Introduction
Job boards are online tools that facilitate connections between candidates and recruiters. They are a first step for companies looking to recruit. They are simple and accessible, and bring together a multitude of offers and opportunities. However, their popularity is double-edged: an overabundance of applications and a lack of personalization and precision can make matching job offers and applications complex.
Faced with these limitations, various alternatives are emerging, promising a more targeted approach to recruitment. They rely on innovative tools and methods to improve the matching and recruitment process, while enhancing the skills and aspirations of job applicants. This article explores four main options: the use of professional networks, direct recruitment and cooptation strategies, sites dedicated to freelancers and short-term assignments, and job aggregators, each offering a unique perspective on how to achieve your recruitment objectives through the right tools and strategies.
LinkedIn: More than just a social network
The inbound part of Linkedin for recruiting :
Exploring professional networks is an excellent alternative to traditional job boards. These online platforms are designed to forge and maintain links with professionals who share common interests, skills or opportunities, particularly when it comes to job hunting. The advantages of these networks over job boards are many: they facilitate direct contact between recruiters and job candidates, prioritize the quality of applications over job offers, encourage recommendations and confidence in recruitment, and provide updates on the latest job trends in the sector.
Linkedin is the world’s leading professional network, with over 830 million members worldwide, including more than 24 million in France. The platform is aimed above all at professionals who are graduates, senior executives, business leaders and large corporations. LinkedIn lets you create a professional profile that acts like a digital CV, publish articles, videos or podcasts that showcase your expertise, and offers job search tools, online training, instant messaging, thematic group creation and targeted advertising.
LinkedIn is one of the indispensable tools that stands out for its international reach and its ability to boost your visibility and credibility when making proposals or looking for a job. It is particularly recommended for those wishing to develop their professional network, train, establish themselves as experts in their field, or seek out international job offers by submitting applications.
As well as enabling candidates to be visible to recruiters, Linkedin enables recruiters to make themselves visible too.
Recruiters will be able to use Linkedin to create content, whether through Linkedin posts, comments or webinars. Thanks to this, they’ll make themselves visible to thousands of profiles of potential candidates, who can then contact them if they’re looking for a job. This is what’s known as inbound marketing, when you use techniques to raise your profile and visibility so that candidate profiles come directly to you to find a job, rather than the other way round.
Talent hunting on Linkedin :
One of the big advantages of Linkedin is that you can see it as a gigantic database of offers and tools. When you’re able to use Linkedin’s filtering tools to perfection, you’ll be able to build up a prospecting file of qualified candidates.
Then simply run automated candidate prospecting campaigns using an automation tool coupled with MirrorProfiles accounts, and you’ve got a Recruitment Machine. This allows you to offer jobs to candidates with qualified profiles, and greatly improves the efficiency of your recruitment.
This technique prevents you from interviewing candidates with little or no qualifications for the job, which is why candidate prospecting on Linkedin is booming in 2024.
Direct recruitment and co-optation initiatives
Exploring alternative methods to job boards for finding candidates with the right profiles is possible thanks to direct recruitment and cooptation initiatives. The aim is to leverage the professional and personal networks of your employees, customers or partners to identify qualified, committed profiles. These approaches offer the advantage of meeting candidates directly at employment events, reducing recruitment costs, boosting employee loyalty, improving the company’s brand image, and cultivating talent diversity.
These initiatives fall into two broad categories: cooptation and participation in job fairs. Let’s take a look at how they work and how to apply them.
Co-optation: Mobilizing your employee network
Co-optation invites your employees to suggest professional or personal acquaintances for positions within the company. Incentivize them with rewards, financial or otherwise, if the recommended person is recruited. This approach relies on the trust and knowledge your employees have of your corporate culture and needs, guaranteeing the acquisition of quality candidates.
To implement a co-optation program, it’s crucial to define the reward conditions, selection criteria and communication channels. It’s also essential to educate and train your employees on the importance of recruitment and how to identify and approach potential candidates. Online tools such as Recruitee or Talentview can help you manage your co-optation program and track applications.
Job fairs: Face-to-face meetings
Taking part in job fairs and shows organized by various organizations allows you to meet job applicants directly, present the company and its opportunities, and conduct quick interviews. These events are an excellent recruitment opportunity, because they save considerable time, diversify the sources of applications and reinforce your brand image.
To take part in these events, find out more about the conditions of participation, the target audience and the proposed program. Prepare your stand, communication tools and job offers in advance. It’s also vital that your recruiters are prepared to welcome, inform and assess candidates effectively. Sites such as Pôle emploi and Salons Online offer a calendar of job fairs and exhibitions in France, making it easier for you to attend.
Freelance and short assignment platforms
An interesting alternative to traditional job boards is to use platforms dedicated to freelance candidates and short-term assignments. These websites facilitate contact between candidates with self-employed profiles and companies for one-off or long-term projects. Their popularity is due to a number of advantages: access to experts in various fields, greater flexibility and responsiveness, simplified administrative and financial management, and a guarantee of the quality and security of the services provided.
There are many such platforms, but Malt, Upwork and Fiverr stand out in particular. Although they share common features, each platform has its own specific characteristics that can influence the choice users make, depending on their specific needs and budget.
Malt, Upwork: Flexibility and expertise on demand
Malt and Upwork have positioned themselves as reliable intermediaries for connecting profiles of freelance candidates and customers, by proposing suitable, high-quality offers. Founded in France in 2013, Malt brings together over 300,000 freelance candidate profiles and 30,000 customer profiles, focusing mainly on the digital sector (web development, design, marketing, copywriting). Malt allows customers to choose freelance candidates directly, negotiate rates and deadlines, and offer personalized support. The platform also ensures payment security and legal protection for both parties.
Upwork, the U.S.-based platform formed from the merger of Elance and oDesk in 2015, boasts over 18 million freelancers for 5 million international customers. Covering a wide range of fields (IT, graphic design, translation, accounting, consulting), Upwork makes it easy for customers to publish their requirements and freelancers to send in their offers. The platform offers tools for collaboration, monitoring and invoicing, guaranteeing satisfaction and security for all.
Fiverr: Services for every need
Fiverr, founded in 2010 and based in Israel and the USA, has over 11 million freelance candidate profiles and 5.5 million customers worldwide. Its originality lies in its “gig” system, where freelance candidates offer their services at fixed prices, starting at $5. Offering a wide range of services (logo design, podcast production, voice-over recordings, video editing, copywriting), Fiverr makes it quick and easy to find the right service for your needs, at a competitive price. The platform also ensures service quality and secure transactions.
Conclusion
A job board is certainly a practical way of looking for a job, but it’s not the only option. For a more efficient, personalized and innovative approach to finding jobs or candidates, consider the following alternatives: professional networks, direct recruitment and cooptation strategies, platforms dedicated to freelancers and short-term assignments, as well as job offer aggregators. With over 5 years’ experience in recruitment, Frédéric Duhirel, co-founder of Stepward, has tested many techniques for recruiting fast and good candidates. The method he favors in 2024 is the direct approach, deploying several fake Linkedin accounts thanks to MirrorProfiles to be able to contact hundreds of potential candidates. Thanks to this technique, on average he recruits in 4 weeks for his customers. This is extremely fast when compared with traditional job boards.
Don’t delay, explore these alternatives and discover their effectiveness for yourself. You’ll quickly realize their benefits, and they’ll quickly become indispensable to your search for the ideal candidate.
FAQ
What does ATS stand for?
ATS stands for “Applicant Tracking System”. This is a software or digital platform designed to simplify and improve the recruitment process, from the publication of job offers to the selection of candidates, right through to the management of outbound prospecting for new candidates.
What are the best job search sites for submitting applications?
Choosing the best job search sites depends on your profile, your sector of activity and your location. Although there is no universal ranking, here are a few sites that are recognized for their effectiveness in finding a job:
- Pôle Emploi: the official portal of France’s national employment agency, offering more than 600,000 job vacancies in a variety of fields, it’s a great opportunity to find a job.
- Apec: dedicated to executives and young graduates, this site offers qualified job offers, advice, training opportunities and events.
- Indeed: a world leader that compiles job offers from numerous sources, offers the possibility of creating an online CV and obtaining personalized alerts according to the offers sought.
- Glassdoor: offers a unique perspective on the job market by combining job ads with reviews of companies, salaries and interviews.
- LinkedIn Recruiter: the most widely used professional social network, ideal for creating a professional profile, connecting with other professionals and applying to targeted job offers.
Which platform for recruiting?
Choosing a recruitment platform depends on your specific needs and budget. Here are some popular options:
- Welcome to the Jungle: focuses on corporate culture and well-being at work.
- Indeed: a metasearch engine that centralizes job offers from various sites, much appreciated by job seekers.
- Monster: known for its modern and innovative services, such as video offers.
- MirrorProfiles: equips recruiters for candidate hunting.
- Apec: targets executives and recent graduates, with tailor-made service offers.
- Pôle emploi: offers extensive visibility and free access to its services.
