Many companies are becoming increasingly interested in investing in online recruitment to find qualified employees that they need to fill positions in their company. Social media, in particular, has become an increasingly popular way for employers to seek out new talent, with some networks like LinkedIn become increasingly devoted to online recruitment practices while others, like Facebook, continue to devote more and more resources and recruiter tools to help employers reach a wider audience.
In addition, online postings are an important part of the PERM advertising process, and it is always a good idea for anybody hoping to sponsor a foreign employee to have a professional team who specializes in both permanent labor certification ads and immigration ads to help ensure every aspect of the application process is properly completed.
Just like anything though, the online recruitment process comes with some relative advantages and disadvantages compared to more traditional types of labor advertising like say, local print media sources. So what is a breakdown of some of the bigs pros and cons that employers can expect when they turn to an online recruitment strategy? Read on to find out.
Advantages of Making Use of Online Recruitment Tools
1. Affordability
When posting job ads on popular online platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, employers can gain access to a broad audience for absolutely no cost.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of targeted tools will allow them to reach the audience that they want to reach and customize their campaign according to their unique needs and budget.
2. Speed
Looking to fill a position as soon as possible? Online recruitment might just be the way to go. One big advantage of using online tools to recruit new employees is that employers get to enjoy the power of generating immediate responses. Not only that, but there is also no lag time between when they post their campaign and when it shows up on the screen. That said, they still might have to wait to find the right candidate, but delays like waiting for the campaign to be printed certainly won’t stand in the way.
In addition, the availability of neatly packaged profiles means that employers get a quick way to get a glimpse into the background of an applicant without having to arrange a physical meeting, and this can largely expedite the screening process.
3. Enjoy a Greater Reach
Anybody who is having a hard time targeting qualified candidates locally might just want to upgrade to online recruitment strategies instead. This is because social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others on the internet, in general, provide literally world-wide access to potential candidates across the globe.
Of course, this is ideal, but the campaign will also be realistically limited by factors like the extent of one’s social network and how much they want to invest in paid campaigns, but the potential to reach a broader, more engaged, and more highly targeted audience is certainly there.
4. Customize the Process
Say goodbye to boring old print ads and say hello to the world of multi-media recruitment campaigns. Online forums allow employers the ability to use different formats, like videos, for example, to help their recruitment campaign stand out from the pack.
Working with a company that specializes in immigration ads and other types of media will allow employers to fully mobilize the resources they need to create an attention-grabbing campaign.
5. Adaptability
With older recruitment methods like print media-based options, once, say immigration ads are posted, they are not easy to modify unless the employer wants to shell out more to have them altered or removed. Meanwhile, social media posts can easily be limitless changed, modified, deleted, or edited, all for free.
As an added bonus, online recruitment campaigns don’t run the risk of incurring physical damage as print media ads do, and thus, really don’t have an expiry date. If a campaign is not getting responses, it can simply just be bumped or reposted.
Some Relative Disadvantages of the Online Recruitment Process
1. The Cost
Sure, affordability was mentioned as one of the advantages above, but the pricing schemes on popular social media platforms can be a double-edged sword depending on the extent of the recruitment campaign itself and the resources mobilized.
As a general rule, the longer the need to run a paid campaign, the longer it will cost, and many sites require hidden money grabs like sign-up fees that can quickly add up over time. This will be particularly true if the employer is having a difficult time filling the position.
2. Can Easily Look Unprofessional
The problem with the intuitive do-it-yourself look and feel of online recruitment campaigns is that they can easily end up looking unprofessional, potentially turning off otherwise qualified candidates who might have been otherwise responsive to a more traditional campaign format.
However, this downside can easily be avoided by hiring a company that specializes in recruitment postings or PERM advertising.
3. More Competition
As previously mentioned, online recruitment strategies are increasing in popularity, and this means it can be all the more difficult to stand out from the pack when it comes to attracting the most qualified, talented candidates.
This is why those who hire professional help are much more likely to end up with a satisfactory result than those that try to handle everything themselves.
4. More Applications
Online campaigns have the ability to reach a wider audience, thus attracting more applications. While this may initially seem like a plus, keep in mind that having a wider reach is not always a good thing, and will often mean that an employer may have all the more unqualified applicants to sort through than if they were resorting to local or print-based methods.
Of course, time is money, and sometimes, fewer applications to deal with can be a good thing.
5. Bad Candidates
Applying for online jobs is comparatively easy in relation to responding to more traditional types of campaigns, and this means that more underqualified or unsuitable candidates may be likely to give the application process a shot. Meanwhile, they are hardly likely to go through a more tedious manual application process unless they believe they have a real shot of getting the application.
This is why posting an online campaign can sometimes feel like a shot in the dark. A professional agency can help recruiters mobilize the tools they need to target the right kind of audience and ensure they don’t find themselves sifting through a sea of bad or fraudulent applicants.
