Lean HR

Talent acquisition is changing.  A recent survey reveals that 43% of the companies polled are pulling their spending from Internet job boards and re-directing those resources to better showcase their brand to potential employment candidates. The shift away from job boards is a response to current market conditions, which have made more high-value candidates available to companies looking to capitalize on the market's turnaround with strategic hires. 

There is hope.  While the current business environment remains grim, optimism still dictates many of the respondents' near term hiring plans, with more than 30% planning to increase hiring during the second and third quarter of 2009: adding the fourth quarter raises that number to 41%.

Referrals are still the most popular avenue for sourcing jobs, but the companies polled indicate their Web site or career page as being the next most valuable vehicle for finding candidates. Job boards, while useful for generating a higher volume of resumes, are being criticized for not delivering qualified candidates, which are seen as the key for surviving the tough current economic climate and building future organizational strength.

There is another factor.  In the effort to build a Lean HR hiring process, I have been simplifying the hiring process and getting better results.  This is partially driven by creating new channels for sourcing by using RSS feeds and opt-in email channels, and ties to social networking.  These new channels - especially the RSS one - has big implications for the future.

If you can post for free on a RSS-enabled job board and get good results, why spend big dollars on a formal site that is focused on value?

Question - who has abandoned the big job boards, and why?

For extra credit, how have you tied your applicant tracking system to the new sources?