With all the high-tech options offered by major job boards like Monster and Indeed.com, including targeted advertising and semantic resume search options, you might think that posting listings for executive positions on these boards would be a wise move. However, according to employers who have gone down that path before, using job boards to search for executive candidates is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Most of the problems with using job boards to find executive prospects have to do with the sheer volume of applications these postings attract. Marketing Director Cathy Pringle of Bluff Manufacturing in Fort Worth, Texas, said her company used to use job boards to announce open positions but stopped once they realized they were receiving too many resumes from unqualified applicants.
"Posting a job was like asking for a stampede. We couldn't deal with all the applicants. So many of the resumes were bad, we had to go through 2,000 to get a couple of interviews. It's ridiculous. We're no longer on the job boards," Pringle told CMO.com.
A report called "Challenges In Sourcing Six-Figure Talent" from the Aberdeen Group confirms this anecdotal evidence. The report stated that less than 10 percent of applicants for positions posted on mainstream job boards actually have the minimum qualifications required for the position they're applying for.
Instead, it's wiser to take advantage of the services of an executive search firm when looking for top talent. This way, you won't have to do the work of separating the legitimate candidates from the flood of unqualified ones.
Apart from that, if a company is 'in control' – meaning they are looking for a 'replacement' while an executive is still holding the position – a search is started confidentially by the search firm. Confidential in this case means that nobody outside knows who the client (company) is until the new candidate is confirmed for the open position.
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