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Searchbase(May 16, 1997):
SearchBase bills itself as "the outplaced execs total executive recruiters connection" [sic]. Which is quite a mouthful.
SearchBase "allows you to be identified by a multitude of criteria at the exact moment when a recruiter is looking for you. SearchBase was designed by our founder, formerly of Heidrick & Struggles, to be an integral part of the retained search process thus ensuring maximum usage by recruiters and exposure for you."
As well as a searchable database, the site contains useful career articles, such as "How to Change Careers", "Be More Memorable In Job Interviews", and "Wouldn't It Be Better To Work For The Good Guys?", all of which contain solid - if somewhat quotidian - advice.
As the tag-line indicates, SearchBase targets itself at middle to junior executives. Wherein lies the rub.
Sign up costs "just $98. That's the same as the cost of postage to 278 recruiters..."
Email
(May 15, 1997): Here's a quick list of five do's and don't's of direct email copywriting:
Do: Deliver a personal message
Don't: Send out a slick pitch letter
In the world of direct postal mail, consumers expect to receive slick pitches produced by New York ad agencies. On the Internet, people want personal notes handcrafted for an audience of one. A chatty "Hi! Thought this might interest you ..." goes a lot farther than "Dear Friend, You have been selected to receive ..."
Do: Keep it short
Don't: Go on and on for several pages
On the Internet, people want information and they want it now. That's why short, snappy pitches pull better than long-winded appeals that tell a story, paint a picture, tug at heart strings, or describe your product's amazing bells and whistles in exhaustive detail. Besides, have you ever tried to read 3,000 words on a 15-inch screen?
Do: Get to the point
Don't: Make people figure it out for themselves
Internet users are busy people who receive dozens or even hundreds of email messages a day. They barely have time to double-click on your message to open it, much less waste valuable time figuring out what you're trying to sell. If you can't come up with a three-word subject line that sums up your pitch, hit the Delete key and start over.
Do: Give people an incentive to read more
Don't: Restate your everyday pitch or talk about "great jobs"
Internet users tend to be surfers with short attention spans. If you want to inspire them to action, you need to give them a compelling reason to work with you.
Do: Drive people to your Web site
On the Internet, you don't need to say it all in one letter. One of the most effective online marketing strategies is to use your direct email piece as a teaser to lure people to your Web site where you can wow them.
Job Smart
(May 14, 1997):
We've said it before, but we'll say it again. Jobsmart is one of THE best resources around.
It's full of useful tips and hints. One we particularly care for is Two Dozen Hot Resume Tips from Yana Parker.
Yana Parker is the author of Damn Good Resume Guide, Resume Catalog, Ready to Go Resumes and Blue Collar & Beyond, so she comes well- recommended.
Presented in Question & Answer format, the twenty-four tips presented here range from the obvious - like "What's the FIRST STEP in writing a resume?" - to the less-obvious, like "Don't fold a laser-printed resume right along a line of text". (Because "the "ink" could flake off along the fold.")
If you're really intent on creating a "killer resume" - and who isn't? - you can visit Yana's Damned Good Resume Books site, which not only gives you the lowdown, but also offers Live Help With Your Resume. There's also an extremely useful links page.
Check it out!
Specialty Recruiting
(May 13, 1997): Few things are as overlooked as the strategic importance of recruiting. In the rough and tumble world of our day to day existence, recruiters face low survival odds and high workload demands. Yet, finding the right person with the right qualifications at the right time is often the key to a company's ability to adapt and flourish.
The online marketplace functions differently for various segments in the recruiting "food chain". Broad employment classified advertisers, (like Monster Board, Career Mosaic, ESpan, and OCC) driven by the potential of reaching mass audiences, offer recruiters access to the part of the market already moving towards a job change. In their own ways, each is hitting a saturation point. The market is driving them to more precise niching as a strategy. We don't know where, but we expect to see a much heavier emphasis on geography in one or all of these services.
Temporary and contract placement services (served best by Net-Temps and DICE) absolutely depend on a high volume of resume throughput. Because they fill immediate needs, the net provides an interesting dilemma. The investment required to generate the right volume of resumes is often out of reach. Depending on shared services (subscription and free) puts these firms at risk of becoming commodity businesses with commodity pricing.
Executive recruiters have been slow to embrace the net. The overlap between their natural candidates and the Internet Demographic makes this one of the oddest stories in the recruiting sphere. There's a major innovation waiting to happen for the first Executive Recruiter who really leverages the net.
Specialty recruiters are another story. We had a quick look at a website offered by Survival Systems who serve the Power Electronics and Analog Industry. The site (which is pretty standard fare on most levels) includes a fledgling industry news section. It's a reminder that these very focused recruiters stand the most to gain in the small niches of the net. By knowing precisely who they're searching for off line, finding them becomes easy online. Small and precise operations have a much better chance of effectively navigating the little talent pools online.
What's an Ad?
(May 12, 1997): Years of being referred to as "tombstone advertising" gives the employment advertising industry an edge. Although most current web employment ads are a longer version of the same old thing, the future holds a different approach. As a low status component of the advertising world, employment advertising is more able to change.
The web provides the ability to enter into a direct conversation with a precisely targeted candidate. American labor shortages make this conversation increasingly critical. We expect that the next five years will make pre-employment relationships longer, more personal and more directly "one-to-one". The combination of capability plus driving requirement makes employment advertising more likely to change. While "one-to-one" advertising is a "nice to have" feature for other functions, it will be critical for recruitment.
While the ultimate form of pre-employment conversations have their roots in advertising, they will be much more like initial business conversations facilitated by machine. Like athletic recruiting, which begins years before the final transaction, employment recruiting has to begin well before the candidate is even aware of his/her market readiness. Incentives and benefits will need to flow from recruiters to candidates much earlier than they do today to ensure access at the right time. "Just-in-time-Recruiting" requires years of advance planning rather than months.
The kind of "compelling content" that recruiters need to deliver is more likely to be tools for professional development. Although the methods will be rooted in advertising, recruiting will involve longer and more intimate involvement between employers and their potential employees. Professional development is the dimension in which this can occur. In the end, it won't look like much like advertising as we know it.
Advanced Internet Recruiting Seminars
(March 28, 1997): We're delivering Seminars around the country in April and May. The schedule is:
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Class size is limited to 25 per seminar. The seminars run from 9:00AM to 4:30PM. Clicking on the city will take you to information and directions to the hotel.
1997 Electronic Recruiting Index
(February 23, 1997): The 1997 Electronic Recruiting Index is a combination industry analysis, directory and hands-on guide for Navigating the transition into maturity as an Internet Recruiter. It includes:
- A comprehensive approach for designing and managing your web recruiting
- Detailed planning for placing online Employment ads
- A section written for managers of Internet Projects
- Pricing comparisons of 75 key Recruiting sites
- A detailed analysis of the Top 100 Websites
- A Directory of over 5800 Online Recruiters
- A solid look at the Recruiting Industry in 1996
- Forecasts and Trends for 1997and beyond
- The Impact of Demographics on Electronic Recruiting
- Motivations and Entry costs for the Various Market segments
- In the business and considering a change in strategy,
- Considering entering the business, or
- Trying to stay abreast of the changing landscape
See a detailed index of our past issues
The past 16 months of the Electronic Recruiting News
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