Newspaper still on top

The number of medical staff applying for jobs in Waikato via Facebook and Twitter is on the increase but the good old community newspaper is still proving its worth.

While an average of 100 referrals a month are now coming from Facebook, an advertisement for one attendant job in the South Waikato News drew 74 applications.

‘‘It was a nice generic job – not a health practitioner’s job – so it lends itself to more people,’’ Fiona McCarthy, Waikato District Health Board general manager of Human Resources said.

But Mrs McCarthy expected Facebook and Twitter would move to their top spots for recruitment in the next 18 months.

Every new position was now posted on the board’s Facebook and Twitter account, which was allowing the board to see straight away whether it was being shared or re-tweeted.

However, their most successful recruitment tool at the moment remained the Waikato board website, which in February attracted 1115 applications. That was followed by Seek ( 437), Trade Me Jobs (209) and Kiwi Health Jobs (91).

The website was now receiving 24,000 page views a month.

Most interest came from within New Zealand, followed closely by Australia and the United Kingdom. There was growing interest from the United States, while the South African market had dropped away in recent times. Last month South Waikato District libraries issued 12,910 books compared to 13,509 this time last year. There were 10,440 visits compared with 12,045 last year. First Security attended to 110 calls during January and February, while Environmental Health officers attended 12 noise complaints in January and 11 last month. The annual Tokoroa High School Twilight Gala will be held on Friday from 3.30pm to 7.30pm.