We all want to attract the highest number of qualified candidates to our job opening—and we want to do so in a way that is efficient and affordable. We receive tons of questions from employers and hiring managers wanting to know the “scoop” on job boards like Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, and LinkedIn. If you’re considering a paid ad to boost interest in your job opening, consider this advice before running for the company credit card:
The best way to identify candidates who are a strong match for your requirements is to use LinkedIn. Do a search for people who look like they line up with what you’re looking for and then send them an InMail to “hook” them. If they don’t respond, try giving them a call (not everyone checks their LinkedIn messages on a daily basis). While this is more time consuming than posting on the job boards, the result is ALWAYS more effective, and a lot less frustrating. You’ll receive a higher volume of strong candidates nearly every time.
If you’re going to pay for an ad, we’d recommend paying for one on LinkedIn as opposed to the typical job boards (Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, etc). You will find higher quality passive candidates by using this approach. You may also want to invest in a LinkedIn Premium or Recruiter seat, depending on the volume of the hiring you’re doing.
If you don’t have time to use LinkedIn to search for and recruit candidates and you want to take out a paid advertisement, be prepared to weed through bad applicants. An alternative to this is to buy the resume search function inside of Monster or CareerBuilder and proceed as directed above for LinkedIn. Either way, you’ll have to put in a fair amount of work to locate highly qualified candidates. Indeed offers a Pay Per Click (PPC) feature which can be a great budget conscious option as you’ll only be charged when potential applicants click on your posting.
Depending on the type of position and the rate of pay, sites like Resume Library and The Ladders can be great alternative options to post highly skilled (and highly paid) jobs. After LinkedIn, The Ladders is our second “go to” site to find qualified candidates.
If you decide to try our first recommendation and use LinkedIn to source potential applicants, we highly suggest customizing your approach when it comes to sending out InMails. Specifically, this means taking the extra 60 seconds per email to customize your message to each individual person as opposed to sending out a mass (template style) email to 30 people. Customization makes a huge difference in the volume of responses you receive and may even earn you a referral or two along the way.
Happy Hiring!
