I saw an interesting online discussion last week regarding a recruiter who was having problems attracting candidates. While the current economic climate sees lots of candidates it's still tricky to recruit for specialist roles with skills shortages common. What interested me was that other recruiters offering advice focused on job ads. 

I'm not knocking job ads. They're an effective way to reach candidates even if they are a little generic. But with a lot of specialist candidates sitting the recession out so there's a chance your job ad isn't reaching your ideal candidate. And they're expensive too. There's a reason why Monster made $1.3bn last year despite the onset of a recession. There are more productive and effective ways to reach candidates.

For example take GamesIndustry.biz. It's the place where games developers, artists and designers head to catch up on industry news. It's dying for a recruiter to write a column once a week on what skills are in demand, what employers are looking for and or answering a question from a reader about finding their ideal job. It's a chance to get in front of passive candidates and make your name stand out. Oh and all the employers head there too. 

Or go find your local geek group. As a recovering IT geek myself I can tell you every city has a group where techies meet to swap ideas and demo latest technologies. Offer to set up an informal career advice desk at one of their events, answering and questions and reviewing CVs. And of course you'll be willing to list any candidates or post any suitable jobs on their mailing list... 

There's a thousand and one ways to reach out to talented candidates who aren't necessarily looking. Promise me you'll try something different next time you're splashing cash on a job ad that starts, "My client, a market leader has a unique opportunity..." 

It's expected that the Government are about to extend the car scrappage scheme or 'cash for clangers' as it was known in the US. It pays £2,000 to car buyers who trade in a car over ten years old when buying a new car. It's helped boost car sales at the same time as removing less efficient vehicles off the road at a time when we need to more environmentally aware.

It's a shame the Government could have been so innovative in other areas. Take for example the VAT cut. It knocked 18p off the price of a CD and a fiver of the cost of your average telly. Yet at a £12.5bn cost to the Government it'll cost your average tax payer over £300.

That's enough money to give business startup grants to over half a million entrepreneurs. A good number of these businesses will fail (there's evidence to show business failures are average during a recession). But many will go on to grow and create new jobs, pay taxes and innovate.

We need to get beyond this big business mentality. Brand names add kudos but the reality is the engine of UK plc is the small business. It's not the businesses who employ thousands. It's not the names in the news and it's not the £bn profit announcements we hear. 

Seth Godin is a marketing guru to some. But he's also turned his hand to recruitment of late lining up hopefuls for his alternative MBA programme even if the recruitment process isn't one we'd recognise.

Godin coined the notion of permission marketing, the idea of engaging with consumers to build a relationship built on permission and trust, the opposite of what he terms 'interruption marketing'. At the start of the year he planned to share his expertise with a handful of keen entrepreneurs so he wrote a job ad. 48,000 looked at the job ad. 340 applied.

After application sifting all the hopefuls were invited to a Facebook group and simply ignored. No-one spoke to them about the programme or their application. Not surprisigly many grew frustrated and angry but of the commotion a few started to organise the group and showed themselves as natual leaders and organisers. 27 were then invited to a face to face interview but both with Mr Godin. Not even with anyone who worked for him. They had an interview with each other.

Each candidate interviewed the other candidates and at the end of it all the nine most popular candidates were invited to participate in the six month programme. 

Definitely not your standard way to recruit. 

I'm a big fan of Hugh McLeod's GapingVoid artwork. He spent ten years as an advertising copywriter before devoting his life to share his ideas in his scribbles. He raises some interesting questions in his art.

Job advertising isn't an art. It's pretty similar everywhere. A quick look on job search Indeed finds ad for:

• 12,548 unique opportunities
• 14,488 market leaders
• 240 once in a lifetime jobs
• 80,498 ads starting, "My client"

As recruiters we're often guilty of shouting about the roles we're recruiting for. We advertise roles like estate agents advertise houses. There are job ads out there which talk lots but say next to nothing. 

I appreciate there are reasons why recruiters are sometimes coy about who their client is or every lasting detail on the job. But surely we can do better than the standard, "My Client, a market leader..."

There's a lot more room to tailor job ads to the person you're looking for. Think about your client. Think about the candidate who would fit best. Are they most concerned in flexible working or making partner? What's it like to work for your client?

One thing I've never seen in a job ad is a testimonial from an employee who's currently there. What would it be like if the person who the employee will sit next to wrote the job ad? 

The Wall Street Journal carried out a test on the top four job sites which match candidates with relevant jobs. The results were less than impressive. Trovix supplied a whole range of jobs to the marketing professional and IT expert who were tasked with looking for jobs but both professionals complained that none of the jobs were relevant.

Back in my uni days I was an IT geek looking at search and matching and it's a brain hurtingly complex area of IT which involves a lot of maths to get right. I'm not surprised that the early versions of these sites are taking a little while to get right.

Check out the full story on Cheezhead 

You think you know your sector inside out right? But do you know it better than an 18 year old? Here's your chance to prove it. We're asking you to do an A Level exam related to your sector. Don't worry, it's not the full thing, just a few easy questions.

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Find out more 

Jessica Howell provides a candidate's view of job hunting in a recession.

Dear Recruiter,
My name is Jessica Howell, and I have applied for the role of[Insert Any Job Title Here] on multiple occasions over the last six months. In fact, I’ve seen this role posted every three weeks since December 2008.

It’s really starting to piss me off, actually. 

There's an interesting debate happening on LinkedIn relating to an application which automatically brings up details from the Facebook profile of a candidate when they email their application. As one recruiter points out, "Alongside the CV you've lovingly crafted and mailed over they could see a side you didn't intend to share. The one of you gurning on a stag weekend…"

Recruiters need to be very careful using such tools. It's pretty much accepted practice that recruiters will seek background checks on candidates. But this foray into personal areas isn't without risk to the recruiter. And it's an area that's highly regulated by law.

The Data Protection Act requires that all information gathered about an individual is relevant to the purpose it's needed for. It'd be difficult for any recruiter to argue that photos of a private family event outside of work hours are relevant to a work application.

Public sector workers have even more protection in the form of the Human Rights Act which protects them from Government intervention into their private and family lives.

I can see the potential for a lot of legal action when candidates find out their Facebook profile was accessed and they were turned down for a role. Imagine a mum to be announcing she's pregnant on Facebook, or photos revealing that a candidate is in a same sex relationship. There's more than enough room for a determined lawyer to sue for discrimination. Is that really what you want to get your client into?

Unless a private life has the ability to impact on a professional life then the two should be left apart, especially in a recruitment process.