Recruiting Survey Finds Online Advertising Best ROI.

Budgets to recruit new employees will remain constant in the coming year, meaning that organizations will continue to look toward newspapers, online advertising and staff referrals to generate the greatest return on investment and to attract the highest volume of quality applicants.

The 2002 Recruiter Budget/Cost Survey, released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Recruitment Marketplace, examined the average budgets organizations devote to recruiting new staff. The survey also asked the 281 responding HR professionals, who specialize in recruiting, their thoughts on the most effective means of generating large numbers of quality applicants and what resources ensure the best return on investment.

“Internet recruiting has revolutionized the way organizations of all sizes seek new applicants,” said SHRM Vice President of Knowledge Development Debra Cohen, Ph.D., SPHR. “It has proven to be a cost-effective recruiting tool that complements newspaper advertising and other methods of attracting new recruits.”

Nearly all (93 percent) respondents invest in newspaper advertising, and 82 percent invest in online advertising to fill open positions. These two mediums command 84 percent of recruiting budgets. According to survey results, HR professionals consider newspaper advertising, online advertising and referrals to produce the greatest volume and the highest quality of applicants, which translates as the best return on investment.

“Newspaper advertising remains the dominant choice for filling local positions and enhancing corporate brand in a local market,” said Recruitment Marketplace Vice President, Debbie Stremmel. “Internet recruiting has also revolutionized the newspaper industry, affording companies the opportunity to advertise local positions globally through the newspaper’s online product. Many recruiters have found that the combination of print and online advertising techniques is the most effective way to fulfill recruiting objectives.”

In open-ended responses, recruiters most commonly mentioned that Internet advertising allowed them to penetrate new markets and develop a wider range of qualified applicants, while newspaper advertising allowed them to concentrate on the local market. Eighty-three percent said their organization posted positions on the Internet.

For more information at http://www.shrm.org