Best 5 Hiring Channels for HR and Recruiters

To a newly established firm, whether you are a trade organization or a recruitment agency, the next important step for you is to lay down a concrete foundation that leads to substantial growth. In doing so, a talented workforce is an essential piece in the master plan as they are one of the main, if not, the main drive towards your success.  

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As the world rapidly evolves and turns its compass towards digitalization, the way companies approach their recruitment has changed as well. Most of the talent acquisition activities have now migrated to the digital world where information is constantly exchanged 24/7. Online recruitment channels are the results of such an action, along with other new forms of hiring. 

Currently, a few key channels have become the core drivers of recruitment strategies for all types of industries around the world. Each channel has its own unique way of connecting candidates with employers. To master the use of these channels and efficiently target more candidates - while reaching new talent pools and elevating your recruitment in both active and passive forms - you need to consider which channel should you invest time and money in or how you should approach each channel.  

Before you make the jump, we’d like to invite you to a journey through the current top five hiring channels that all HR and recruiters should embrace, to help you make a better decision while staying ahead of the current trends and being among the top players with a strong foundation.

1. Job Boards

Job boards are the number one channel for digital recruitment today.  They are online sites where recruitment agencies and companies post advertisements for open job positions. The main purpose of job boards is to establish a connection between recruiters and job seekers. 

Through job boards, candidates are able to upload their CVs and contact information in the database which will be visible to recruiters. As job boards were designed to streamline and simplify the hiring process, some sites enable candidates to apply for the available positions directly via the job board sites themselves. 

Platforms such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster, and many others provide a space for employers and candidates to discover one another. However, this is the discovery mostly from the candidate's side of the line. Only a few job boards out there have the capability of allowing recruiters to browse through the currently available talent.  

Since 1995, when six major American newspapers joined forces and created an online site that listed job advertisements called ‘CareerPath.com’, online job boards have become one of the key channels for modern talent acquisition. From that point on, the online job boards have exploded sky-high as recruiters around the globe are driven to seek and acquire top talents via the sites.  

How It Works

As mentioned above, job boards are online sites where companies and recruitment agencies post advertisements for their available positions. Companies and recruiters can describe the role and specify their requirements for the positions as well as the benefits of the jobs to attract more candidates. On the other side of the spectrum, job seekers can search online job boards for opportunities and apply for positions at companies they desire. 

After that, the process goes into the usual recruitment pattern, with recruiters reaching applicants who are likely to qualify for the positions, followed by interviews and the rest is as we are all accustomed to.

How to Make Stand Out Ads on Job Boards

Instead of relying completely on a single job board, companies and recruitment agencies should leverage the competitive nature of these platforms and post their job listings on more than one outlet for maximum visibility. 

To help you efficiently attract top talents through online job boards, here are our tips for making stand out job advertisements.  

Write a captivating title

The title needs to be compelling and capable of capturing attention while creating curiosity at the same time. The title should be able to convey a sense of your company culture in just a few words.

Use Relevant Keywords

Digital success depends heavily on effective search engine results. Make sure to include keywords that are relevant to the position, the industry, the qualifications, and the nature of expected tasks.

Don’t Be Lazy

An empty job description will only attract thin air. Complete your advertisements by providing details of available positions and attracting candidates by addressing the benefits of each position as well as showcasing positive points of your company.  

2. Company Career Page 

Essentially, a company career page is a sub-page within a company’s official website that aims to showcase its brand image, core values, while engaging candidates and inviting them to apply for open positions. 

Looking at the whole thing from an outside-in perspective, a company’s website is a powerful selling tool. It was basically designed to function as a company’s digital representation. It helps sell your brand while pushing your product and service. A well-made website has the power to convert curious leads into paying customers, and curious visitors into determined applicants.

It’s simply a must-have for every company with a website. If you wish to sample job seekers with the experience of being part of your company and show them your culture, core values, and goals, the career page is your essential tool.

Why It Is Important to Have an Enticing Career Page

It is hard to keep visitors' attention these days. People online do not have much patience and offer little of their attention as 47% of website visitors bounce out after viewing just one page on site. This is why having an enticing career page is very important as it helps increase the chances of inspiring curious job seekers to be part of your organization.  

How to Create an Appealing Career Page 

Optimizing your career page follows the same rules we mention above for job boards. There’s an element of SEO that employers should be aware of, which makes keywords a very valuable asset. Captivating titles and inspiring messages are just as important. However, there are more elements that comprise an appealing career page, and here is how you can do it. 

Write a Great Job Description

All it takes is only a glimpse of your job description for candidates to decide whether or not they are a good fit for the position. It is 2022 now, so avoid the emotionless and robotic writing manner. It is the main factor that scares candidates away. Instead, to attract candidates, job descriptions must be written as clearly and as precisely as possible. In layman’s terms, don’t beat about the bush and just get to the point.   

A well-written job description must contain a list of the key responsibilities and an explanation of how the position functions within the organization. It should also address to whom the candidates report and which individuals or departments the candidates will be in contact with.

It’s a plus to increase the visibility of your career page in search results with SEO-friendly words. Try to avoid complex or vague job titles  like ‘Chief Creativity Officer’ or ‘Happiness Consultant.’

Make It Mobile-Friendly

A survey from Glassdoor shows that 89% of job seekers use their mobile devices as one of the main tools for job searching while 45% of them search for jobs through mobile devices at least once a day. Therefore, it is crucial to have a mobile-friendly career page to provide potential candidates with the best user experience via an application form. 

Modern job seekers who embrace mobile devices as part of their bodies will surely appreciate and value your dedication to making a flexible and wide-accessible career page.     

Let Readers Know What It’s Like to be Part of Your Organization

This is where company branding comes into play. It is essential to show visitors what your company is all about, what you stand for, what your values are, and why you are a unique entity among other players in the industry. Initially, this  will be the answer to ‘why job seekers should be inspired to join your organization’. 

To construct an appealing career page that is able to provide job seekers an insight into your culture, you need to integrate content like videos and photos that illustrate your team’s effort in pushing themselves towards the goal.      

Make It Easy to Apply 

The key to having a successful career page lies in its simplicity. As impatient as young people are today, the easier it is for candidates to apply through your career page, the higher the  chances that they will likely finish the application process.  

By providing a clear flow, job seekers will not be confused and eventually leave your site mid-process. Also, integrate an easy searching section for visitors to find available positions and drop in a call-to-action button to make the page even more inviting. Embedding an ‘Apply Now’ button across your career page will increase the chances of encouraging job seekers to make a decision to apply.   

3. Employee Referrals 

An employee referral is a hiring method where employers are asking help from their employees for recommendations of new hires. This is perhaps the most successful yet slowest of all the channels mentioned in this article. Employee referrals are an employer’s favorite method. As it takes very little effort and minimal costs, employee referrals can yield some of the best talent a company could recruit. 

Given their relationship with the referrer, it’s safe to say that they are aware of the company, and how it runs internally, as well as how the team communicates. The added benefit of working alongside a friend or acquaintance can be a powerful motivator.

However, employee referrals cannot be leveraged at the capacity that employers would prefer. It’s one of those passive channels with a 50-50 chance of yielding successful hires. The best that employers can do is to motivate employees and encourage them to refer friends or acquaintances in exchange for a bonus or monetary reward.

How It Works 

Employee referrals are quite straightforward. Rather than relying on investing in tools to find top candidates, companies simply ask for recommendations from their employees. If their suggestions are qualified for the positions, companies would reward the referrers. 

Advantages of Employee Referrals

Save Time & Money on Hiring 

Sourcing candidates requires both time and money. By acquiring talents through employee referrals, companies do not have to invest an extra amount of money in additional tools. At the same time, a study shows that employee referrals help organizations to hire 55% faster than career sites. 

Improve Quality of Hire 

Nearly three out of ten employers have found fabricated references on applications. So, when it comes to sticking their reputations out for recommendations, referred candidates are likely to have higher qualities and more valid references than the ones companies acquire from other sources.

Better Employee Retention Rate

The average length of employment from all initial hires after two years shows that retention of referred employees is 45%  while retention of employees from job boards is only 20%. The reason behind these figures is that employee referrals have connections with their affiliates. At the same time, the referrers may feel that they are appreciated and receive more value from the companies after providing good recommendations. This pushes them to become more dedicated individuals for the organizations.  

Disadvantages of Employee Referrals

The Referrals Might be Biased 

An event where individuals just want to work closely with their friends or an employee just hunting for rewards and bonuses could happen. The result would be in the form of unqualified candidates. Referrers may try to fix the situation by giving candidates shortcut training to improve their skills. However, this will only produce a negative effect on both referrers and candidates. Having underperforming employees and new hires will likely force you to quickly look for their replacements.          

There is a Chance That You Might Lose Both the Referrer and Referee

Usually, referrers and referees are sharing well-established connections. Should one decide to leave their positions for whatever reason, you would be at risk of losing both employees as the other tends to naturally follow. The risk may even be increased if the referees do not go along with the rest of the team. 

Therefore, it is important that you pay close attention to new hires after their initial onboarding to make sure they are connecting with other individuals in the organization instead of just the one who referred them.     

It Could be Causing Negative Company Politics 

Selecting external hires over the internal promotions could cause a fair amount of tension between employees. Both referrers and referees might not be welcome or even be rejected by the rest of the team. Moreover, due to their connections, the referrers may not have the courage to criticize their referees. The consequence is likely to be a lower performance for the new hires. 

4. Social Media Channels 

Leveraging social media is often greeted with some skepticism, especially if the company has never utilized these channels before. But the world has changed, and in order to address an audience, employers need to speak to them wherever they spend their time. Social media is by far the most active aspect of the digital world and the best way to connect directly and instantly with entire generations of potential candidates.

In fact, just as they perform intricate searches on job board platforms, job seekers often make the most out of social media groups to find jobs, discuss their niche, contribute to the community or even ask others what they know about a particular workplace. 

The point is that this is where they spend the majority of their time. And to put such channels as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to use can yield very positive results. There’s also the community aspect of it all, as one open job post on Facebook can be shared by multiple people across multiple spaces for maximized exposure.

How It Works 

Seeking potential candidates via social media channels is called ‘social recruiting.’ It is a talent acquisition method where companies or recruitment agencies browse through social media platforms to find candidates. Once they find individuals that have the potential to fit their empty chairs, they can simply contact those people and directly establish relationships.   

On the other side of the coin, social recruiting also involves an activity where companies post advertisements for opening jobs on their social media accounts. They can insert a link that directly leads visitors to their application forms or career pages. This is quite a convenient way to connect employers to candidates. 

Advantages of Social Recruiting 

Reduce time and Cost 

Generally, businesses spend over $4,000 to hire new employees. At the same time, the average period of companies succeeding in filling in vacant positions is 42 days. Yes, recruiting is an activity that demands a lot of money and time. 

Sourcing candidates through social media helps companies reduce a fair amount of time and money as posting advertisements via social media platforms requires zero dimes. Plus, directly searching through social media profiles for candidates helps you widen your talent pool and pushes your recruitment process on a speed lane.       

Attract Passive Candidates 

Over 70% of active candidates are taking spaces in the talents pool. Although they are open to new job opportunities, they are not actively seeking work. Traditional recruitment has slim chances of reaching this kind of candidate. 

Passive candidates may not hang around job boards, but they surely will be scrolling through social media. Social recruiting is a powerful engine that efficiently propels your job advertisement towards active candidates in a way that other forms of recruitment couldn’t.  

Improve Your Company’s Brand Visibility

In 2017, 47% of job seekers pinpointed company culture as the main reason for wanting to leave their current company. Social media lets you share your company culture and values alongside your job postings—and gives potential candidates an inside look into life in your workspace.

How to Effectively recruit with Social Media 

Choose the Right Channel

Posting on every platform is one way to distribute your job ads. However, it is not quite an efficient way of reaching the right target group. Knowing your target and where they like to spend their time online will surely help you efficiently acquire the right candidates.  

Aiming at the right channel with the right content will give you the best result. For example, if you are a marketing agency that is looking to recruit young and energetic candidates to manage your online campaigns, Facebook is the best place to post your job ads. Your target group is likely to be attracted to flashy graphics with short and catchy captions. So, be sure to keep your message tight and get to the point right away. 

In terms of hunting for candidates through their social media profiles, LinkedIn is the best place to explore their professional histories as well as their skills. If you wish to see more of their casual side, Instagram is a good place to take a visit. 

Improve Your Social Media Profiles

Keep in mind that there are always job seekers who are looking for open positions. To make it easier for them to find your profiles and job advertisements, it is a must to include keywords like your industry, location, while addressing that you are looking for new additions to your organization in your social media profiles. At the same time, always write the job title and location in the caption of every job posting to maximize the visibility of your post. 

Get Help from Your Employees to Share Job ads via Personal Profiles  

Asking your employees to share your advertisements via their personal social media profiles helps increase the visibility of your job posts. Think about it, if 80 employees and each of them have 200 followers, there is a chance for your ads to reach up to 12,000 people! 

5. Candidate Database

Candidate rediscovery refers to the practice of revisiting your existing candidate database for a previously-acquired resume that may just fit a newly available position. This practice serves to simplify recruitment on a large scale. Furthermore, it’s easier to browse through available candidate data for the right fit than it is to go around sourcing new ones.

This can be especially difficult in the case of companies that use spreadsheets and traditional tools for their recruitment. Depending on the company, these candidate databases can reach thousands of resumes at a time, making it a substantial and exhausting task for a small team to perform. It’s a time-dump that HR and recruiters can do well without.

Companies that use ATS solutions, however, would find this an easier task than others. Innovative applicant tracking systems like Manatal are capable of automating this particular task. They utilize AI functionalities to provide scored recommendations based on a comparison of each candidate’s skills against the role’s requirements, keeping the candidate database perpetually in use, and saving valuable time and effort.

Find the Hidden Gems in Your Database

Humans have flaws. It is natural and no one is to blame. A few errors are an unavoidable outcome when you mainly rely on the human workforce for recruitment activity. With an AI-powered ATS embedded in your system, you will be able to go through the database and find qualified candidates who are overlooked in the prior talent acquisition and construct a better candidate list for your next recruitment.  

Imagine Funneling All These Channels into a Single Platform

You have your job boards set and ready. You’ve designed and published your career page, and you’ve encouraged your team to refer their friends. You’ve started leveraging social media and it’s all going great.

The key here is to monitor all channels without investing too much time or effort. This can be done by aggregating all of your recruitment channels into one platform. For example, Manatal’s applicant tracking system allows users to integrate the platform with job boards, social media, and career pages in order to receive all applications directly on Manatal.

From that point onward, the ATS parses and analyzes each resume, creating holistic candidate profiles for the AI engine to recommend for your current open positions. Applicant tracking systems are the future of recruitment data management, candidate sourcing, and AI-powered recommendations. 

Not only is it the optimal tool for HR and recruiters around the globe, but it’s also an opportunity to leverage powerful technologies and HR analytics to catapult your hiring strategy into the future.

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