You're a recruiter with a major financial services firm and need to hire 200 new Account Representatives – fast. Where do you go to find these candidates? To fill this tall order, most recruiters would probably employ multiple sourcing methods, such as job boards and employee referrals. Though effective, these methods can also be labor intensive. What if you could bypass hours of sourcing and go straight to screening and interviewing? A new sourcing method -- targeted e-mail campaigns -- offers recruiters a faster, easier way to reach thousands of potential hires.

The targeted e-mail campaign is a new sourcing service offered by job boards like CareerBuilder.com and CollegeRecruiter.com. Job boards have millions of candidate profiles and e-mail addresses in their databases and are now making this information available to recruiters. You can now work with a job board to construct a custom e-mail campaign targeted at the precise candidates you want to hire. According to Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, "this is a fantastic solution because it combines the best features of job postings (high quantity of response) with the best features of resume searching (high quality of response)."

How does a typical campaign work? Recruiters work with the job board company to build a specific candidate profile: educational level, years of experience, location, GPA, etc. The job board company then creates a targeted mailing list by matching your requirements with the profiles of site members who have opted-in to receive company e-mail announcements. You provide the creative -- usually a message from the job board inviting the candidate to apply for an opportunity. Once the list and the message are ready, the job board company will send out your message to the targeted e-mail list. All you need to do is sit back and field the responses.

The pros of this service definitely revolve around time and cost savings. Prequalified candidates contact you, greatly reducing your cost-per-hire from a time-savings perspective. This service is especially ideal if you need to hire over 25 candidates or are targeting candidates that are hard to reach. If you are looking to hire a few candidates for a relatively easy to fill position, the service is probably not very ideal. A targeted e-mail campaign costs more than a standard resume bank search or job posting. Some placements can be executed more effectively using traditional e-sourcing methods. Before signing a contract, you need to first make sure the service truly fits your needs.

Whether you're looking to hire new grads or more experienced professionals, a targeted e-mail campaign can help you meet your hiring goals. This innovative sourcing method delivers the reach of job postings with the targeting abilities of a resume bank search. The result? Multiple resume submissions from on-target candidates without hours of sourcing attached. All that's required is some thoughtful planning, good messaging, and collaboration with a job board partner.

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