Communications Channels V: What Not To Use

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Communications Channels V: What Not To Use

Topics: Big Data, HR Technology, HRExaminer, John Sumser, Recruiting Strategy, Recruiting Wisdom, by John Sumser

Not all investments made by early adopters pay off. Anyone who is early to mobile recruiting knows what it feels like to go out on a limb. Without the right infrastructure, nothing succeeds.

Committed early adopters get disproportionate Returns on their initial investments. When late adopters and laggards invest, they just get to stay even. The business decision is whether or not the company needs a competitive advantage in recruiting.

Not all investments made by early adopters pay off. Anyone who is early to mobile recruiting knows what it feels like to go out on a limb. Without the right infrastructure, nothing succeeds.

Being a beta tester for new services from existing companies is a better bet.

At last week’s Social Recruiting Strategies Conference, there were a number of presentations that extolled the virtues of this product or that base on beta testing. If you are partnered with the right company, being a beta tester is a guaranteed win. You get to appear to be a big visionary risk taker. The vendor has to make you successful or their product is a failure.

Even so, the presentations were extremely illuminating.

In the job board era, you paid a fee, sent in a job ad and the job board did the rest. They worried about traffic. They worried about getting you a good response. Today, that level of service is restricted to a product’s early days.

More than anything else, today is a Do It Yourself world. You are responsible for the adequacy of all three elements of your employment advertising outreach

Context (from employment website to talent community to twitter handle)
Content (job ads, to be sure. More importantly, value that will keep potential candidates returning)
Traffic (the people who visit the context to engage with the content)

In order to make any sense out of this, you need to know who you are trying to recruit (See #2 in this series).

Most new communications channels offer easy ways to target specific demographic subgroups. Learning to navigate the maze of conflicting possibilities in order to achieve your result is only the beginning. So far, no one has delivered a single platform tool that targets specific groups across platforms.

This is what the 21st Century Job Posting equivalent will do. Until then, the trick will be figuring out how to acquire (through targeted advertising) the audience you want while everyone else is doing the same thing and the number of outlets grows.

Welcome to the beginning of the era in which we make intelligent decisions about where not to recruit.

Communications Channels

About the author

John Sumser

John Sumser is a principal analyst for HRExaminer, an independent analyst firm covering HR Technology and the intersection of people, tech, and work. John’s mix of experience over the course of his career gives him a broad and unique perspective on the industry. Like anyone trying to process a lot of information, he is two or three steps ahead in some areas and still learning about others. Sumser’s work includes deep research into the nooks and crannies of HR Technology to identify and explain rapidly evolving trends. Built on a foundation of engineering, design, and philosophy, John’s seeks to understand and advise clients on where their technology works best, for whom, and in what context. Each year, John examines the insides of hundreds of companies, their products, and ecosystems. He delivers vendor analysis by building the framework from which to deliver the critique. He is constantly connecting and making visible the front end of change. He can help you see the path of evolution and the risks on the journey. The HRExaminer is Sumser’s vehicle for understanding and explaining the inner workings of the industry. With three weekly podcasts, and written commentary, he covers emerging ideas, the state of the industry, and the executives who operate it.

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