Online recruiting.

Should you recruit employees on the Internet? Most experts in the burgeoning online recruiting field say the answer has a lot to do with who you're looking for. Finding professionals to fill technical jobs are the ones that work best online. Engineers, for example, are right at home on the Internet as are many other high-tech types.

There are hundreds of job sites to help businesses out. Some are free, while others charge a fee. Some, such as Monster.com, offer a free 10-day listing, then charge by the month thereafter. (See box for a report on NationJob, a top-rated service available through the Detroit Regional Chamber).

A top recruiting tool

One of the best Internet recruiting tools is available
through the Detroit Regional Chamber.

The Chamber has partnered with Nation Job Inc. to
offer an online recruiting service that is cost-effective,
technologically advanced and customer service oriented.

Nation Job's value-added services include a network
of specialty sites promoting jobs in specific
employment categories through custom jobs pages
and community pages for individual companies and
communities, cross-postings to other sites on the Web
and P.J. Scout, one of the best-known and most successful
uses of push technology in the employment
industry.

For more information, contact Christian Moskal at
[phone] or e-mail: [e-mail].

One thing is certain: online recruiting is here to stay. In fact, a report on the staffing industry from Merrill Lynch confirms that Internet recruiting is on its way to becoming the dominant hiring and job-finding tool. Merrill Lynch estimates that spending on Internet recruiting will grow from $205 million in 1999 to $5.1 billion in 2003.

The American Management Association reports that in 1998, 70 percent of large and mid-sized companies in the United States actively used the Internet to advertise jobs and recruit employees, up from 51 percent in 1997. It's virtually certain the percentage has grown since then.

The advantages of 'e-cruiting'

Ernest Ball of staffing and consulting services firm The Epitec Group, a division of Southfield-based Comprehensive Data Processing, believes "e-cruiting"--his term for online recruiting--is essential.

"E-cruiting not only empowers a recruiting team with a more immediate, often less expensive means to reach candidates, it also empowers the workforce with access to the recruiters' organization anytime and from anywhere," he says.

Furthermore, Ball says "e-candidates" are often better informed than traditional job candidates; more informed about the range of opportunities in the workplace and more informed about the companies offering those opportunities. "It only stands to reason, then, that those companies employing e-cruiting activities will have an advantage in reaching this type of candidate than those that do not," be says.

Ball cautions, however, there are five questions that companies should ask before entering into a deal with a professional 'e-cruiter':

1. How long does a typical search take?

2. What is their response time?

3. Who, specifically, will be conducting the search?

4. What is the e-cruiter's completion record?

5. How many other clients and/or competitors are they assisting?

"E-cruiting is critical for today's business, but it should not be considered a replacement for traditional recruiting practices," Ball notes.