Just a few minutes ago, an Indeed commercial appeared on TV showing job searchers how easy it was to find the right job on the online job site.

Big businesses with large recruiting budgets are finding success locating top talent on these job listing websites. They’ve done so primarily by sponsoring their job listings. Basically, they’ve bought ads on these sites. A luxury many small businesses with limited budgets are challenged to do.

Those paid ads get noticed. Sponsored job listings outperform free job listings by 3 to 5 times. While many of these job listing sites do provide free listings, a look at a job search result will show a multitude of sponsored ads before showing the free ones.

If your right candidate is looking for the type of job you’re offering, how do you get their attention when you’re on a budget?

Let’s brainstorm some recruiting methods small businesses with limited budgets can use.

Let’s Step Back in Time First. Are the Days of running an Ad in the Paper Over?

Many middle-aged and older folks probably recall combing through the printed help wanted listings and circling with a red or blue pen potential jobs.

However, times have changed. Many newspapers have migrated their help wanted listings online with many papers using online job site companies (Indeed, Monster, etc.) to power their listings.

So, if you have a job listing with an online job listing site, chances are it will appear on your local newspaper’s online job board.

For newspapers that still publish help wanted ads in print, they might or might not be worth your efforts. Consider the type of candidate who uses a newspaper and not online venues to look for a job. If your job requires a candidate with computer and technical skills, your potential employee will probably be searching online for their job.

Online Job Search Postings – Is this The Way To Go? Which Ones are Best for Small Business to Use?

Most of your potential employees will probably be using an online job search site to find a job.

If you’re a small business on a limited budget, job posting sites like Indeed and Ladders could be ideal for you because they offer free listings along with sponsored. Job listing sites like Monster and CareerBuilder start at $119 and $219 for a single job post.

If you’re offering a job under $40k per year, then Ladders would not be right for your listing. Jobs on Ladders start at $40k per year.

If you plan on sponsoring a job posting ad, Indeed costs 0.25 to $1.50 per click on a job ad. Ladders costs $6.25 per day.

If you proceed with the free job posting option, be sure to use keywords and search terms your job seekers would be using. This will give your job post more of a chance to appear in front of the right candidate.

Facebook Now has a Job Posting Option

In 2017, Facebook began offering job seekers the ability to search and apply for jobs at local businesses. That means the more than 70 million businesses with a Facebook page can post job openings—all for free.

Creating a job post on Facebook is easy. Click on the “Write Something…” field, select a drop-down option selecting the type of post you want to create (Publish a job post). Follow the prompts.

Your job post will appear in News Feeds of your followers as well as the Marketplace and jobs dashboard. You can also pay to boost the job post to a broader or selective target audience.

Facebook users can apply directly through Facebook allowing you to respond directly and schedule interviews.

As a Facebook post, your friends, family and employees can share the job posting with their network.

Is LinkedIn a Good Source for Positions Other than Professional Services?

LinkedIn is a great source to generate professional referrals for your job opening. Through their paid service, businesses can target job offer queries to qualified LinkedIn members—even those not looking for a job.

However, LinkedIn’s recruiting price can be very expensive. Small businesses might consider reserving LinkedIn for higher-end professional positions and not for administrative or clerical jobs.

Other Budget Recruitment Ideas

Consider approaching your local colleges, vocational and trade schools and ask professors and teachers if they have students qualified for the position you want to fill.

Also, add a Hiring or Careers page to your website. Many job seekers often will search job postings directly in Google and your webpage could show up—for free—in front of the right candidate.

Incentivize your employees to network your job posting in their circle. This could be a hiring bonus, night out with the spouse gift card or any other incentive you can think of.

If you’re interested in developing and implementing a candidate search strategy, consider using the services of a Virtual Assistant. We’d be happy to help you get your job posting(s) out among the best options where they would be found while freeing you up to do other things. Feel free to give us a call at (904) 429-4588 to discuss how we can help you grow your business.