Five Steps to Recruiting Online

You’ve gotten the lay of the e-land and have an inkling of which Web sites will get you the people you need. Now you just jot down your description and…you’re off. Right?

The Internet can be a powerful tool, but, like all good tools, it can also gobble a lot of your time if you let its features distract you from the job. Here are a few steps to organize your online recruiting and to keep you from veering too far off into the Web’s job-related hinterlands.

Step 1: Research by browsing the local sites. Surveying the current listings for your area, your industry, and your open job functions will tell you which services are best for you. Go to Craigslist (www.craigslist.com) and select your city. If your city’s not served by Craigslist, check out the cities available on Lycos Classifieds (http://lycos.oodle.com/cities/).

If you find your city or nearby metro area listed on one of these sites, then select a job category for which you need to list. Are there many companies advertising in this category? You’ll quickly be able to tell how actively and accurately this site is used by local companies. If you see only a sparse listing of current openings or mainly “work from home” and national (or international) job opportunities, you might want to consider investing the fee in one of the paid listing sites.