the most successful "venus fly traps". Certainly, the process of defining and acquiring a target is more precise using these rapidly evolving tools. It hardly maximizes the potential of the medium.

We get very excited about better kinds of bait and trapping strategies in the passive approach. Job matching services (pioneered by JobCenter and ESpan and perfected by operations like 4work) and free HTML Resumes (initially offered by Intellimatch and spreading like wildfire) are moves in the right direction. They take the passive approach well beyond normal limits and into candidate relationship development. Unfortunately, these strategies are like assuming that the fish will come because you put your pole by the stream.

Aggressive advertising campaigns seem to be working in the short term and will probably always be a significant component of a smart web based recruiting venture. The Intellimatch billboard on Rte 101 in Silicon Valley will be written about in advertising case studies for years to come. (So will their remarkably innovative partnerships with newspapers). But, the strategy remains passive...building value that is available in exchange for a visit.

The ESpan partnership with CMP called TechHunter is a very significant move in the right direction. Our pick as the best single recruiting site of 1995, TechHunter fishes where the fish are and will be remembered as an initial step towards proactive recruiting.

In the long run, though, it's just a step. The potential of the medium is to close the gap between clients and candidates with the recruiter acting as a relationship manager. The excitement begins as recruiters begin to actively reduce the client's per-hire transaction costs