war for talent and increased turnover make for good buzz, but a
stronger economy makes for good news. And it’s particularly welcome
for a company that brings together employers and job seekers.
Major players in this arena are experiencing
sustained booms. Job site CareerBuilder.com, whose technology powers
online classifieds for newspapers owned by Knight Ridder, Gannett and
the Tribune Co., reported a record number of unique visitors to its
Web site in January.
Executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry saw its
domestic revenues rise by 31 percent for the 12 months ending January
31. Its success generally coincides with a rebound in that specialty
after a three-year slump. Businesses adjusting their mix of human
resources-related services help the bottom line of companies like
Recruitmax, whose software helps attract and acquire talent.
Temporary workers, who typically constitute
about 2 percent of the workforce in times of economic growth, are
finding that companies are eager to convert them to permanent status.
That generates additional fee revenue for providers of temporary help
like Kelly Services.
Companies that enjoyed having their pick of
workers in 2002 now find themselves having to scramble for talent. Not
only are frustrated workers looking around more, but they also have
more means than ever to find their next gig.
For now, the economy appears sufficiently strong
to keep vendors in nearly every segment busy well into the second half
of this year. One reason is that getting a better job requires
sophistication.
"Job seekers need to use up to six different
online resources to maximize their reach," says Peter Weddle, author,
consultant and CEO of Weddle’s Publications, based in Stamford,
Connecticut. That includes two general-purpose job sites and at least
three niche boards--one that is germane to their profession, another
to their industry and a third based on geography.
Businesses, of course, rely on similarly diverse
channels. When Jill Pfefferbaum has to fill openings at travel Web
site Priceline.com, she starts by posting the job internally and also
on Monster, then peppers her network with a description of the job.
"Anything I can think of," says Pfefferbaum, the
company’s director of compensation. "Friends, family and the ‘Big Red
Bulletin Board,’ " an electronic exchange for her fellow graduates of
Cornell University.
Lately she has experimented with LinkedIn, a
growing professional networking site. Finding candidates there, she
says, shows that they’re "innovative in ways of developing their own
networks," which is particularly useful for business development.
Pfefferbaum relies on free services to conserve her budget.
Companies still seek human assistance in hiring
effectively, and the popularity of employee referral programs is proof
of that. A CareerXroads survey on hiring shows that employee referrals
in 2004 accounted for nearly 32 percent of hiring sources, compared
with 28.5 percent in 2003.
"Employee referral programs are cheap and
proven," says Deborah Besemer, CEO of BrassRing in Waltham,
Massachusetts. The elements are a company intranet that is
well-designed and well-publicized and a workforce that is open to
telling people about the company.
"If you have loyal and engaged employees, there
is a natural pride in making referrals," says Joe Hammill, director of
talent acquisition for office and printing services provider Xerox in
Rochester, New York.
While companies turn to employees to help build
culture, they use another resource to help build expertise--the
Internet’s niche boards, which allow greater depth and specialized
searching than the mainstream boards. There is certainly no shortage
of them.
Weddle estimates that there are about 30,000
niche boards on the Web. And recruiters find them extremely useful. In
a recent survey, 84 percent of recruiters said that niche sites
provide access to the best talent. Only 11 percent said that about
general-purpose recruiting sites.
Nevertheless, Weddle predicts that the niche
boards will soon have to act more as full-service career destinations,
complete with elements such as an advice columnist and content that
helps a user manage a career, like ways to acquire new skills. That
could drive some users away from the sites, which currently rely on a
sense of professional kinship as their primary attraction. "The best
talent likes to hang out with peers," Weddle says.
Monster, meanwhile, is changing the way it
intends to grow. It recently hired 100 people to pursue new customer
acquisitions, focusing on prospects in small and medium-sized company
markets, where employers had not previously advertised jobs online.
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