Recruitment 2.0! Yet another 2.0 for us to use

Most of us all hear about Web 2.0 (social networking sites) but now there is talk of recruitment 2.0. Recruitment 2.0 is the new thinking, new channels and new approaches to candidate and client attraction. With all these new ideas and systems to understand, how do we use them and more importantly what are they. Below are a couple of ideas that have been suggested:

Using search engine marketing

Candidates and clients are starting to use search engines more as filters for their searches, be it for jobs or agencies. This means that the fight for marketing online and improving your ranking is becoming increasingly competitive. Search marketing also includes pay per click searches; these are starting to get used more in recruitment because of the benefits of target marketing. The Internet is such a great tool for marketing because of the democratic nature that allows any company no matter what the size to rank higher than their competitors and that is why pay per click and online marketing is so popular.

Using SMS and portable Internet

The portable Internet on phones will be vastly improved within the next couple of years making it a viable option that recruitment companies should embrace. Having a mobile web page could be crucial in reaching your target markets and again gives you another channel to capture your target market. SMS alerts are also a relatively undiscovered area that will be explored more and more as mobile Internet improves. There are already talks of getting targeted SMS messages to your phone as you walk by shops, there are of course many problems with this but this is only at discussion point and I have no doubt that in the near future it will be happening. With the Iphone already in circulation and being an all in one device that allows easier navigation around the Internet soon more affordable products will be available and this will create another channel to access potential candidates and clients.

Digital community matters

We are now seeking advice from people who have put their thoughts and reviews on the Internet; we do our own knowledge seeking and find what we want. We don’t believe what people or adverts say to us, we need to reinforce our ideas ourselves and we will spend time doing this. Ultimately the candidates and clients are getting more power and are being more choosey in deciding which company they want to work for. By using Blogs, pod casts and other tools you are encouraging a two way communication. Engaging in conversation and opinion sharing invites people to make contact and stimulates interest.

So what now?

Recruitment 2.0 is all about new channels at lower cost, more proactive, engaging and measurable. This seems to promise a lot and can seem a little too good to be true but with more and more advances I see no reason why these new channels can not be explored to the best of our abilities.

Just out of interest there are already talks about Web 3.0, we just cannot keep up it seems.

Jobshout announces job alerts functionality

Here's our latest press release...

Jobshout, the online service for recruiters and HR that lets you add your own job board to your website, has announced that it will soon allow users to automatically send alerts about newly posted jobs, via email or SMS, to candidates whose job-seeking profile matches the vacancy.

“Job alerts are a great way to communicate with candidates”, says Jobshout CEO Steve Gibson. “The ability to post a job and to have it go out immediately to people whose profile it matches can give an agency a critical advantage in a business environment in which speed can often be a major factor in whether you win business or not. And from a branding point of view having your very own job board that sends alerts to jobseekers speaks volumes about the quality of service that you provide.”

The job alerts functionality is part of a broader programme to expand the Jobshout package through its Jobshout Pro add-on package. The first module to be announced was the ability to send job details to the UK’s popular Broadbean job posting system.

The job alerts system has been under development for several months and is due for release in a few weeks time.

About Jobshout
The Jobshout service began in 2007. It lets people who are recruiting online – in other words recruitment and staffing agencies, and other organisations who want to advertise their vacancies on the web – quickly set up a job board, with their own branding and the look and feel of their own website. They can then publish it under their own domain name, or on jobshout.com.

Jobshout is very quick to set up, there are no start-up costs, and it is a hosted service, so there is no software to install or maintain. Publishing a job on the web becomes the work of a couple of minutes, and in the process Jobshout does the sort of work that a web expert would do to ensure that the ad stands the best possible chance of being found in searches on Google, MSN, and so on.

Jobshout monitors applicants and CVs, and its built-in analytics show how well individual ads, and the site as a whole, are working.

Jobshout is a division of recruitment specialists Workstation.

For interviews or further information, contact Nathan Mayatt at info@jobshout.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 371 7161.

Interested and want to be an early adopter? Contact Alistair.

Job searching by salary

We are in the process of making a small but significant change to the way the Jobshout system does its searches, which is to allow visitors to your Jobshout job board to search by salary range.

I know, I know... this is fairly standard job board functionality, and I won't go into the reason why we haven't done it before, which are technical and rather dull. Surprisingly few people ever seemed to notice that it wasn't there.

However, searching by salary range is a rather important thing if you are sending out job alerts by email or - especially - SMS (which costs), if your search criteria are being used as the criteria for your job alerts. Basically, you want people to be getting alerts that are as relevant to them as possible, so that they are always happy to receive them.

(Watch this blogspace for another important announcement.)

New sites will have the salary searching built in as a matter of course. If you are an existing Jobshout user, then we will be getting in touch with you in due course. If salary searching is important and you want it NOW email Alistair.

REC pledges support for proposed commission on agency work

The REC have sent a letter to the Prime Minister backing the Agency Work Commission as well as their stance on the Agency Workers Bill and the EU Agency Workers Directive.

Tom Hadley, of the REC has requested an "objective evaluation of the agency work landscape in the UK". They are wanting a practical solution to the exploitation of workers without having a negative impact on the temp and contract workers.

Do you know anyone that this job would suit?

Here's an ad for a new business position that we are looking to fill:

Are you a Recruitment Consultant or SEO Business Developer looking for something a bit different? If so, we could have the perfect role for you.

This is a pivotal position within Jobshout, where there is great potential for personal growth (and earnings!). The role is a real mix of developing new clients as well as building on existing client relationships. So fantastic account management, organisation business development and communication skills are essential.

You’ll responsible for the day-to-day client liaison from the initial contact; as well as working with the rest of the team where you’ll be brain storming new ideas for marketing and business development. As you can see this isn’t your typical new business role!

Based in Fulham, with recently refurbished offices, a friendly and relaxed culture/vibe (plus a great pub across the road)…it really is a lovely place to work.

If you are a motivated self-starter who likes the freedom to work in a way that suits you and have a passion/knowledge of the digital world then we would love to hear from you.

If this sounds like you or anyone that you know, please get in touch with us. It's a great role for an exciting product in a fun team.