When Hiring, Which Jobs Site Do You Use? What Do You Do to Find the Best Talent?

Robert Half says that the average manager's hiring and retention ratio is 50/50. Think of the lost time and energy.

In my experience (30+ years in many countries) Sana is right. The best hires come from referrals.

The best REFERRALS come from people who know you, know your business, know your core values and your overall philosophy of business management and leadership.

Good managers are always out there educating friends, relatives and clients about these issues. The best managers don't recruit when they need someone, they are always recruiting, looking, prospecting and qualifying.

I hope that is helpful.

I have to agree with the wisdom of hiring through referrals. My business hiring needs center around people with mechanic's skills. We prefer younger hires with a desire to learn (I know, I know, pie in the sky considering some of the attitudes I'm sure some of us have encountered with the work ethic of some-not all, but some - of the younger generation) but they are out there. Of course, referrals can come from anywhere and it isn't unheard of to reach out to connections through sites like Alignable or Linkdin to find them.

I prefer to go to my community or nearby communities and hire someone recommended to me for a particular position. As a writer my needs are limited.

I believe referrals from people who know the candidates are the best source, however, this may not give you the best candidate, only the best one people know about. When I have looked for jobs I use as many sites as I can get into, but in the end it all boils down to the hiring manager liking who they interview

clean wind

There are so many sources of talent that using these does provide candidates but then what. You may wish to set up a phone line that candidates will have to call and answer the question or questions requested. In this way you can gain an insight to the candidates ability to respond to an unexpected situation and can demonstrate how well the party organizes their thoughts

We use various avenues such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Facebook, Craigslist, FreeClassifieds, direct email and walkins.  Within our industry we also use PIA (Printing Industries of America), local city, county and TWC job fairs, secondary business job fairs, networking, word of mouth, internal postings, and so on. Almost never go to the newspaper any more. Rarely Monster or CareerBuilder. At some point you can tell which ones work and get the greater bang for the buck, or not.

I don't buy into the Careerbuilder/ Monster models. Even ZipRecruiter is charging more these days. Too bulky and expensive. I use social media and other free methods such as XRay and Search Strings to acquire candidates for my clients.

I've had a lot of success with Craigslist, but you should look up "Localwise", as well -- they're a growing player in the industry, and I like their approach.

As for other options, I also use Indeed. It helps me look up resumes and reach out to people. I have mostly been disappointed with Indeed, though: even when I pay for a sponsored ad, most of the applicants that reach me are from too far away to be useful -- sometimes from another country.

Before I give a blanket answer to the question, I would suggest that different resources are best utilized for different levels of talent (i.e high level executive positions may be best through a recruiter as they are often currently employed, mid-level management could be monster/careerbuilder, while admin and/or entry level could be indeed and craigslist).

I also think you should take into account if you have a FT HR staff member who is going to take the lead on recruiting, reviewing resumes, preliminary interviews - or will you be having a team member who is already over-worked carrying the load of the missing team member.

I realize this isn't a black and white answer, however I think there are a number of variables that should be considered. Hope this was helpful.