Online Recruitment

[alexlowe]

Hello everybody,

Perhaps this should be on the IT/Internet section but it all seems a bit technical there, sorry if i'm in the wrong place.

I have an idea for an online recruitment service that targets a particular niche of graduate, it is a very small area (about 150 - 200 graduates a year, but growing)which is probably why nobody else is doing it, but i reckon if i can make a bit out of it on top of what i already do then as long as it doesnt take up too much time it will be worth it.

I dont know anything about recruitment apart from my experience as a temp during my student days, so i'm not going to try advising employers or graduates on their business or careers, but i'm hoping it could all be done online with a searchable CV database. I could also perhaps make money from vacancy adverts, adspace and affiliate programs.



What i'm wondering is:

How many CV's would i need before the database is worth money?

How much can i charge to search the database?

Why would an employer pay to search a database rather than put out an advert (and vice versa)?

Would other recruitment agencies be interested in access to the database?


Any help with these questions would be appreciated...

[Russ]

This service is already being provided by companies such as Monster and Jobsite. Monster have just spent 1.5m on a national tv ad campaign to ensure that candidates visit and apply to jobs advertised on the site. CV search from a good database costs approx £500 pm and the only way you would be able to charge is if you have a good database of candidates. If you can think of a way of getting candidates to your site without spending an absolute fortune AND I MEAN AN ABSOLUTE FORTUNE! then in principle it is a good idea.

I own and operate www.appointdirect.com which works on the principle that companies advertise their job vacancies direct to the candidate (skipping out any middle men) but we do not allow a CV search function. If you would like to discuss your ideas further plase feel free to PM me your details and I will gladly discuss through some of the pro's and con's with you.

ATB

Russ

[alexlowe]

Hello Russ,

Thanks for the reply, it was actually Monster where i got the idea for the searchable database from, but none of these big guys (and nobody else as far as i'm aware) actually cater for the specific area concerned. I know all this because i graduated in the subject 4 years ago.

In terms of getting the CV's i don't think that would be too much of a problem (but perhaps i'm wrong?) you dont need to advertise on TV because there are only 150 - 200 graduates each year and i know exactly where to find them (at the relevant Universities). I can remember in my final year that from around christmas through to graduation we were all registering with these online agencies (even though they only had general sections and nothing specific to us) and i'm sure that if there had been a website aimed at us we would have been all over it.

I thought the problem would be in finding the employers, this is because the directly related jobs which most graduates (but not all) aim for, are few and far between, which means the employers dont have to look very hard to find applicants.

But there is a range of graduate positions which are not directly related that the graduates could be suitable for and some end up doing and i actually think that many employers are unaware that these graduates may be useful to them. For me this is the hard part... getting the employers and managing the selection process...

Anyway, i've sent you a PM so if you want to talk further about this feel free to contact me at any time.

Thanks again,

Alex.

[Astaroth]

How many CV's would i need before the database is worth money?

How much can i charge to search the database?

Why would an employer pay to search a database rather than put out an advert (and vice versa)?

Would other recruitment agencies be interested in access to the database?

1) It depends on the quality as well as the quantity of the CVs. The other bit that you havent mentioned... you say there are up to 200 graduates a year in this field but havent said how many graduate jobs are going each year to know if it is an employees or employers market.

2) Again depends on the quality. I would be happy to pay more for a system that will give me 4-5 quality applicants per vacancy than one which will produce 500 applicants per vacancy which range from suitable to "who the hell do they think they are kidding".

3) Speed to market is one consideration... quicker to find someone than wait for them to find you. Also, I dont know what your market is like but in some sectors you have to be "one of the big 4" type employers to get people actively seeking you out and if you are some unknown then the top quality applicants wouldnt look to apply but may consider if you approach them.

My employers are a blue chip company but we have a fair number of small brand names (all jobs are advertised under the brand the candidates will be working with). In the same area, for the same job with the same pay we get 10x the number of applicants for one of our big brands -v- one of our smaller ones.

4) In my student days when I thought I would be making my living from developing websites for myself I did look into the job market to some degree and certainly back then there were aggregator sites where a financial arrangement was in place for your jobs/ cvs being placed on their site - the T&Cs of these did vary considerably though.

[mattk]

Hello Russ,
you dont need to advertise on TV because there are only 150 - 200 graduates each year and i know exactly where to find them (at the relevant Universities).
If this is the case then surely the employers would cut out the middleman (you) and go straight to the universities themselves to cheery pick the best graduates?

I can recall large companies coming to my university and holding open days for undergraduates for exactly this reason.

[alexlowe]

Hello guys,

Thanks for your replies...

Asteroth,

1) I did make some feeble attempts at trying to find out how many employers there are, but didnt get very far and decided my time is better spent on something i can actually do :)

so any advice on how to go about researching that would be appreciated...

2) Quality will vary depending on graduate and university but most people know which courses are best and i already screened out some places with that 150 - 200 figure.

3) There is no big 4 but there are a handful of highly sought after jobs in one particular sector which most graduates want to get into but realisticly have no chance and i suppose this amounts to the same thing.

4) Thats useful to know and i'll look into it... but the problem may be that they cant get or dont cater for the kind of employment that the graduates ideally want.



Matt,

I can remember an employer putting on a presentation in my final year but they were the only ones and maybe it was because they had no option? I'm sure it would be cheaper and quicker to use an agency than putting on a show and going on tour and then still needing to receive applications and make selections? But its an interesting point and i'll think about it.

Anyway i'll keep looking into it... thanks again everybody.