Recruiting in the Internet Age

The Information Age has drastically changed the way companies recruit employees. The Internet makes huge numbers of job seekers available to any firm with access to the Web. At the same time, many companies

increasingly rely on executive search firms to locate good candidates for important posts. But traditional recruitment methods -- from word-of-mouth to newspaper advertisements -- still work best for some firms.

Here´s the lowdown on each recruitment method and how you can make it work for your business:

The Internet. Learn to love the Internet -- it´s probably the greatest recruitment resource around. By 2001, an estimated 96 percent of U.S. companies will be recruiting on the Web. Already, more than two-thirds of human resources professionals use the Internet to recruit.

Millions of job seekers surf the Web each week, post their resumes, fill out online applications and even conduct email interviews. One online search firm reports that computer-assisted applicant searches take one-third the time of traditional searches. Moreover, some evidence indicates that applicants are more truthful over the Internet.