Just a Jobsite?

How can Jobsites improve both their Service offering and the quality of their Candidate Database? Take Career Management Tools seriously argues Lydia Holder

Apparently, there is a ëRevivalí happening in the paper-based recruitment media at present. Recruiters are turning their backs from the web and focusing on building up their offline presence in traditional paper media.

Online Jobsites often come under fire for the quality of their candidate database; Low Quality CVís, Poor (Or non-existent) Profiles, and unsuitable or inappropriate applications. If you believe all the comment, these issues seem to be part and parcel of recruiting online these days.

Online Apathy

The key challenge facing online jobsites is not the latest surge in traditional media advertising, but the challenge of tackling the apparent apathy in the online sector towards quality issues.

Every jobsite is aware of the vast array of online career management tools at their disposal, Online CV Builders, Dedicated ëCareerí Sections, Career related articles and content, Free CV Assessments, the list is endless.

So, when considering ways to enhance the quality of candidates on a jobsite, why is it that these tools are rarely used? Jobsites seem to be under the impression that the addition of high quality, carefully implemented, career management tools will somehow distract them from their ëCoreí business of recruiting online. Surely, these services are the Core Business? Shouldnít Career Management and Recruitment go hand in hand?

Just Recruitment

Until online jobsites start taking the addition of career management tools seriously, the commendable effort vested into turning the online recruitment industry into the multi-million pound success it is today will lose effect as traditional media recruiters step up their campaign to get recruiters back investing their pounds in paper based traditional media.

Career Management?

So, what career management tools are available for jobsites? Generally speaking, Online Career tools focus around four key areas:

Free Content

Free CV Assessments

Professional CV Preparation

Psychometric Testing

SharpCV supplies all of the above and more to Affiliate Partners seeking to add value to their site whilst earning additional revenue.

How does this help?

Before adding career management tools onto a jobsite, consider carefully what each tool will do for the site. Each career tool should promote interactivity with candidates, enhance your site, and increase the quality of your database, if a tool does not do at least one of these things, do not add it to your site. To make sure, use the following checklist when evaluating which career tools to add to the jobsite:

Will this tool Add Value to the site? Typical value enhancing tools include; well written articles, and free cv assessments for candidates. www.pharmiweb.com , www.simplylawjobs.com, and www.thecareerengineer.com all feature career related articles on their sites, whilst www.1job.co.uk promotes Free CV Assessments on every search page of the site with great success.

Will this tool increase the Quality of the candidate database? Psychometric Tests can be useful but they wonít enhance the quality of the candidate. Online CV Builders or DIY CV Preparation by their nature force candidates to fit their achievements into a ëOne size fits allí generic template, again unlikely to increase the value of the CV. Professional CV Preparation by a qualified professional is the best way to directly increase the quality of the database. Offline career services such as interview coaching and Career Guidance can also help improve the quality of candidates ñ make sure the provider of your career tools can offer a variety of online and offline career services to candidates, not just CV Preparation.

Will this tool bring Additional Revenue to the jobsite? Career tools are not only great at enhancing candidate quality; managed effectively they can also be a valid additional revenue earner too. Ensure that all tools promoted on site have a system in place to ensure you receive credit (and payment) for each sale. SharpCV designs a unique/co-branded ëHost Pageí for all affiliates with a unique URL to assist with the tracking of referrals to the site, and ensuring that all commissions are allocated appropriately.

Core Business?

Online Jobsites have achieved a tremendous amount in a short time. With some jobsites celebrating their millionth candidate registration, and more and more job seekers turning to the Internet each month, the online recruitment industry has a lot to be proud of.

Donít let this success distract from the challenges currently facing the online recruitment industry. Enhance your Jobsite ñ Put Career Management at the Core.

Lydia Holder is Founder of SharpCV & Career Consultancy, which specialises in the Provision of Candidate Services and Career Management Tools to Jobsites. Call: 0845 0573251 for further information on how your site can benefit from Added-Value Candidate Services. lholder@sharpcv.co.uk