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Job boards and recruiting tools: Not a cure-all

A great deal of the conversation around recruiting and talent acquisition in recent years has turned to convenience. Companies want to find ideal candidates in ways that are quick, effective and, above all, easy. These are uncontroversial priorities, ones that all sorts of organizations can relate to. But what is the best way to attain such results? This is where matters get complicated.

Online job boards and digital recruiting tools have become popular in recent years. Human resources personnel may turn to these solutions as a kind of cure-all, hoping they'll be able to effectively bring in candidates quickly. However, there are limitations to in-house recruiting, with or without technological assistance. In the end, some HR departments may find more success working with third-party talent acquisitions, especially when filling top executive roles.

The complexities of job boards and recruiting tools
Though they have risen to popularity, job websites and recruiting technology have the potential to leave teams feeling disappointed. The Houston Chronicle recently warned that there are some roles that are simply unsuitable for in-house HR. These specialized job descriptions, which call for in-depth qualifications and specific experience, don't translate well to the relatively rigid interfaces of digital search tools or common job boards.

Furthermore, the Chronicle added that candidates who come through digital recruitment processes may not be as suitable for their selected jobs as they first claim. Some of the most common advice for job seekers urges them to customize their resumes to suit specific positions. This means that, to get filtered into a list of likely candidates for a job, applicants may be changing up resumes to use the same language company recruiters employ in their posted descriptions. When everyone uses those exact words, it becomes much harder to discern who the actual best candidate is.

Another of the issues associated with online recruiting sites involves scale. When an HR department is inundated with hundreds of resumes, it may not have an easy or quick time finding which potential employee is the best person for the job. This is when leaders may find themselves wishing they had a talent acquisition agency on their side.

A chalk drawing of resumes and the phrase "the right candidate."Are there too many resumes flowing through digital systems?

The value of partnership
As part of a Crain's Chicago Business roundtable on the subject of hiring, multiple industry thinkers suggested working with external hiring partners as part of reducing the strain on an internal HR department. When talent searching becomes too difficult, setting up digital operations may not be the ideal way to get back on track. In these cases, talent acquisition companies can step in and make the connection, assisting with some or all hiring. An often overlooked fact is that internal HR-Departments and recruiters are primarily judged by the number of openings (quantity of job-postings) they fill, where as an external search-firm is rather judged by the quality of each candidate introduced for the very specific openings.

Adam Sprecher of SALO told Crain's organizations should have relationships with talent partners in place before they need help. This allows the organizations to form a bond in advance, developing understanding and being ready to move forward on short notice. Jeremy Samuelson of ADP suggested that companies not enter into these relationships lightly, ensuring that they are working with organizations that understand them and are going to be useful for years to come, rather than just in one or two instances.

At YES Partners, we provide the kind of hands-on talent search assistance that job boards and tech tools cannot. To see some of the roles we have already successfully placed, click here.

Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people for all company functions, across many industries.

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