Industry is facing an alarming labor shortage and for many it is a labor crisis. Almost every employer across the country has felt the labor squeeze from colleges reporting fewer student enrollments, to the aging workforce that is retiring at unprecedented rates. Unlike any time in recent history, Human Resource (HR) departments are facing considerable pressure to meet recruitment and staffing demands.

The Internet (or Net) is quickly changing the way employers and job seekers find each other. Job seekers now have easier access to help-wanted advertising and more information about employers than ever before. Recruiters can now reach more people faster and at a fraction of the cost of traditional recruitment methods. Net recruiting, cyberrecruiting or e-recruiting as it is sometimes called, is becoming a popular solution to the labor shortage and an invaluable addition to any HR recruitment strategy.

The Net's massive reach already extends into talent pools never before available, and offers favorable demographics. The federal government currently estimates that there are over 100 million people in 190 countries using the Net. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) surveyed 4,566 Net users and found 72.5 percent were men, 27.5 were women, and the average age was 37.7. The average age of commercial online service subscribers is 39 according to Jupiter Communications. The Georgia Institute of Technology surveyed 4,777 WWW users and found that 56 percent were between 23 and 38 years old, and 74 percent were male.

The increased candidate reach, faster hiring turnaround, minimal recruiting cost and favorable candidate demographics may make the Net a potential solution to the labor shortage.

The Net is utilized by all types of job seekers who surf the Web as a tool to help find friends online, research and book flight reservations, check the time or weather, find current news or view the latest stock quotes, transfer text documents, photos or data files, place a classified ad, chat with other Net surfers, buy books, CDs, computers or to just have fun with entertainment resources.

Recent surveys indicate Net recruiting can produce results.

As a minimum, recruiters can utilize the Net for placement of online job ads, and for resume research. But for the experienced online recruiter, the Net can offer unlimited possibilities.

Some of the more common benefits to Net recruiting are listed below:

• Flexible ad medium. Net advertising of job postings are as testable as direct mail, as targeted as radio, as immediate as a telemarketing call, and as informative as a TV infomercial.

• Greater recruitment reach. Recruitment and resume sourcing on the Net can be localized or worldwide in its reach extending into over 174 countries, and can access more job seekers and a broader selection of job seekers than other medium.
• Greater advertising reach. Net advertising offers greater exposure to a larger audience than any other form of media. It is estimated that 20% of the job sites on the web have monthly traffic of 500,000 unique visitors and an astonishing 9% actually attracted 1 million or more unique visitors each month!
• Unlimited supply of resumes. The Net provides recruiters access to thousands of resume and job databases, and even more newspapers and industry magazines, which offer job classified advertising.
• Inexpensive access. Many libraries, schools and public service providers allow online access for free, and recruiters that want preferred service can usually find unlimited access from their home for under $16 a month.
• No courier costs. There is no postage or added cost to forward mail, data files, graphics, photos, sound, video clips or other data transfer. In addition the Net can transfer information to hundreds or thousands of individuals simultaneously.
• Low communication costs. With prices for advanced communication solutions such as telephony and video conferencing continuing to drop, employers and job seekers are able to perform qualifying interviews on the Net at substantial cost savings to traditional methods.
• Link to success. Utilizing Web links from and to the company job opportunity page is a cost-efficient method of distributing information across a wide area.
• Low printing costs. The Net is a cost-effective way to save money on printed materials by publishing online brochures, annual reports, project portfolios, press releases, executive biographies, training and hiring materials.
• Convenient accessibility. Company and job information posted on the Net is easily accessible to job seekers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Job seekers also can access their email or send email from any location worldwide with Net access.
• Interactive advertising. The most effective advertising is interactive advertising where the advertisement provides interactive participation with the audience. Classifieds and other online job advertisements allow job seekers to be involved with the communication and content of the advertisement by controlling what is seen. With conventional advertising, a message is delivered to jobseekers regardless of their desire to see it. With Net advertising job seekers must actively seek out the information, which means they come to the ad as a pre-qualified buyer. Interactive ads can include extensive descriptive text, color or animated graphics, photos, video or sound, and include links to corporate Web pages, email or message boards. They run longer than most media, usually from 30 days to 90 days. Advertising results can also be tracked and monitored unlike conventional advertising to provide immediate ad optimization and greater ad success.
• Marketing dream. Web pages can serve as the sales person and marketing department that never sleeps. Ads can include extended descriptive text, color or animated graphics, photos, video or sound, and include links to corporate Web pages, email or message boards. Advertising results can also be tracked and monitored unlike conventional advertising to provide immediate ad optimization and greater ad success.
• No time restrictions. Recruiting different time zones or working late at night is not a problem with the Net.
• Immediate feedback. Through email, chat, or online messaging, job seekers can send requests or receive information quickly without waiting for regular mail or playing phone tag. The end result is a faster hiring cycle at a significantly lower cost per hire.
• User-friendly platform. Posting job opportunities and doing resume research is easy to perform due to the graphical "point-and-click" features of the World Wide Web.
• Expands company sales. The Net allows companies to reach new sales audiences by providing online purchasing of services or products, and by selling ad space on their company site to third parties.
• Competitive advantage. Net technology allows recruiters to stay ahead of their competition.
• Demographic advantage. Net users are growing exponentially, and offer favorable demographics for recruiters.

• Don't be afraid of technology. As technology advances, the Net is becoming easier to use and more "idiot proof." On a basic level the Net is used as a library of online documents that are keyword searchable and interactive. If one can work a word processing program one can surf the Net effectively.
• Act quickly. Like any candidate recruitment campaign, it's important to act quickly when a prize candidate is found. Attractive job seekers get many calls once they post their resume on the Net. Delaying a contact could easily result in finding the candidate in the final stages of interviews with other potential employers.
• Get free help. Visit the local library, college, computer store, community service center or Internet cafe to locate helpful administrators willing to offer free Net advice and assistance. Join a local computer or Internet club to find relevant training classes, education materials and technical support at no or low cost.

• Post complete job information. Because of the limitless nature of the Net, most job postings allow for extended text descriptions. The rule for posting jobs is to make job descriptions as detailed as possible. Like with any advertising medium, try to make the top selling points in the job title name and in the first few sentences of the description to capture the attention of job seekers. Use as many keywords as possible when posting a job to help job seekers find the job when they keyword search the database. This also helps market the job more effectively to the search engine robots that crawl the job database looking for keywords to index. Post each unique job opportunity with individual identification numbers, and require job seekers to submit resumes referencing the appropriate identification number to make resume management easier. Also include in the job information if relocation assistance is available, and if US citizenship is required.
• Utilize an email form. Use an online form (application) for job seekers to complete that gets entered into a database, which complies with the company resume management program. An inexpensive alternative is to provide an email form for job seekers to submit resumes into, which will protect the company's private email address from robots that crawl that Net searching out email addresses for junk mailings.
• Hire assistance. Save valuable time by hiring a junior assistant to perform initial screenings of the company's employment email, and to source select resume databases and classified ad resources.
• Schedule regular online hours. Regular scheduling for online recruitment will form effective habits and result in consistent performance. It shouldn't take an experienced Net surfer more than 30 minutes a day to obtain results. Pick a favorite time of day or night that will allow for a regular schedule.
• Computer processor size does not matter. However modem speed and Internet access does. A 56K BPS modem is almost twice as fast as a 28.8K BPS and almost three times as fast as a 14.4K BPS. High-speed modems can be purchased under $100, are easily installed and are a requirement for any serious Net surfer. Most Internet Service Providers utilizes that latest and fastest speeds available, but check to see that they provide Net access at 56K BPS.
• Post all jobs on the company Web site. Make sure company job opportunities have their own unique Web page, and that this page is linked FROM the company home page. This will assure the maximum amount of traffic from visitors to the company Web site, and will assure indexing with the major search engines that usually only index information one link deep from the homepage.
• Offer free gifts. A good traffic builder to the job opportunity Web page is to offer job seekers that submit their resumes the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a free book, article, tool or other gift. Offer monthly prizes to be announced in the company employment chat or message board to keep them coming back.
• Select a favorite resume database, but be willing to change. There are as many different types of resume databases, as there are personalities. Each individual should try many before selecting a favorite. Web sites are also constantly changing so make sure to re-evaluate alternative databases every six months.

• Automate email responses. Create an automated email response letter that will respond to each resume delivered to the company mailbox. This will provide job seekers immediate feedback to their submission, indicating their email has been received and will be reviewed. Consider also mentioning a few key selling points in the response letter as a reminder why the company is exceptional or unique.

• Keep all job opportunities in electronic form. By keeping job opportunities on a removable disk, recruiters can easily transport and cut-and-paste job openings easily into favorite, online job databases.
• Pay for preferred service. There are many free job-posting databases, but often the pay services achieve better results for employers since job seekers can easily find quality job opportunities that do not require sorting through hundreds of free, unqualified opportunities.
• Don't put all the eggs in one basket. Spread out the job postings among many select job databases and classified ad resources.
• Get professional help. There are many Net-recruitment training resources offline and online that are available at little to no cost. Visit the major search engines and keyword search the words "Internet Recruitment Training."
• Provide added value. Job postings on the company Web site should be enhanced by offering links to candidate job resources such as salary and relocation adjusters, local city information and other appropriate resources that will make the job seekers experience at the company Web site more enjoyable and informative.

The company Web site is a good marketing tool to promote the company and a great way to advertise job opportunities. By adding an additional Web page of job openings to the company Web site, HR recruiters can significantly increase incoming resume traffic, especially if the job opportunity page is linked from the company homepage. The company Webmaster can set up an easy-to-use administrative template for adding new jobs, or changing and deleting old ones so HR can manage this page without assistance from the webmaster.

When posting job opportunities on the Net, remember to include as much detail as possible about the position, its benefits, and other key reasons why a candidate should apply. If there are many positions available, consider categorizing the job postings and adding a search engine. Create an online application form for job seekers to complete that is formatted to integrate into the company's internal resume management program. However it is important to provide a means of alternative contact both online (such as email, message board, etc.) and offline (fax and phone numbers) since many job seekers prefer to fax in their resume or call in. Consider also offering special incentives to job seekers who submit their resume such as access to training materials, contest drawings and other inexpensive awards.

• Top general search engines

• Top catalogs of employment resources

• Top employment databases

• Top multiple job posting resources

• The Internet Recruiting Edge, by Barbara Ling, presents vital information for those recruiters who desire to make their mark on the Net, buy a Web site from a qualified Web designer, and locate skilled job seekers for their business before their competition does. It includes a comprehensive bookmark's file that contains over 600 links to recruiting sites.
• Recruiter's Internet Survival Guide, by John Sumser with Internet Business Network at www.interbiznet.com. John manages Electronic Recruiting News, a complete online resource for recruiters.
• CareerXroads, by Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler. The book lists and compares the top 500 jobs, resumes and career management sites on the World Wide Web.
• Internet Guide for Recruiters, promoted by Michael's & Associates of Coal Valley, IL, contains 946 Web sites of resumes, job postings, salary surveys, cost-of-living & relocation information, trade journals, newsgroup directories, employment law, professional associations, HR information, resource and sourcing leads, computer resources, and much, much more.

• Top college placement centers

• Top recruiting robots

• Top Net training and consulting for human resources

• Other top Net resources for human resources

The previous information is written and copyrighted by Frederick C. Hornberger, Jr., president of Hornberger Management Company, a national board and executive search firm specializing in the construction industry. This information is provided for personal use only. It may not be copied, printed or distributed to anyone other than you the reader, for any reason without permission from the author. Contact the author at address One Commerce Center, #747, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, phone 302-573-2541, email [email protected], or through the company web site at www.hmc.com.