By Samantha Gluck
Hiring a new employee can be a daunting task for small businesses. There are a variety of Web sites offering resources to employers searching for that perfect candidate. Some of the most popular and well known sites charge employers both for posting the job description and searching the resume database. Others offer a combination of free job postings and resume search with certain restrictions. Here are some benefits and drawbacks of each option to help in deciding which path to take.
Well Known Fee-Based Sites
Fee-for-service sites such as CareerBuilder and Monster charge $419 and $385, respectively, for a single job posting. There are additional charges if the employer wishes to search the resume database and view contact information for possible candidates. The drawback to using one of these well known options is, of course, the high cost. Advantages include the ability to add a qualifying questionnaire to the job description. Interested candidates are filtered via their answers to the questionnaire.
No Fee Job Posting Sites
Learn4good boasts 6,613 employers actively posting jobs and 69,909 job seekers allows employers to post up to 20 job descriptions for free over a six month period. After the maximum free postings is reached, the employer can pay $20 to post 30 more jobs in a six month period, or $100 for an unlimited number of job postings for the same period. There will be additional fees incurred to search the resume database.
AllStarJobs allows unlimited job postings by employers and generates revenue via click-through advertising sponsors. This is an advantage over Learn4good which only allows 20 free postings, but AllStarJobs does not have a resume database at all. Aside from posting jobs online, many employers also prefer to have the option of searching a resume database.
Perhaps the best free Web site for employers and job seeker alike is GigFish. This site offers unlimited free job postings for employers and free resume database search as well. Each job posting is up and searchable by candidates for 60 days. However, if you receive a slew of resumes for a certain position and need time to sift through them, GigFish has a unique suspend function. This function stops the 60 day clock from ticking, giving you time to read through resumes. If no promising candidates are found in the batch, simply reactivate the posting to make it searchable again.
Which Path is Best?
Is spending the relatively large amount of cash necessary to post a job on CareerBuilder, Monster or other pay sites a guarantee of a better fit with your hiring processes and a higher quality candidate? Absolutely not. Are the free sites likely to produce a flood of resumes from poorly qualified candidates? Maybe. However, the lower cost or free sites are probably the best bet for a small business with a small hiring budget. A savvy employer can weed out inconsistencies on resumes and use careful interviewing techniques to find the best candidate for the job while saving loads of cash by stepping away from the high cost sites. And, of course, don't forget to post your openings on the About Us page of your Web site as well!
About the Author
Samantha Gluck has had over a decade of experience helping businesses better focus their Web sites to enhance ecommerce and Internet presence by utilizing Web analytics, relevant design elements and marketing campaigns.