Networking sites and niche recruitment sites scored high marks with human resources executives for bringing in quality job applicants, far outranking search-engine marketing and free sites like Craigslist and Kijiji, the AIM Group reported today.
With print advertising declining as a recruitment tool, the AIM Groupís annual survey of recruitment advertising effectiveness focused on ìalternative advertising toolsî like YouTube, text-message marketing and direct e-mail marketing. The findings are outlined in the 94-page report, ìRecruitment Advertising 2009: Discovering new opportunities through more efficient service.î
The report tracks trends from recruiters in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. While recruiters still use major sites like CareerBuilder, Monster and TotalJobs, and reported they were satisfied with results from those sites, they also ranked the effectiveness of a dozen ìalternativeî recruitment advertising tools. The highest rankings went to niche sites, like PennEnergyJobs.com and WWDCareers.com for fashion jobs, and networking sites. Almost 45 percent of the recruiters surveyed said they used networking sites liked LinkedIn and Facebook with mixed or great results.
ìRecruiters are trying lots of new ways to reach job-seekers – and while total recruitment advertising is down considerably because of the economy, employers still have to reach candidates to fill open positions,î said Peter M. Zollman, founding principal of the AIM Group / Classified Intelligence. ìPrint recruitment advertising is falling off a cliff and will never recover, but some of the new ways of finding employees show great promise at very low cost.
ìThe free sites, like Craigslist and Gumtree in the U.K., arenít getting very high marks from recruiters. While theyíre ëfree,í the effort associated with posting ads there and the work required to screen candidates make them not-very-valued alternatives – at least for now,î Zollman said.
The report contains specific recommendations for recruitment ad publishers, ad agencies and recruiters – what they need to do to serve their clients and continue connecting job-seekers and employers. It also covers the competitive landscapes in more than 20 countries, covering the U.S., Canada, Europe, India, China and Australia and Latin America. Itís the eighth annual recruitment report from the AIM Group.
The report, at $499 with a money-back guarantee, is available for purchase on the AIMGroup.com site. A free preview edition is also available.
Networking, niche sites strong favorites among recruiters
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