The 80/20 Rule and e-Cruiting; Where Do You Stand?

Many e-cruiters claim to experience only limited or marginal results online yet most do little more than post jobs and search for resumes. Theoretically speaking the Net should make recruiting far easier due to the relative advantage in accessing information. If we apply the 80/20 rule to e-cruiting then we would conclude that 20% of e-cruiters are realizing 80% of the rewards. Comparing e-cruiting to all other online business activity, and factoring in the percentage of online businesses that are actually profitable, why should we assume e-cruiting is any better off?

What is the answer to the 80/20 rule for e-cruiting? Recruiters that focus on establishing a business community and reputation online are both the short and long term winners. Networking doesn't have as near a presence in e-cruiting as it does in recruiting because by and large recruiters have yet to begin networking in e-communities as they've done successfully offline. Many recruiters are sold on the idea that e-cruiting, due to its relative reach and accessibility translates to easier placements either through job ads or matching services.

Here are some commonplace e-cruiting practices shared among the majority of e-Cruiters.

• promotion via a company web site
• post jobs on the company web site and on job boards
• search resume banks
• search for leads on corporate and personal web sites

Activities that are common among the top 20% of e-cruiters include:

• all of the above
• possess an up to date record of both e-cruiting and industry/professional resources available online
• subscribe to both e-cruiting and industry/professional newsletters
• contribute to industry/professional discussion groups, chat or bulletin boards
• have become or are attempting to become a career information source in their professional community by offering free advice/opinion
• are aware of and investigate new web sites and services
• maintain a short-list of preferred online services -budget for e-cruiting activities
• regularly evaluate the performance of services they use

The differences in strategies are clearly evident. The first approach is more static and tends to create a hit and miss environment without any long-term potential benefits. The second approach is interactive, involves a lot more participation and establishes a level of credibility that has both long and short-term benefit potential. Building relationships within communities is as vital to the success of networking online as it has been offline! Nelson Abreu