» What are the Big Trends in Recruiting for 2009?

HR is an industry in considerable flux. Lots of new startups. The bigger companies evolving their strategies. And HR Departments getting up-to-speed on the latest technologies and opportunities in social media and social networking. Out of all the components that make up a business, I’d say that Human Resources is changing the most and has the most room to grow.

That makes for exciting times, and recently I read Dr. John Sullivan’s thoughts on trends in corporate recruiting for 2009. It’s a great list, and you can clearly see how HR has been moving over the last few years.

Many of the trends described are precisely the things we saw happening in HR. They led us to formulate our arguments for Standout Jobs, and I think speak well to the opportunities that exist for us and others in the space. I wanted to highlight a few:

1. Upgrading employment branding. Dr. Sullivan writes, “Nothing is hotter around the globe in recruiting than employment branding. The success of Google, a firm that has built the world’s strongest employment brand over an amazing five-year period, has led others to focus on this impactful long-term strategy. Key focus areas include increasing media coverage, increasing visibility online, building your ‘green’ brand, and countering your ‘negative’ employment brand.”

   I refer to Google a lot when speaking to prospects, customers, investors, etc. They’re the pinnacle of employment branding. They recognized very early on that they had to tell a great story about themselves to attract the best talent. Truth is a lot of companies offer similar perks to Google, but they don’t tell their story well enough. And this problem is exacerbated for smaller organizations that don’t have the resources of Google (or other large enterprises).

2. Using employee blogs for recruiting. Dr. Sullivan notes, “A practice that is finally beginning to enter the mainstream is employee blogging to support recruiting efforts. The very best firms use blogs not just to spread their message but also to answer questions and to make their company appear more ‘real’ and approachable.”

   Almost every team member at Standout Jobs blogs. Those that don’t are harassed constantly. I know for a fact that our company profile has increased due to our employees blogging, even if they’re not blogging for Standout Jobs or about the company. In the near future I can see us having employees blog specifically about the company and our products. This is great for customer service; because prospects and clients will see us out there communicating. And it’s not hard to do either. Companies need to get past their fears of what employees might say, develop reasonable policies and get writing!

3. Revitalizing corporate jobs page. Dr. Sullivan writes, “Recruiting managers are beginning to understand that pitifully dull and dated websites drive away innovators. Focus areas include providing personalized information to the visitor, Flash video integration, blogs, podcasts, and virtual Q&As.”

   Regardless of the technology or features of a corporate career site, at the end of the day if it’s dull, boring and lifeless, you’ll lose candidates, and probably the best ones. If there’s no way for candidates to interact, you’ll lose people. If the only action a candidate can take is to apply, you’ll lose people. Forcing a prospect to make a spot decision on whether they should apply or not, without giving them other means to build a relationship is bad news.

   Technologies will change. Features will change. But the basic premise that you need a great-looking and useful career site will not. Here’s a great snippet from one of our recent case studies of HCI, a recruitment firm that uses Standout Jobs to hire for their own needs:

   Hogan notes the candidates coming through the Standout Jobs portal present themselves differently from those coming from other sources. “It’s really obvious that they want to learn more about HCI’s business. They’re better versed, more web savvy, more apt to do the things necessary to brand themselves better to us after seeing the professional level of the HCI site. When our offers are given, people are more likely to accept. Standout Jobs has helped us achieve an overall more polished brand and that makes a difference in the mind of the candidate when weighing offers.”

4. Using a CRM model for hiring. Dr. Sullivan says, “I’ve been touting the values of the CRM (customer relationship management) model for years. More firms are beginning to understand the value of improving the experience at each ‘touch point’ with the candidate. Key focus areas include relationship recruiting, automated applicant profiling, automated event calendaring, and robust lifecycle metrics.”

   CRM for hiring makes sense because HR is all about people. Employers are people. Candidates are people. Processing applicants as if they were cattle doesn’t help anyone. Employers can’t find the best talent and candidates can’t find the best companies. One of, if not the biggest pain point for candidates is the dreaded “Application Blackhole” — where they apply for a job, never to hear a single peep from the employers. That frustrates candidates to no end, and you can be sure they tell plenty of others about that negative experience.

   CRM for hiring in my mind is about simple communication. Just communicate. Use tools that allow you to communicate more effectively as employers. I’ve spoken to some companies that will always email every candidate, even the ones they’re rejecting. They’ll often hear back from the rejected candidate, along the lines of, “I’m sorry this isn’t a good fit, but thank you SO MUCH for the email back.”

These trends reflect precisely what we’re trying to do at Standout Jobs, particularly for the SMB market that doesn’t have the budget or resources to execute on sophisticated employment branding strategies, etc. It will be very interesting to see how these trends progress into 2009 and what lies ahead for the Human Resources industry.