Need help finding your next employee? Great news, small businesses have never had more options when it comes to recruiting and hiring employees. Today you can use both the traditional print and grassroots avenues of sourcing candidates as well as a host of digital recruiting tools. Each tactic has its place, but which ones are best for your hiring needs? Use this guide to determine where and how to advertise for your next open position.
Digital Recruitment Tactics
1. Online Job Search Engines and Job Boards — General
Description
The digital recruiting and job searching landscape has evolved from job board sites, like CareerBuilder.com, to job search engine sites, like Indeed.com. Online job boards pull from job ads provided to them by employers with open positions. Job search engines take this one step further, serving results to job seekers by not only presenting open jobs posted to their site but also by including results pulled from company career sites and other online job boards. Small businesses can work both types of job sites into their recruitment strategy by posting and paying to further promote their open jobs.
Examples
CareerBuilder.com, Craigslist.com, FairyGodBoss.com, Glassdoor.com, Indeed.com, Monster.com, ZipRecruiter.com
Pros
Large reach
Sometimes free to post
Cons
May inundate you with unqualified applicants
Good for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
2. Online Job Boards — Niche
Description
Like general digital job boards, niche job boards provide a job seeker destination to search for open jobs across various companies. The difference, of course, is that niche job boards present a specialized focus like engineering, opportunities with flexible hours or even the energy sector. The niche job board you choose will depend on the role you’re hiring. Is it an IT position, try Dice.com. For entry-level roles, consider CollegeRecruiter.com. Check out the examples for more.
Examples
Entry-level Jobs + Internships: CollegeRecruiter.com, Internships.com, Youtern.com
Unique Perks: CoolWorks.com, FlexJobs.com, GoodFoodJobs.com, WeWorkRemotely.com
Part-Time/Temporary/Seasonal/Freelance/Contract: FlexJobs.com, Snagajob.com, Upwork.com
Tech Jobs: Dice.com, Stackoverflow.com, CrunchBoard.com, Jobs.Mashable.com, ITJobPro.com
Finance Jobs: efinancialcareers.com, OneWire.com
Energy Sector Jobs: energyjobline.com
Engineering Jobs: Engineering.Jobs
Healthcare Jobs: HealthcareJobsite.com
Non-Profits: Idealist.com
Marketing: Mediabistro.com, Jobs.PRSA.org, Talentzoo.com
Sales: SalesGravy.com, SalesJobs.com
High-Level Experience: HeadHunter.com, TheLadders.com
Pros
Reach a specific audience
Can find more qualified candidates
Sometimes free to post
Cons
Can be more expensive
Good for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
3. Social Media Sourcing
Description
Social media is increasingly integral to candidates’ job searches, especially for people under 40 who most often use LinkedIn and Facebook to research potential employers. This makes your social media channels great places to not only extend your customer-facing brand, but also your employee-facing brand. Share your open positions on your social media pages along with a peek at your company culture and the best perks of working for you. You can also proactively search for and reach out to people who look like they’d be a great fit for your position based on their profiles, interests and experience.
Examples
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pros
Allows for personalized candidate insights
Free to use
Cons
Time-consuming
Good for* —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
* While this tactic can work for all skill sets and skill levels, you may want to use it for only highly-skilled, hard-to-find roles due to its time-consuming nature.
4. Paid Social Media Advertising
Description
While sharing your open positions is free on social media, you can opt to increase your reach (the number of candidates who see your job ad) by putting some budget behind promoting your open positions. Many social media channels offer advanced targeting to get your ad in front of the most qualified candidates’ eyes.
Examples
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Pros
Can offer advanced targeting options to reach people with the skills and experience you need
Cons
Can be expensive
Great for* —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
* While this tactic can work for all skill sets and skill levels, you may want to use it as a later resort and only for highly-skilled, hard-to-find roles due to the expense.
5. Career Site
Description
Career sites are typically hosted as a section of a company’s general website, though some enterprises build separate websites. This section of your website is a great place to share more information related to your employer brand, like culture and perks, as well as your open positions including how to apply.
Pros
Free
Allows you to control the narrative
Great way to build your employer brand
Cons
May have a smaller reach
Great for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
6. Virtual Job Fairs
Description
These online job fairs take place at a certain time and place, albeit a virtual location. They may focus on a specific geographic location, skill set or industry and often include chat rooms and web conferencing to help job seekers and employers connect. As a small business, you likely won’t host your own virtual career fair, but can pay to attend ones open to the public. Research ones that align with your hiring needs. Candidates typically upload their resume prior to attending and can be either matched with employers based on their experience or can choose which virtual booths to visit. Depending on the set-up, you may need to provide some information ahead of time such as a description of your company, a high-res logo and open job descriptions.
Examples
Online-Job-Fairs.com
VirtualJobScout.org
VeteranRecruiting.com
jobfairsin.com/online-virtual-job-fairs
Pros
Connect and communicate with active job seekers
Often specialized
Follow-up options are often included
Cons
Limited number of attendees
Limited to a time and place
Good for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
Offline Recruitment Tactics
7. Job Fairs
Description
These events help job seekers and companies with open positions connect in a physical location. Like virtual job fairs, they can be focused on a specific industry or skill set, or they can be more general in nature but include a narrowed audience such as soon-to-be college grads or military veterans. Research career fairs that focus on your specific hiring needs and plan to attend those. Prior to the event, be ready to share information about working for you and prepare a way to capture candidates’ information, communicating how you plan to follow up.
Examples
College and university career fairs
Trade organizations
Local job fairs
Pros
Speak in-person with active candidates
Schedule or conduct interviews on the spot
Cons
Requires pre-planned booth set-up
Limited to attendees
Limited to a time and place
Good for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
8. Referral Programs
Description
Often the best hires come by way of a current employee’s referral. Why? Your current employees understand your culture and working style, so they understand the type of person who’s likely to do well at your company. Tap into your employees’ networks and encourage this efficient way of recruiting by creating an official referral program. Offer bonuses or perks to employees who refer someone you end up hiring — but consider attaching a specific amount of time, such as three months, prior to awarding the bonus.
Examples
Awards for employees who refer a hired candidate could include:
Cash award three months after hire
Giftcard or certificate three months after hire
One day off three months after hire
Pros
Likely to receive qualified candidates
Likely to find good cultural fits
Cons
Potential to offend someone if you don’t hire their referral
Great for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
9. Traditional Print Advertising
Description
The traditional classified ad in a print publication used to be a hallmark of recruitment marketing, and while its importance has diminished, it still can be effective for the right type of role. Small, local media outlets can be a great way to generate excitement about your small business’s hiring plans, and trade publications can help you reach a specialized audience.
Examples
Local newspaper classifieds
Business journal classifieds
Trade publication classifieds, like Logistics Management
Local radio stations
Pros
Reach a specific audience
May be inexpensive, depending on the publication
Cons
May have limited reach
May be expensive, depending on the publication
Great for —
Skill types: All (for special skills, look to trade publications)
Skill levels: All (for higher-level candidates, look to trade publications)
10. Networking
Description
Good old-fashioned networking skills are nowhere from going out of style. Whether attending an industry event like a trade show or a local meeting of entrepreneurs, always keep an eye out for people who would be valuable additions to your company, even if you’re not currently hiring. Get people’s contact information and stay in touch. Not only would these be great people to offer potential roles to, but they also have their own network from which they can recommend candidates, so next time you have an open position don’t forget to reach out to your own network.
Examples
Local trade networking events
Hackathons
Happy hours
Trade shows
Pros
Free
Meaningful connections
Cons
None
Great for —
Skill types: All
Skill levels: All
