Buying paid ads to find employees is expensive, particularly if you advertise regularly in the "Help Wanted" sections of daily newspapers and trade publications.

A story about the merits of working at your company, written by a reporter at a reputable publication, is more credible than the checklist of great reasons that you usually include in your classified ads. Besides, after awhile, those checklists all sound alike. In today's tight labor market, "pleasant working conditions" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Many graduating college seniors looking for jobs regularly read trade publications for leads on places to work. Pitch a story idea that puts you in a great light in one of the trades.

Publicity is contagious. Once someone writes a story about you, it's amazing how many other media pick up on it. That's because the media monitor each other's stories. A trade publication that comes across a story written about you in a metropolitan newspaper might be tempted to do its own story. Likewise, a local TV reporter who reads about you in a local business magazine might want to call you for an interview. Once your publicity campaign starts rolling, it builds and builds, sort of like a snowball rolling downhill.

It makes you look good to current employees who may be more likely to stay. It's one thing to tell the troops about why you're such a great employer. It's another thing for them to read about it the local newspaper or their trade magazines.

For more information on how to get free publicity and make it contagious see Special Report #3 "How to Use Free Publicity to Attract and Keep Valuable Employees"