Singapore – Despite the rise of companies investing more in online recruitment ads to entice the internet-savvy jobseekers, print recruitment ads are here to stay. Or maybe not.
With the evolution of the internet and its interactive features, Samuel Sung, founder and chairman of JobsDB Inc, believes a recruitment print ad is no longer the right hiring channel for companies. Pointing out the disadvantages of newspapers ads, Sung says, “The newspaper is not interactive. It does not push the information to the reader. It is very passive.”
Furthermore, there is a slower response rate for newspapers recruitment ads, which is highly unlikely to happen for the more proactive internet, states Sung. “Internet generates quicker responses, instant posting and people who want to post jobs can do it within 24 hours. For newspapers, you have to wait for some days, [which is] the usual.”
However, others see the benefits of advertising on both. For Annie Yap, CEO for The GMP Group, print recruitment remains the tried and tested method over online advertising as it does more than attracting active job seekers. Yap says print ads extend their reach to passive job seekers as well.
While Sung accepts that print recruitment will never go obsolete, he claims recruiting via newspapers is a marketing tool for companies. “They want to publicly show that they are advertising and hiring, which is part of their marketing expenditure.”
Yap concurs as she believes print ads serve a bigger purpose in recruitment. According to Yap, it is employer branding which gives print recruitment the staying power. “Online job portals offer limited job templates and space for branding purposes but print ads provide freer creative branding platforms which arouse interest in the company.”
It would also be a waste of resources for companies to advertise on less popular job portals as companies run the risk of recruitment ads not reaching out to all demographics. Yap says this is especially true for jobseekers without internet access or do not have a strong command of English and blue-collar or production workers.
Finally, both agree that eventually, paperless CVs will be the best way for HR to receive candidates’ applications. Sung affirms that JobsDB currently recruit all of its positions, including the senior level, from its websites. “[It’s] all through our database so we don’t advertise in newspapers at all.”
However despite the more environmentally friendly option, Yap concludes that companies would still have to cater to jobseekers who are applying for blue-collar positions. “In this case, hard copy application forms could still be necessary.”
