HIRING great employees is not just important but essential for any business to succeed, whether local or multinational.

With only 20 per cent of the working population actively seeking a new job, finding these great candidates locally can be challenging.

So how does a business let more people know that a job with better hours and a shorter commute, maybe just around the corner?

Newsquest Media Group, the parent group of your County Gazette, Bridgwater Mercury, Chard and Ilminster News and Burnham and Highbridge Weekly news, believes it has an answer.

By combining their network of more than 200 local newspapers and 150 local websites with 11 newly-launched region-specific jobs boards, they believe they can target both the active and harder to reach passive job seeker.

This would allow local businesses to reach not only the two-out-of-10 actively looking but the 80 per cent of the working population that would be open to a new job offer, making the odds of finding that great candidate much better.

Multimedia publishing giant Newsquest will be replicating the success of its top-ranked Scottish jobsite, www.s1jobs.com, the number one job board in Scotland, with the roll-out of a network of sites with a total reach of 34 million potential candidates.

These dedicated regional job boards will make it easy for job seekers to search and be alerted about local jobs quickly and easily.

The responsively-designed sites are optimised to work on mobiles and tablets as smoothly as on desktop computers, allowing local people to search and apply on the go or in the comfort of their own home.

Sw1jobs.com focused on the south west, will allow users to search locally relevant jobs without having to trawl through UK-wide listings.

Recruiters will have job listings carried on the series of regional job boards, in digital display adverts on Newsquest’s regional websites and in local news print titles ensuring maximum coverage for minimum effort. Job opportunities will appear on the targeted regional board, but can also be served in search results nationwide allowing local recruiter’s access to both local and national audiences.

The launch of sw1jobs.com will be accompanied by a multi-platform advertising campaign across social media, digital and print titles with a “Don’t quit your daydream” theme, encouraging potential applicants to pursue their dreams.

With a strong interest from local and national recruiters alike, Bridgwater Mercury publisher, Liz Bond, said: "We advertise lots of great local jobs from local firms that are well worth getting out of bed for. By leveraging market leading recruitment technology, we have been able to create a highly responsive jobs site for the south west.

"Our unbeatable local presence means recruiters can focus on attracting the best talent in their area, while simultaneously casting their net nationwide."

For more information, log on to www.sw1jobs.com.