Posted on Mon, Feb 06, 2012 @ 01:05 PM
(By TODD BOSSLER)
You seen the commercials on television (and heard them on the radio): area businesses and national chains imploring you to “visit them on Facebook.”
There used to be a time that businesses would ask you to visit their website. However, that practice has declined in recent years.
Does this mean that making sure your recruiting firm has a presence in social media is as important as having a website? Is it more important? Should you just junk your website and concentrate solely on social media efforts to market your firm and promote yourself to candidates and clients?
In a word, no, no, and no.
Yes, social media is important, and your firm should definitely have a presence within that realm, but social media should NOT take the place of your website. Here are four reasons why:
- A website lends credibility—What will prospects think when they “Google” the name of your firm and they can’t find a website for it? That’s probably going to knock you down a few notches in their mind. When they “Google” you, they want to know more about you. A website lets them know that you really “exist.”
- A website serves as your online “base of operations”—The goal is to attract candidates and prospective clients and engage them. A website allows you to engage them on your terms. When you use social media sites only, you’re constrained by what they allow you to do. In other words, you have to "play by their rules."
- You can put your job orders on your website—Sure, you can advertise your jobs through social media (tweet them, put them on Facebook, etc.), but the best way to convey these opportunities is to have a place on your website to post them. This encourages candidates to visit your website on a consistent basis . . . even without any prompting from social media. (The Hiring Hook Job Board feature allows recruiters to post jobs to their firm’s website.)
- You can measure your activity with a website—Incorporating Google Analytics into your site will allow you to track all sorts of interesting data, including how many people are visiting your site and what they’re doing when they arrive there.
Social media should only be part of your overall marketing plan, not the ONLY part of it. Your recruiting firm’s website should serve as the anchor for everything you do online to gain more leads, more business, and a greater market share.
What’s your strategy in regards to social media and your website? What are some things you’ve done that have been successful? What do you have questions about?
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. With a Hiring Hook website, recruiters can post their jobs to their website and also have the option of adding them to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to attract qualified candidates.)
View Hiring Hook examples and portfolio of design work.
See an overview of Hiring Hook's features and pricing.
Read testimonials from Hiring Hook customers.
Posted on Sun, Jul 24, 2011 @ 08:17 AM
Over the years, Hiring Hook has worked with thousands of recruiters. During that time and due to that experience, we’ve put together a simple yet effective four-phase process for creating websites. The phases of that process include the following:
- Needs analysis
- Design selection
- Customization
- Your website goes live!
The phases of our website design process for recruiters has been specifically created to be quick and simple, allowing you to build the website you want with all of the functionality you need to run a more productive recruiting desk.
Posted on Sat, Jul 23, 2011 @ 03:06 PM
(By TODD BOSSLER)
In my previous blog post, I tackled the question, "What is Search Engine Optimization?" In this post, I'd like to briefly address the two types of SEO—what's called "on-page" and "off-page."
"On-page" search engine optimization is exactly what it sounds like: what you do on the pages of your website in order to generate more traffic. On the other hand, "off-page" means what you're able to do elsewhere on the Internet in order to attract website visitors.
There are a number of different components involved with "on-page SEO," since they relate to the construction and design of your website pages. The goal, of course, is to create these components in such a way as to be search-engine friendly, so that your site is displayed first on relevant searches. The "on-page SEO" components are listed below:
- Page title
- Meta description
- Headings
- Cascading Style Sheets
- Images and pictures
- Domain information
- URL structure
Conversely, “off-page” SEO is also exactly what it sounds like: what you’re able to accomplish on the rest of the Internet in order to drive traffic to your site. This is done primarily through linking—links on other websites to pages on your website.
That’s because the search engine spiders assess not only how many links are pointing to your site, but also the quality of those links, as well. There are numerous strategies that you can employ for “off-page SEO,” all of them designed to generate interest in and traffic for your site.
When it comes to which is more important, “off-page” SEO gets the nod. In fact, it may be two to three times more important than “on-page” SEO. However, that doesn’t mean that “on-page” should be dismissed. It’s still an integral part of the search engine optimization process.
In my next blog post, I'll discuss the importance of developing a keyword strategy for SEO, no matter if it’s “on-page” or “off-page.”
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. With a Hiring Hook website, recruiters can post their jobs to their website and also have the option of adding them to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to attract qualified candidates.)
Hiring Hook examples and portfolio of design work
Overview of Hiring Hook's features and pricing
Testimonials from Hiring Hook customers
Posted on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 @ 02:35 PM
(By TODD BOSSLER)
Where and how a recruiter spends their time is crucial to the success of their business. Too much time in the wrong area can dramatically decrease their billings. Unfortunately, time-wasting activities sneak up on you like a thief in the night. Before you know it, those activities you thought were harmless and helpful turn out to be destructive and detrimental.
Take, for example, website optimization. Recruiters all want massive amounts of traffic to flow through their website so they have an endless supply of candidates and clients from which to choose. Unfortunately, with more traffic comes more fender benders, break downs, and wear and tear on the vehicle. You can spend tons of time optimizing your site, but is that the best use of your time? Is that where you make the most money?
One thing is for certain: a website is crucial in today’s market. Most people don’t use phonebooks these days. In fact, most people under the age of 30 may never have seen one. They jump right on their smart phone and run a search on Google or some other search engine to find the phone number of the local pizza parlor. That’s why a website is a "must have" business tool. It’s your store front. It’s your calling card. It legitimizes your business on the Web.
What do you think when you do a search for a company you might do business with and you discover that they don’t have a website? Are your first thoughts, "What kind of company doesn't have a website these days?" and "Do I even want to do business with them?" Those are thoughts that run through my mind.
Today, in many cases, your website is your storefront. Your website is your company's brochure that describes your services. Your website is a selling tool. But first, people have to find you. That’s why "optimizing" your website for search engines like Google or Bing is so important.
What is “website optimization” or “search engine optimization”? Wikipedia defines search engine optimization (SEO) as "the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page for search engines via the 'natural' or 'organic' search results. Optimizing a website may involve tweaking its content and HTML to both increase its relevance to specific keywords people use to search and to remove barriers to how search engines find you."
In my next blog post, I’m going to discuss the two types of search engine optimization techniques: what’s called “on-page SEO” and “off-page SEO.”
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. Hiring Hook helps recruiters by building a completely new site for their firm or by re-designing their current site for the purpose of branding their firm more effectively and providing a positive experience for their website visitors.)
Hiring Hook examples and portfolio of design work
Overview of Hiring Hook's features and pricing
Testimonials from Hiring Hook customers
Posted on Sat, Jul 16, 2011 @ 03:15 PM
How can recruiters drive more traffic to their firm’s website? In this video, Internet Strategies Manager Todd Bossler presents "Search Engine Optimization Tip #1" for recruiters: the importance of inbound links (also called "off-page SEO").
Recruiters should strive to create as many inbound links to their website as possible, and one of the best ways in which to accomplish this is by participating in online communities within their industry or niche. Click on the image below to watch this video.
Posted on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 09:27 AM
(Article courtesy of HIRING HOOK, Websites for Recruiters)
So—why should a recruiter update the design of their firm’s website on a consistent basis?
That’s assuming, of course, that a recruiting firm does have a website. Remember, according to the poll that we conducted of recruiters from across the country, a full 10 percent of them indicated that their firm doesn’t even have a website. In this age of technology and the Internet, that’s a risky proposition for recruiters who want to maximize their exposure and market their services and firm to the fullest extent.
However, let's assume that your firm does have a website. Below are three good reasons to consider updating the design of that site (if you haven't done so relatively recently, that is).
1. People, especially job seekers, are more Web-savvy than ever—Some candidates in the marketplace today grew up on the Internet. They’ve lived on the Internet, so to speak, which makes them extremely Web-savvy in every way. Whether you like it or not, they could very well judge you—at least in part—by what your website looks like. Updating the look and feel of the site on a frequent basis will keep it fresh for candidates who visit and help to brand your firm in a more positive fashion.
2. Your website brands you as a recruiter and as a firm—Speaking of branding . . . it’s entirely possible to brand yourself to somebody without even speaking to them. You can do it through emailing, texting, and of course, with your website. As with all other contact with people, you want the interaction they have with your website to be a positive one, and the design of your site and what it looks like definitely falls into that category.
3. Chances are good that your competition is NOT updating their site’s design—Once again, judging from the poll that we recently conducted, recruiters do not update the design of their firm’s website all that frequently. As a result, it stands to reason that updating it on a consistent basis would set you apart from your competition. And that's a good thing.
The status quo is often the enemy of your recruiting website. Allowing it to become stagnant for prolonged periods of time can have negative consequences for you and your firm. If you haven’t updated the design of your site in longer than 18 months—and in reality, that timeframe should be no longer than a year—then consider how a re-design could help keep your site current and provide a more positive experience for the people who visit it.
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. With a Hiring Hook website, recruiters can post their jobs to their website and also have the option of adding them to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to attract qualified candidates.)
Hiring Hook examples and portfolio of design work
Overview of Hiring Hook's features and pricing
Testimonials from Hiring Hook customers
Posted on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 08:23 AM
(Article courtesy of HIRING HOOK, Websites for Recruiters)
Once upon a time, conventional wisdom dictated that you should update the design of your website approximately every 18 months. These days, though, with the speed with which the Internet is growing and expanding, even updating your site that frequently could mean you’re behind the curve.
To get a better idea of how frequently recruiters update the design of their firm’s website, we recently conducted a poll of recruiters from across the country. The question that we posed to these recruiters is below:
When was the last time you updated the design of your recruiting website?
The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters who selected each one:
- Six months ago—18%
- A year ago—18%
- Eighteen months ago—6%
- Two years ago—8%
- More than two years ago—40%
- I don’t have a recruiting website—10%
Alarmingly, the most popular answer was “More than two years ago,” which garnered almost half of the vote. Perhaps surprisingly, 10% of the recruiters who participated in the poll don’t have a recruiting website, not even one that serves as an “online business card” for their firm.
Ideally, though, you don’t want your recruiting firm's website to serve just as a “business card.” It should be a fully functional part of your recruiting desk and of the placement process, so it can help you to generate placement income just as much as it looks aesthetically pleasing.
So—when was the last time YOU updated your recruiting website? Has it been longer than a year? Eighteen months? Two years? Does it contain all of the functionality that you’d like it to have? Is it a working, productive part of your firm? What would you like it to do for you?
In our next blog post, we’ll discuss the reasons you should update the design of your recruiting website on a regular basis.
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. Hiring Hook helps recruiters by building a completely new site for their firm or by re-designing their current site for the purpose of branding their firm more effectively and providing a positive experience for their website visitors.)
Hiring Hook examples and portfolio of design work
Overview of Hiring Hook's features and pricing
Testimonials from Hiring Hook customers
Posted on Tue, Jun 21, 2011 @ 08:11 AM
(Article courtesy of HIRING HOOK, Websites for Recruiters)
At Hiring Hook, we’ve offered job posting services to recruiters for years, whether it’s directly to a recruiter’s website or through Job Javelin, which reposts recruiters’ jobs to posting sites all across the Internet.
As a result, we know about the habits of online job seekers, specifically when they apply for positions of interest online. During the past year alone, a total of 277,715 people have applied for jobs posted through both Hiring Hook and Job Javelin.
Which day of the week is most popular with job seekers? The breakdown is below:
Surprising? Maybe not to a recruiter, although some people outside the industry might think that the weekend would be more popular, since people have more free time then.
What about time of day? Which time of the day is the most popular when it comes to job seekers applying for open positions online? Once again, the breakdown is as follows:
As you can see, the time and day most popular for online applications is 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Overall, more than half of all job nominations (54.5%) occur on Monday through Wednesday and over 65% of all job nominations take place between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
What does this mean for recruiters and their job postings?
- Make sure you have your jobs posted on Monday. This will give them maximum exposure before they start dropping in the search rankings. Most boards rank by date submitted and relevance. The older the job, the more likely it will be lower on the list.
- You may want to update open jobs every week. In some cases, this will give them a new date, which will move them higher on the list.
- Target email campaigns early in the week, when job seekers are more likely to apply for jobs. In a previous blog post, we revealed that the best times for recruiters to send out emails and get them opened is Tuesday morning between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and Tuesday afternoon between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday is the next-best day, and then Thursday, during those same times. The best days to email correspond roughly to the days that job seekers tend to apply for positions the most, so if you can, line those days up.
- Target recruiting calls during these days. Although most top trainers tell you to recruit and market every day, if you had to hedge your bets and choose days, then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday might be your best bet.
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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters. At Hiring Hook, we design and remodel websites for recruiters, and we’ve worked with thousands of recruiters to help them use their website to leverage their time and resources for the purpose of making more placements. With a Hiring Hook website, recruiters can post their jobs to their website and also have the option of adding them to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to attract qualified candidates. Candidates visiting a Hiring Hook website can also apply for jobs, complete a "Candidate Profile," upload their resume, and complete a customizable questionnaire.)
Click here to view examples of Hiring Hook websites for recruiters.
Click here to see Hiring Hook’s features in video format.
Follow Hiring Hook on Twitter.
Visit Hiring Hook on Facebook.
Posted on Mon, Jan 17, 2011 @ 02:13 PM
Are you looking to get your jobs even more exposure on the Internet? While Hiring Hook posts your jobs to your own website and also gives you the ability to post them to social media sites LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, you can get your jobs in front of even more qualified candidates through a pay up-front job order posting service called “Job Javelin.”
Through the Job Javelin model, your jobs are posted to hundreds of sites. Some are niche-specific, some are industry-specific, and some are geographic-specific. Based upon the information contained in your job order, Job Javelin will post your job to those sites that are the most targeted and that have the best chance of bringing you placement success. (After all, Top Echelon helps recruiters make more placements.)
There are two pricing options in regards to Job Javelin: "One Job at a Time" and the "Monthly Subscription." Those options are described in more detail below.
- One Job at a Time*—With this option, you can post your job by clicking the appropriate box at the bottom of the job order add form. When you post jobs one at a time, they will remain active for 30 days. There's no limit to the number of jobs that you can post in this fashion, and you will only be charged $17 per job.
- Monthly Subscription*—With this option, you can subscribe to a set number of job slots each month. You can take jobs out of your slots and put new ones in, but the number of jobs you have active at any one time will correspond to the number of slots allowed by your subscription. For example, if you purchase a monthly subscription for three job slots ($35.70 per month), you can have three active jobs posted through Job Javelin at any one time. A price chart breakdown of the monthly subscription costs can be found in the "What's This" description, located next to the Job Javelin checkbox at the bottom of the job order add form.
With the "One Job at a Time" option, all you have to do is check the box at the bottom of the job order add form and the appropriate charge will be added to your monthly invoice. However, if you'd like to sign up for a monthly subscription to Job Javelin, please call our office at (330) 455-1433.
For a list of the job boards to which Job Javelin posts, click here.
*—Recruiters who reside in the state of Ohio will be subject to standard Ohio sales tax regarding their purchase of the Job Javelin service.
Posted on Mon, Jan 17, 2011 @ 12:52 PM
The best way to get qualified candidates interested in the jobs that you post to your Hiring Hook website is to write job postings that grab their attention immediately. A job order that contains plenty of sizzle could mean the difference between filling that job order and coming up empty. Top Echelon, through its RecruiterTraining.net website, is pleased to offer an online training webinar from its extensive library, one that addresses the topic of writing attractive job postings.
The title of this training session is “Writing Effective Job Orders That Attract Qualified Candidates Through Your Internet Job Postings.” Presenting the webinar are Top Echelon Network Preferred Members Dan Simmons, CPC and Jim Hipskind, CPC, both of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc. Below is the description of the training session:
Learn how to write job postings that will bring interested, qualified candidates. Learn why some job postings are quite effective and others receive no qualified responses. This session will discuss how to determine which job orders to work on and post.
The session discusses the following:
- Understanding what a job posting really is
- The components of a well-written job order/job posting
- How to improve your job posting with one easy step
- A review of a complete job order and how writing effective job orders aid in posting
- How to reduce screening time by effectively using questionnaires and written interviews
- The session will include a template for writing effective job postings and a checklist of 18 company perks.
The cost of accessing this online training webinar, which is 60 minutes long, is $59 per person. Click here to read the reviews of the session and to add it to your shopping cart. If you have any questions, please send an email to tech@TopEchelon.com.
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