Now hear this! Recruiters use podcasting to grab job seekers' ears

HR Magazine, Jan, 2007 by Rita Zeidner

Attention recruiters. Move away from the keyboard and pick up the microphone. Those blogs you've been writing are so, you know, 2006.

Podcasts, some say, are what will grab the ear of those iPod-donning, multitasking, first-time job seekers.

Indeed, podcasts--online audio presentations that can be downloaded from the Internet and played from an iPod or other MP3 player--increasingly are making their way onto job boards such as Collegerecruiter.com and Monster.com. Most of them are free. On-campus career centers and employers also are testing the possibilities of a medium that rapidly is becoming the emblem of Generation Y.

"What podcasting is great for is providing a multimedia experience for a generation that expects that," says Steven Roth-berg, president of Collegerecruiter.com, which is aimed at college students and recent graduates seeking their first professional job. The site features downloadable presentations on topics such as preparing a resume and interviewing tips, along with descriptions of more than a dozen career choices. Students, he says, "can listen to [the programs] walking between classes or while sitting at the computer or instead of Green Day."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

For about a year, Monster.com has been offering podcasts featuring recruiters and career coaches waxing on topics such as assessing your strengths and the importance of networking. At least one program is devoted to being fired; it features actress Annabelle Gurwitch talking about being axed by Woody Allen.

"We're doing our best to constantly provide new and fresh advice to job seekers," says Steve Sylvene of Monster.com. "We think it's a new, unique way to give, and get, career advice."

Webster University, which has 2,200 students at its home campus in St. Louis, began offering career advice via podcasts to give a leg up to its additional 20,000 students scattered on campuses around the world, according to O. Ray Angle, Webster's director of career services. Topics covered in Webster's podcast library run the gamut from professional etiquette to the value of a doctoral degree.

And while U.S. employers have been slow to embrace the technology, podcasts are catching on among European employers, including British confectioner Cadbury Schweppes. Its site features snippets of interviews with young hires who speak enthusiastically about working for the global company.

Given the growing popularity of podcasts among college students, U.S. employers are likely to start offering their own downloadable programs, predicts Peter Weddles, owner of Weddle's LLC, a human resource research and publishing firm.

"Employers are starting to send up some very early trial balloons, and I think people are intrigued with the idea," he says. "Employers understand the advantages of speed and being able to reach people where they live."

Podcasters have a choice of low-cost media for recording their programs. Angle records Webster's programs in a makeshift studio in his dining room. He and his staff, which includes a tech-savvy intern, began producing the programs on their office MacIntosh but switched to a Windows-based program. Equipment purchases, including microphones, boom stands and software, were under $500.

In addition, there are web-hosted services such as Audio Acrobat that allow podcasters to make recordings using the telephone for a monthly charge of about $20.

Rothberg recommends that podcasters who are untrained in the art of slick broadcasting keep their messages brief and to the point--not unlike the ideal voice mail message.

"If you have to choose between substance and glitz, go with substance," he says. Programs, he says, should be no longer than the typical commercial, which, by the way, is what a pod-cast really should be.

Angle, however, says he has had success with an interview format that can last as long as 20 minutes. But, he concedes, he's still experimenting with the programs' length.

Webster's programs are accessible through Apple's iTunes service, as well as from the university web site. Through iTunes, he says, he's able to track usage.

David Barrett, global communications manager of Audio Acrobat, recommends that all podcasters include messages on how listeners can get more information. In the case of recruiters and employers, the obvious next step would be to direct the job seeker to the employer's jobs page, he says.

"Without knowing what do I do next, employers could lose momentum big time," says Barrett, who offers free podcasting training to Audio Acrobat subscribers.

And there are other tricks that can help employers get bang for their podcast buck, says Barrett. Among them is to include a photo of the speaker and other interesting art to grab the would-be listener's attention.

"People want to know who's talking," he says.

Recruiters also should ensure that information identifying their employer should be a standard part of each podcast's web address, also known as a URL. That will help ensure that the podcast will be picked up by Google or any other search engine.