Recruiting in the Newspaper Classifieds

While the latest and the farthest reaching job search medium is the Internet with its myriad recruitment sites, the long-standing tradition of placing employment advertising in the metropolitan Sunday paper continues for one reason - it works!

Especially for non or semi-skilled non-managerial positions, and those for which you as an employer would not pay for relocation, your local newspaper is and probably should be your first choice. In publishing your job openings in a newspaper of good size, especially the local daily, the odds are now that you are posting to the Web also. Newspapers are 'jumping on this bandwagon' to remain competitive, and it is often the case that the price of your newspaper advertising includes your advertising copy, and sometimes even your graphics, appearing on their World Wide Web site as well.

As competitive, costly and unwieldy as the print medium may sometimes seem, there is no getting around the fact that when people job hunt most of them look to the local newspaper - and first. While those of us who have become sophisticated in the ways of the Internet, and those of us with professional backgrounds and strong networking capabilities may find ourselves changing jobs because the new employer came to us, or because we heard that a friend of a friend was hiring, the vast majority of job seekers - unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, professional, or entry-level, job hunt through the Classifieds.

In competitive markets especially, and in areas where the unemployment rate is low, the number one reason newspaper recruitment is vital to the employer is that the competition is advertising there. If there are numerous unfilled positions locally in your industry it is a given that other recruiters and human resource professionals in the same industry will be advertising next Sunday. If you are not there your competition will grab up those job seekers.

Some might caution job seekers that they are one of hundreds or even thousands of applicants applying for the same position advertised in the Sunday paper. They will advise them that there are more time-effective and less competitive ways to search out a position. The fact is, however, that virtually no one, whether they additionally search the Internet, or network, or attend job fairs, etc. will ignore the opportunity to open the Sunday paper and peruse the positions advertised. So you, the employer, need to be there.

There is another point to be made, also. Only 20% of any Employment Classifieds readers on any given day are what newspapers refer to as "hot candidates". What this means is that traditionally only 20% of people who peruse the Classifieds actually need and want a job immediately; another 60% are employed and giving a job change some consideration; and the final 20% are just curious but might change if the right offer comes along. In newspaper classified advertising you not only reach the unemployed, but also the underemployed and the 'happily employed but might change for the right opportunity' group.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic