We preach to our clients that simply placing an onlie ad is not a sound sourcing strategy. Managesmarter.com has an article that gives 3 good, quick tips for leveraging the Internet to fill open positions.
The only way to effectively recruit is to use multiple channels. You’re trying to find that one person who is exactly right, and that means exploring multiple avenues. This includes your offline efforts, by the way—don’t stop networking just because you’ve posted a job online. Work multiple sources (both online and real world) to get the word out about your opening.
Make sure you’ve got an accurate, well-written, exciting job description. You need a posting that sells the job and your company. A good job description should be the first message a potential candidate sees about your company. It should provide a good story, but also a realistic picture of the level of responsibility and some sense of career potential. In the online world there’s no character limit, so you can go into detail and include links to strong Web pages. Never view writing a job ad as a chore; don’t just delegate it to HR or someone who reports to you.
Pick several places to post your ad online. Here’s where it gets tricky: There are several online sourcing options, all of which come with trade-offs. Let’s start with blogs, e-mail listservs and interest groups such as Yahoo! Groups. These options are probably stronger in building long-term recognition than in immediately producing large numbers of applicants.
One thing I would add is if you’re not using LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace in your sourcing, you’re missing the boat. Start by getting your profile on these sites and connecting, then push your open positions out to your new network. It’s not about knowing the right people and being directly connected to them, it’s about being connected and allowing your network to push your opportunity out to people they know that may be a good fit.