Online recruiting streamlines search
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Mia Geiger Special To The Business Journal
EXTON -- Five years ago, Ward Christman was lucky if a company's human resource director didn't hang up on him after mentioning he was selling online recruitment services.
"We got responses from, `Is this some kind of 900 number?' to `We don't use headhunters,' because they didn't know what posting an ad online meant," he said.
Today, many prospective clients call him. So many, in fact, that Christman's 5-year-old company, Online Opportunities, generated $500,000 in revenues last year.
His company is one of many catering to a growing demand for online recruitment services. Christman's company has attracted clients ranging from smaller firms to Peco Energy Co., Rosenbluth International, BetzDearborn Inc. and Comcast Corp. Search firms also use the service.
"Most of the major metropolitan areas are experiencing a very tight labor market. They can't seem to find people in a traditional way and a lot of them are turning toward the Internet," he said.
The change in attitude toward online recruitment has occurred slowly over the last half a decade, with a push within the last two years, as "Internet" increasingly became a household word.
"The Internet has been around for a long time, but it's been virtually ignored," said Christman, executive director of the company. "The underlying capability of posting an ad and posting a résumé has been there for ages, but it has been largely unmanaged and unexploited, and therefore unproductive. If you were looking for a rocket scientist 15 years ago, it would have worked. But another field, good luck."
As little as two to three years ago, the vast majority of openings posted online were in the technical arena, whether technical writer, computer programmer or hardware engineer. Now, 40 percent to 50 percent of the ads are in other areas, including sales, marketing, administration and human resources, according to Christman.
For anywhere between $30 and $20,000, Christman's company will post ads on one or more of the six career sites it is affiliated with and provide access to résumé databases, as well as provide training and support. Online Opportunities also creates private computerized résumé banks for clients who prefer that instead of a paper system.
He said online recruiting reduces the process in half.
While most online recruitment services offer just one or two sites in which to post ads, Online Opportunities offers a regional one and five of the most often-visited national ones. He said that 95 percent of all job seekers using the Internet for job-hunting look at one or more of the career sites.
"When we walk into a major company we are not just saying we are this Internet site. We are representing some of the biggest names in the industry and can pull it all together for you under one roof," he said.
It is that strategy of forging alliances and strategic partnerships that has led the company to maintain its favorable market position.
"They are sharing our profits, but without them we wouldn't have the strength that we have," the 33-year-old entrepreneur said.
About a third of Online Opportunities' clients post ads, a third request access to résumé databases, and a third do both. Job seekers search the sites and post résumés for free.
Catherine Wright, human resources assistant at Telford-based Accu-Sort Systems, which manufactures automated identification products, began using the Internet for recruitment when she became an Online Opportunities client in January.
"A lot of companies are [advertising online]. You have to be there if you want to stay competitive," she said. She thought online ads would be particularly helpful reaching new graduates, most of whom are familiar with the Internet.
"You don't get as many résumés, but the ones you receive ... they are usually more closely related to the positions you are trying to fill," she said.
Wright said one reason she chose Christman's company was the training his firm provides: "You can get lost on the Internet so you have to know how to use it and how to find your way around."
A year-and-a-half ago, BetzDearborn in Trevose began using Christman's service to search résumé databases. Six months later, it began posting ads. Now, it has its own database.
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