Catch 'Em While You Can

I've been reading John Sumser's posts today, yesterday, and the day before about corporate websites. John is reaffirming something that we have believed for a long time--the number one career site on the Internet is your own. The numbers are staggering in terms of people who start at job boards that read about other jobs and gather corporate information while they are there--north of 90%! But think about the other HUGE attraction of a corporate career site, capturing interested candidates who came to your website because they were interested in your company, not because they came from a job board.

This is an ideal opportunity to tap into the semi-passive candidates. The ones that have a job, are happy with it, but are open to new opportunities. They  even surf around occasionally to see what's out there. These visitors to your website are the ones that probably already work in your industry, or for the competitors you are targeting with your recruiting efforts. This is where I believe most career sites fall short--they are just job listings. They don't compel the candidate by presenting your company as what Tom Peters calls a Great Place To Work (GPTW). Sumser talks about the website through its metaphors: the lobby, the gateway, the source, and the opportunity. Right on!

Yes I'm biased, but check out Hire Careers. It has a great page on culture, the work environment, and the benefits. Every career path has a separate portal with direct information in video from the department head. There is an employee spotlight, rotated monthly, where an employee blogs about their experience here. And of course there is a career site powering registration, information collection, job viewing and submission, and screening.

How many companies are missing the boat by not providing specifically tailored messages for mission-critical talent? If you are looking for engineers, create an engineer portal and blog. Sales reps should have a sales rep portal. Software engineers should have a technology portal--etcetera.

This is how relationships get built and nurtured. Provide information that candidates can use to assess why your company is a GPTW, and why the opportunity you are presenting is right (or not) for them. You'll be casting a wider net by not just presenting the career site in the light of active candidates, and the candidates will be getting relevant information. Talenteering is not about posting jobs and reviewing resumes, it is about being proactive and building relationships with the right kind of candidates in advance of openings!