Visibility

There is fierce competition for talented labor. Today, communities are grappling with an aging and culturally diverse workforce, along with a shifting, technology-driven economy. To continue growing, communities know they must aggressively recruit highly skilled workers.  

Many communities have adopted a local job website to court candidates. Based off the CareerBuilder.com concept, these sites originate from partnerships between public and private organizations. They provide job listings, along with areas for job seekers to house their resumes. These sites also sponsor job fairs and provide employer profiles and community data. 

In themselves, these sites have limited shelf life. Most visitors only use them during a job search. To increase these sites’ reach, their sponsors must identify ways to draw repeat visits from job seekers and non-seekers alike. 

The key is evolving from a job site to a professional development resource. In other words, these sites must offer value beyond a job search. They must continuously add content, while facilitating networking, education, recruitment and community marketing.

Here are some ideas to help sites make this transition and build their base of regular users: 

Educational Content: CareerBuilder offers hundreds of articles on job seeking and professional development. Look at authoring your own articles by partnering with area professionals, educators and business publications. For example, you could appeal to job seekers with short pieces on cover letters, networking and interviewing. Similarly, cover topics like negotiation, personnel management and body language to interest other professionals. To increase your exposure, e-mail a monthly, content-driven newsletter to site subscribers.

Of course, not everyone enjoys reading. Consider developing 5-minute webcasts or podcasts on business topics, hosted by local leaders and experts. Provide new sessions bi-weekly or monthly to generate repeat visits.

Online Career and Resume Advice: Enlist anonymous human resource professionals to answer questions posed by anonymous site visitors. Categorize and post responses for further consumption. Similarly, provide online critiques of user resumes. Reward participating professionals with gift cards and discounted postings. 

Educational Curriculum: For many professionals, pursuing an advanced degree is a costly hassle. Make it easy. Provide short courses to help business professionals sharpen their skills in strategic areas. Create a module-based business curriculum, which could be available in a brick-and-mortar or distance learning format. Confer certifications to professionals who complete modules or specific tracks.
 
These courses could be developed through partnerships with area colleges and trainers. They would involve less cost, time and commitment than a MBA program – and could eventually motivate attendees to further their education. Certifications would also demonstrate to hiring managers that candidates possess coveted technical and soft skills. Most important, this program would make community organizations more competitive and positioned for further growth.

Career Coaching: Establish partnerships with career coaches, to give them exposure to potential clients. Similarly, make career tests available online, to help job seekers identify potential interests and options.

Entrepreneurial Institute: Small businesses generate the majority of new jobs. Why not create a program to educate prospective entrepreneurs? This program could help communities spawn new businesses, while helping entrepreneurs avoid common and costly mistakes. It could also include an accompanying mentor program, where new entrepreneurs would partner with established start-ups. Take it a step further and create incubatory partnerships between educational institutions and entrepreneurs, to lend needed capital and expertise to promising ventures.

Events: Consider partnering with professional organizations to sponsor events. For example, host a job seekers clinic with educational sessions or short screening interviews similar to speed dating. Use these events to reinforce the site and recruit volunteers.

Revenue Enhancement: A job site can also produce revenue for public entities like development offices. Here are some options:

•    Website Advertising: Sell banner ads, exclusive coupons and “Featured Employer” profiles on the site. Keep ads to a minimum, to avoid clutter.  
•    E-Mail Advertising: Offer ad space on job alerts and newsletters e-mailed to registered site users. 
•    Job Seeker Pages: Go beyond the standard online resume. Apply the Facebook concept and market personal pages. Present packages that include profiles, work products, pictures and webcasts to help job seekers promote themselves and network.

Conversely, look at hyping your site to targeted audiences using cable advertising, newspapers, radio, direct mail and community events. 

 
Partnerships: Look for ways to increase buy-in among area business. Meet with human resources and young professionals organizations to publicize your site. Similarly, look for ways to make your audience’s job easier, such as automatically distributing resumes and online profiles that fit a job opening’s specific criteria.

Business Recruitment: Supply sample resumes to businesses considering re-location, to display the community’s talent pool. In addition, develop a quarterly newsletter customized to prospective businesses. Include community developments, helpful business advice and job seeker profiles.

Youth Outreach: Retaining young talent is vital to a growing, vibrant community. That’s why it is critical to reach out to future candidates in high school and college.
Conduct resume writing seminars and mock job interviews with students. Create a microsite for students, with advice and postings relevant to their level of experience. Work cooperatively with the local Junior Achievement to build students business skills.
Always look for ways to broaden your presence in guidance offices, career centers and even classroom curriculum.

Along with these ideas, bolster your site’s credibility by occasionally posting success stories from job seekers who found work using the site. Offer a change of pace by including ‘clean’ humor that highlights the workplace’s occasional absurdities. As always, present an outlet for users to send feedback. Consider conducting focus groups or online surveys to gather qualitative and quantitative data. 

In converting a job site to a professional resource, be sure to address the following issues:

•    How can this site be promoted to expatriates and non-locals?
•    Does the community’s demographics and labor needs warrant a Spanish microsite?
•    How can this site reach people with limited internet access and computer skills?

Could partnerships with local community centers, churches, labor unions and employment offices bridge this gap?