Groundbreaking Recruitment Genome Project Enters Third Phase Mapping the Building Blocks of Winning Recruiting

Minneapolis, MN — February 26, 2010 — Arbita, a leading provider of recruitment marketing technology, media planning and consulting services, continues to successfully decode the DNA of successful recruiting, anticipate tomorrow’s trends, and identify where the recruitment industry is failing to align with the changing world around it.

“Every day, companies waste millions of dollars on recruitment initiatives because they haven’t decoded the recruitment genome,” said Don Ramer, founder and CEO of Arbita. “They engage in various activities, like sourcing, job-board advertising and employment branding campaigns, but they do it all without any real understanding of what is successful and what’s not.

“That’s not their fault,” Ramer said. “No one had tried to decode the recruitment genome in earnest. Not until now.”

Arbita’s Recruitment Genome Project is a multi-year study that seeks to identify all of the building blocks of the world’s most successful recruitment programs. The research also includes inquires into some frequently overlooked elements of recruitment marketing, such as recruitment training and education.

Arbita published the first Recruitment Genome Report in Spring 2009, based on the findings of its first wave of research. Over 500 recruitment professionals participated in the first survey, answering questions about an array of topics including:

• Employment branding
• Recruitment marketing analytics
• Search marketing and social media recruiting
• Interactive recruitment marketing campaigns
• Job board effectiveness
• Media management
• Sourcer and recruiter development
• Professional industry resources

The data collected from the first survey was tabulated and analyzed by a panel consisting of Arbita’s executive team and several industry thought leaders. The panel’s analysis and recommendations are captured in the white paper, “Act While Others Wait: Savvy Recruitment Marketing Strategies Now Ensure Success While Others Wait for Better Times.”

The first report projected that the vast majority of companies would spend the same amount or less on recruitment marketing in 2009 as they did the previous year — even though an overwhelming number of them didn’t feel they had effective strategies or solid measurement tools to take advantage of the new wave of robust, productive and cost-effective recruiting opportunities available to them. Examples of those tools are social media, blogs, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and interactive direct marketing.

“What the project first told us, nearly a year ago, was that the entire pie was getting smaller, but the savvy recruiter could do more — much more — with less, while the competition waited for the economy to improve,” Ramer said.

Armed with data about trends and beliefs in the recruitment community, the Recruitment Genome Project next asked how those beliefs matched the measurable changes in candidate behavior as a result of the recent recession and the explosion of Web 2.0 and other social media for job-hunting.

The second phase of research found that candidate behavior had shifted in 2009 and the recruitment community had failed to keep pace with that change. Based on a comparison between the first two major Recruitment Genome Project surveys and other primary and secondary research, Arbita concluded recruiters could stay ahead of the curve by implementing six forward-thinking recruitment marketing initiatives in 2010:

1. Employment brand execution
2. Training for Internet sourcing
3. Internet marketing (SEO and SEM)
4. Career website optimization
5. Job board advertising optimization
6. Social networking

The second report from the Recruitment Genome Project, “6 Must-Fund Recruitment Marketing Initiatives for 2010,” illuminates how candidate behavior and recruitment marketing changed last year — and the crucial initiatives needed in response for 2010.

“Our research indicated that the protracted recession created a genuine shift in recruitment marketing strategy,” the second project white paper says. “Not a, `I have a bad feeling about this’ kind of shift, but more of a `times have changed and there is a huge opportunity here’ kind of shift.”

Now, the Recruitment Genome Project is investigating the use of social networks for recruiting and business development. One of the most significant trends uncovered in the project’s initial survey was the overwhelming expectation by recruiters that they would increase their use of online social networks for recruiting and business development in 2010.

The project is now drilling down deeper to answer pertinent questions including:

• How are online social networks being used for recruiting and business development?
• Which social networks are the most useful?
• Do companies have effective strategies for using the major social networks, niche and regional networks and blogs?
• How will recruiting investment in social media for recruiting change?

Over the next few years, The Recruitment Genome Project will continue to conduct surveys, interviews and other forms of primary research that draw upon Aribita’s rich knowledge base of recruitment marketing analytics. As with the first two trends report white papers, the research will be analyzed by the most accomplished industry experts. Analyst briefs, research reports and other materials will conform to the highest academic standards and will focus on providing companies with pragmatic information to improve recruiting initiatives.

About Arbita
Since 1993, Arbita has been connecting leading employers with the best talent on the Internet, all over the world. Our recruitment marketing technology, media planning and consulting services have been developed with the belief that every client deserves a partner with their best interests at heart. Arbita is based in Minneapolis, MN and on the Web at www.arbita.net

Media Contact:
Glenn Gutmacher
VP, Arbita Consulting & Education Services
e-mail protected from spam bots
(612) 278-0018

This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.