This is not something we need to worry about in Australia just yet however prudent recruiters will be starting to consider these things in light of trends in the US.
We are so used to a booming job market in Australia that many people may not have given much thought to how you evaluate recruitment sources in a down market.
An interesting blog post in the US this month shows huge increases in applicants per job for online job boards from Q1 2007 to Q4 2007. Apps per job ad at
Monster for example were up 1275%.
A down or declining job market in Australia would have the same effect. Does this mean the dominance of the top 3 job boards in "apps per job ad" would be watered down relative to other sources? Very likely. So how then do recruiters decide where to spend their ad budgets in a down market?
Some of the key metrics that recruiters will need to be thinking about are:
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cost per placement
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cost per quality applicant (cost of job ad / # of applicants per ad per job board that make it into the database)
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ratio of keepers vs non keepers (apps per ad per job board that make it into the database vs ones that don't)
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cost of doing business. Overall return from a job board vs the cost to your business of working with them. During a down market things like ease of use, customer support, account management, flexibility and minimum length of contract can become important considerations when choosing job board partners.
Do you measure these things now? Do you plan to?