Corrections Telecommunication and Technology
F. Warren Benton, Ph.D.
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As more and more schools, homes, libraries, and agencies connect to the
internet, we can expect it to replace paper versions of newspaper classifieds,
newspaper advertisements, and civil service listings. In the future, the
initial source for person-to-person "word of mouth" recruiting may begin with
the internet. While you probably did not find your job on the internet,
traditions change quickly in cyberspace, and your next crop of employees may
make their initial contacts over the internet.
In short, the internet will soon be the primary recruiting tool. If your
agency is not there, some of the best candidates will never find you.
Use Hub/Spoke Design. An effective strategy involves placing
your agency web page at the hub, with the spokes leading out to recruiting
points on the internet where people look for jobs. Potential candidates should
be attracted from the spokes to the hub, and find there a core of additional
advice and contact information. Announcements should therefore always
include links to a recruiting page of your web site.
The Florida and Oregon structures, however, lead the user from the agency web
site to the civil service web site, and then to paper and telephone. The link
from the job description to the web site is not present. The State of Florida
provides, at Florida JobsDirect, a listing of all state job
openings. None of the announcements lead to the department web site. Instead,
applicants are invited to telephone or write the local correctional facility.
While this assures a minimal level of interest and industriousness from the
candidate, it does not provide information that might attract candidates, or
orient candidates to correctional work. The same is true for Oregon's Career
site.
Provide E-Mail Contact and Agency Web Address. If your job announcement
will appear on the internet, be sure that an e-mail contact and an agency web
site is listed. The agency web site listing should include the main page, as
well as the page that focuses on recruiting and job information. When in
doubt, assume that your announcement will find its way to the internet,
because most newspapers and civil service systems have or are developing
internet-based listings that parallel their traditional listings.
Other Recruiting Resources on the Web:
While your state or local civil service agency should have, or soon have, an
internet-based recruiting site, there are other general services
that you should also consider.
A correctional agency can list job openings for free on Corrections
Connection, which includes the American Correctional Association and American
Jail Association web sites. The link is Index to other employment
directories. These
include some huge public and private employment sites such as MonsterBoard and CareerPath.
The federal government provides America's Job Bank. This service is designed to permit several levels of
connection between the employer organization and the job posting, including an
Auto-Posting feature that will eventually permit a direct link from the
employer management information system to the job bank.
Recruiting Correctional Workers on the Internet
by F. Warren Benton, Ph.D.
Copyright Corrections Managers' Report, June/July 1998
Corrections is a "people business." We are responsible for the care and
custody of offenders, and our primary resource to carry out this mission is
our workforce. Finding, developing, and retaining correctional workers is
therefore essential. This article is about how to use the internet for
personnel recruiting.
Fit Recruiting Into a Comprehensive Strategy
Developing and maintaining a competent correctional workforce involves the
entire personnel management process: recruiting, assessment, selection,
orientation, training, compensation, supervision, deployment, motivation,
evaluation, discipline, career development, and labor relations. A shortage of
workers in an organization may present itself as a recruiting problem, but
might be fixed more effectively by attention to other areas of personnel
management--a "retention" strategy rather than an "input" strategy. The goal
should be a balance, so that each component of the personnel process is
effective.
Effective Recruiting Requires a Plan
An effective recruiting plan should begin with a definition of the target
populations to be contacted, such as high school and college graduates,
veterans, law enforcement and security personnel, and potentially
underemployed groups such as women and minorities. Reaching these people, and
interesting them in correctional service, requires some analysis of their
media preferences and values. You may reach them through newspaper classifieds
and through civil service rosters. However, [POSSIBLE PQ]the best candidates
may not think that they are in search of a new job, or may not think of a job
in corrections. Finding these candidates requires recruiting "outside of the
box" through nontraditional advertising[END PQ] and field recruiting at public
events. Nontraditional recruiting should be supported by a public information
program that fosters a positive image of correctional service.
How the Internet Fits In
The entry level correctional worker is not traditionally an internet user; but
where the internet is involved, traditions change quickly. Many high schools
and colleges, and many public libraries, provide free access to the internet
for their students or patrons. Thus, the upcoming classes of high school and
community college graduates will be accustomed to using the internet as a
source of information. Many graduates will have been formally introduced to
the web for job-finding and career development.
Ideas for Designing Your Recruitment Web Site
An effective internet strategy should generate leads from a range of sources,
and then "harvest" these contacts, leading them to a central point of
communication for the position involved. The traditional approach is to
require telephone, paper mail, or personal contact. However, for the internet
user, the option of further contact over the internet should be available. A
link to your agency web site will provide the candidate with additional
information and orientation to the position. Since the internet user is
already online, further contact by e-mail or by an electronic online form
should generate more leads than an announcement that requires paper mail or a
phone call.
Two excellent recruiting sites are Florida JobsDirect and Oregon's Career Site. These agency web sites provide
excellent access from the agency web site to the civil service site. Thus, a
candidate who finds the agency site can reach the job listings effectively.
However, these sites do not work effectively in several other respects.