Entry-level Recruiting with WayUp

Employers across America love to hire college students. They can’t seem to get enough of them. Visit any career fair today on campus and you’ll see dozens, sometimes hundreds of companies vying for their attention.

Last year, while recruiting for a hospitality company, I was tasked with attracting hundreds of them to the company career site. My number one tool quickly became WayUp, formerly known as CampusJob. They are a next generation recruiting tool that I think all entry-level employers should get to know.

The New York City based startup won me over by delivering 50 applicants to my job listing within 24 hours. Seeing such immediate results from a job board was pleasantly surprising experience. I had also posted the job on other college job sites which delivered decent applicant flow over the course of a month but none could match the immediacy and quality of what I found on WayUp.

I was hooked. I re-upped and they continued to send us dozens of recent grads over the next few weeks/months and a sizable portion of those kids were ultimately hired. The best part was we only had to pay for the applicants we got ($10 each). It was true “pay per applicant” college recruiting. They even let us pre-screen applicants by major and GPA.

Recently I spoke with Liz Wessel, CEO of WayUp and asked her why she thinks the company is resonating with employers and students.

“It's all in our success rate: 1 in 3 students who apply for a job on WayUp get hired. There are so many job boards out there where applying for a position feels like you are submitting your application into a black hole. But on WayUp, we're actively working to make sure that students get jobs. We follow up with every single student who has applied for a job on our site and if a student hasn't had any luck, we suggest 5 more positions that they can apply for. Our mobile app even notifies students when an employer is reviewing an application. We bring a human element to the job search.

We are also helping to create a level playing field for young candidates - especially graduating seniors and recent grads - who would otherwise be competing with candidates who have 2 - 3 years of experience (or more!).”

She also had the following tips for employers on how to best leverage the platform.

• Employers can get the most out of WayUp by using filters for job listings and our "Invite Students" functionality. Filters for job listings include GPA, major, expected degree, school, and many other options.  These ensure that only the most qualified applicants can view and apply for a listing, making both sides of the marketplace (students and businesses) happy.

• Our "Invite Students" functionality allows employers to filter through qualified students in our database and invite them to apply to a job within seconds - this gives students the confidence of knowing that they're desirable applicants, and we've seen many listings increase their pool of applicants through this feature.

• It also never hurts to write a great job description that compels students to apply!

Recruiting college students doesn’t have to be hard. It just takes a consistent, well-planned effort by your recruiting team. Pay for performance tools like WayUp are now making your job as recruiters a lot easier. So check them out and tell ‘em I sent you.

Good timing for a TaxJobs Launch

Niche job boards do it better. They offer employers access to targeted groups of candidates in any niche you can imagine. Today, there are job boards for every niche market and in many cases multiple boards for each vertical market. As someone who keeps close tabs on the job board industry, I would like to introduce you to the newest entrant in the niche job space; TaxJobs.com.

TaxJobs represents the fourth business in an existing Family of Tax Brands all founded by tax recruiting and retention veteran Tony Santiago. TaxSearch was the first company Santiago started in the tax field back in 1987. Beyond TaxSearch that specializes in retained search assignments, there is TaxTalent which serves as a free career and leadership development community for tax professionals and Tax Bridge Staffing which supplies top tax consultants on demand.

The team at TaxJobs knows the market so well that they want to empower their clients to attract the best talent in a scarce market. As talent demand in tax continues to outweigh the supply, Santiago stresses two critical aspects of hiring on your own:

• The candidate experience inside the job posting must be written to entice the passive tax professional.

• The pre-interview process needs to be geared towards the tax professional having easier access to information about open positions.

The TaxJobs model goes above and beyond the standard job board by working directly with the employer to create candidate-driven ads. When ads are posted that are not written effectively, TaxJobs notifies the employer and offers a free guide that lays out a step-by-step process to writing jobs ads that attract more qualified candidates. The guide also provides detailed insight on how to enhance the pre-qualification process where candidates can have their questions answered confidentially about the position before they need to apply.

“We have created a valuable incentive for employers that take our advice on writing more effective job ads and providing a knowledgeable contact for inbound candidate inquiries,” says Santiago. “When employer ads meet our standards, we recognize the ad with a special quality job icon which lets candidates know the ad is more relevant. Additionally, our system takes these quality ads and places them higher in search results,” Santiago explains.   

“TaxJobs is unlike any other medium for capturing more qualified tax professionals,” says Santiago. “We know active tax candidates make up the minority of the tax population so we have developed TaxJobs as the leading DIY solution that attracts and engages both the active and the more highly valued, passive tax audience.”

TaxJobs offers a mix of personal service combined with custom-designed technology specifically geared to help tax professionals find positions that meet their needs and wants. For example, TaxJobs offers a powerful Job Agent tool that alerts candidates when opportunities arise within very specific criteria, from tax specialties and functions to specific companies that have open tax positions. In a high demand, low supply market like tax, the Job Agent is a game-changing tool for the hard-to-reach, passive candidates who do not want to get inundated with irrelevant career opportunities in tax. 

The TaxJobs audience includes the full spectrum of corporate tax professionals from tax interns to senior tax executives. TaxJobs is especially helpful for mid-management to staff level positions, which are currently in the highest demand out of all the tax positions. Unlike many other professions, tax work is difficult to outsource to foreign talent due to the complexity of the U.S. tax code.

There are two things that I find unique about TaxJobs that most job boards don’t typically offer. First, they feature an index of tax jobs that tracks hiring activity on a national, regional or local level. Users can search by zip code among a variety of different tax job titles. Secondly, their Tax Hiring Campaign service offers employers the chance to have their job ad written for them by experts at TaxJobs.

The reason for this, adds Santiago, is that most HR professionals who typically have to promote a corporate tax role, don’t necessarily have the skills to describe it with the candidate in mind. The team at TaxJobs are experts at helping firms attract the right candidate. Furthermore, employers also receive guidance and counseling on aiding their interview process for the candidates.  Part of the Tax Hiring Campaign is leveraging TaxTalent’s proprietary database of over 100,000 qualified tax professionals to make sure that the employer’s job ad is marketed to the precise target audience that they are looking for within subsets of the tax function

The main price point for TaxJobs is a 60 day job posting for $495. That ad comes with a no-risk offer for direct employers.  The team at TaxJobs impressed upon me that they focus on quality applicants not quantity. That’s something every recruiter wants to hear!

Aside from leveraging TaxTalent’s proprietary database, TaxJobs also syndicates their job ads to tax associations, social media and within its own private job agent system. The Job Agent reaches thousands of tax professionals that opt-in for private notifications about open tax opportunities.

TaxJobs is live and open for business at http://www.taxjobs.com/. The site serves both direct employers and third party recruiters as well as job ad agencies that cover the tax market.