Advantages of Online Recruitment - Essay Example

Advantages of Online Recruitment 1.1. Introduction E-recruitment has been a constantly discussed issue over the last decade or so. With the advent of information technology, companies have increasingly resorted to the use of IT enabled tool designed to facilitate recruitment and selection process. The term e-recruitment or online recruitment implies the formal sourcing of job information over the internet. The first idea about online recruitment was stated in articles that were published during the mid 80s. Online recruitment can be done in two ways. One is through the use of company web sites where HR can post job advertisements in the career section and the second way is through online job portals such as monster.com. In using these modern technology rather than the more conventional recruitment channels, companies as well as applicants have experienced several advantages (Frandsen and Ferguson, 2014). The researcher endeavours to explain some of the major advantages of online recruitment process for organizations. 1.2. Technical terms 1.2.1. Recruitment Recruitment can be defined as the process of searching and attracting competent applicants for the purpose of employment. This process establishes a link between potential employees to their job seekers. A head hunter goes over the recruitment process in order to stimulate talented individuals to apply for jobs in their organization. The processes usually commences when potential candidates are sought and concludes when they submit their applications. 1.2.2. Online recruitment Online recruitment, also sometimes referred to as e-recruitment is one of the most cost effective and powerful way of recruiting employees for an organization. This mechanism offers companies with the flexibility to search for candidates in the required field and assess their capability on the basis of the company’s requirements. The online recruitment system is designed over a platform that is powered by information technology. The components of an online recruitment system are administrator, job seeker and the company. Figure 1: Online recruitment mechanism (Source: Kapse, V. Patil and N. Patil, 2012) 1.3. Advantages of online recruitment One of the major advantages of online recruitment is that it offers organizations with a wider access and geographical spread thereby enabling HR managers to find talent not only from the domestic circuit but from the international arena as well. This enables managers to achieve two fold objectives. First of all HR managers are able to diversify their pool of workforce by recruiting people from different cultural backgrounds. Besides that, it also allows companies to reduce their cost of hiring an employee who belongs from a country with a weaker value of currency with the respect of the currency value of the country in which the company operates (Cao, Zhang and Zhou, 2012). Alongside that online recruitment processes provides organizations with the flexibility of conducting customized searches with greater effectiveness. HR managers are able to search candidates on the basis of eligibility criteria such as educational qualification, field of study and so and so forth. This increases the company’s chances of hiring the appropriate candidate for the right job type. The process of online recruitment is highly efficient and it proves to be immensely beneficial when it comes to bulk recruitment (Rafter and Smyth, 2001). Online recruitment can be conducted 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The advertisements are published over job portals as well as company websites the same remains active every hour of a week. This offers HR managers as well as job seekers to navigate through the potential candidates and job offerings respectively at any time during a day. Therefore, this process is not affected by time dependency which in turn makes the recruitment process even faster. The process of online recruitment facilitates a free flow of information, whereby, documents can be easily exchanged between companies and a potential candidate. This in turn speeds up the verification process for the company and the recruitment process can be wrapped fairly quickly (Smyth, Bradley and Rafter, 2002). The process of online recruitment saves a lot of cost on part of the company. Given the fact that companies do not have to travel in order to search for potential candidates, this process of online recruitment saves the travelling cost. The only cost that a company has to incur is for buying access to candidate CV databases hosted in online job portals or uploading advertisements in news papers, the cost of which is considerably low. On the other hand, if a company recruits employees through job advertisements uploaded in the company websites, then the process of online recruitment becomes even more efficient in terms of cost (Liljander, Van Riel and Pura, 2002). The recruitment process becomes fairly easy via online recruitment facilities. A number of programs have been introduced in the field of information technology which have been subsequently implemented in the domain of online recruitment. These programs have the capability to screen CVs on the basis of the satisfaction criteria or benchmark set within them. This in turn, reduces the workload of HR managers as they do not have to go through bundle of CVs in order to screen them. Programs such as Resumix.com conduct an effective screening process which in turn reduces the number of candidates to a manageable level (Parry and Tyson, 2008). The life of recruitment advertisements posted online is longer than advertisements posted in any other sources. In that way organizations can reduce the cost of posting job advertisements repeatedly. Moreover, online recruitment process also provides companies with the option of editing their advertisements as and when appropriate. Managers can update information such as eligibility criteria, interview dates, interview location, salary scale, job location and so on and so forth. Moreover, companies can also post answers in the frequently asked question (FAQ) link outlined in the advertisement page. This allows candidates to address any issues that they may have regarding the recruitment process (Greiner, 2004). Online recruitment process enables HR managers to inform about job offerings in a more creative and detailed manner. This allows them to attract job applicants in an effective manner. Online recruitment allows managers to share information regarding the company’s ethical principles which in turn encourages the applicant’s to follow the ethical codes properly while going through the recruitment process. Companies also have the flexibility to provide details regarding the process in which the recruitment will be done. This information enables applicant’s to know more about the organization and prepare themselves accordingly (Kapse, V. Patil and N. Patil, 2012). Online recruitment process provides branding opportunity for companies. Companies can use their job advertisements in order to depict a consistent brand as well as company image or values to approaching job seekers. With the highly intense competition going on between companies for the hunt of top talents all over the world, job seekers can be very selective about the company that they want to work for. Therefore, having a higher company image can prove to be beneficial for the companies as this image might attract top talents from any part of the world. Online recruitments system also proves to be highly efficient when it comes to maintain confidentiality. Both the company as well as job applicants can choose to maintain their confidentiality. As far as accessing job portals are concerned, companies have the option of searching the database independently without posting any form of job information in case if the vacancy offering is sensitive in nature. In addition, companies can also post the vacancy or the job description by keeping the company name confidential. In a similar manner, candidates have the flexibility to post their résumés and CVs over the internet by keeping their names or information about their current employer confidential (Rafter and Smyth, 2001). 1.4. Conclusion The process of online recruitment is perhaps one of the most salient features of this information age. Organizations have increasingly resorted to this process that is powered by information technology and by far have accrued considerable benefits in terms of enhanced operational efficiency, cost as well as time efficiency. Hiring employees have become easier now more than it was ever before. This process of recruitment over the internet has also provided organizations with an effective as well as efficient means of advertising themselves all over the world. Moreover, organizations have also been able to enhance their corporate image which in turn can enhance the level of employee turnover for the company. This is particularly because a company’s corporate image matters a lot to a potential job seeker and this factor is one of the primary determinants of the individual’s favourability towards the company. Online recruitment has provided companies with the option of conveying critical information regarding themselves to the potential job seekers which in turn helps the later to make an informed decision. Therefore, it can be said that online recruitment process powered by information technology has formed a robust and inexpensive foundation for companies to recruit employees in bulk and at the same time enhance the degree of talent within their workforce by means of strict screening process provided by the recruitment mechanism itself. 1.5. Signpost This question addresses the key advantages of online recruitment. In order to have a holistic view of the same, the researcher has conducted an extensive review of empirical literatures. Given the fact that a detailed research had to be carried out, the explanations have been categorized appropriately under sub headlines in order for the readers to have a comprehensive idea about online recruitment. The discussion that has been done in this section has enabled the researcher to learn some interesting facts about online recruitment. The researcher was able to learn that online recruitment processes are being increasingly practiced by organizations all over the world. There are mainly two methods of conducting this process. One is by uploading job offerings at the company websites and the other one is by uploading job advertisements in various online job portals which serve as an intermediary between potential job seekers and companies. Online recruitment is a convenient process of hiring employees. Companies can easily access resumes of applicants and screen them using screening software according to their job eligibility criteria and then conduct interview with the shortlisted candidates. This saves a lot of time, cost and effort which in turn increases the operational efficiency of the organizations. The process gives mobility to the organization as well as the job applicant’s as both parties can navigate through their options from remote locations. The process has not only provided organization with an inexpensive means of hiring talented employees but has also provided them with opportunity to enhance their corporate image. By conducting this study, the researcher was able to have an in-depth knowledge regarding the ways in which online recruitment processes can be carried and how this process proves to be beneficial for both companies and job applicants. 2. Part two: Downsizing at Royal Bank of Scotland 1. Downsizing, redundancy programmes and re-staffing has become a central plank in every organization’s survival strategies (Leydesdorff, 2010). Layoffs were the strategy for a majority of the managerial population who remained largely unaffected by job loss. This implied that the jolt of redundancy and frequently recurring episodes of redundancy became a practicability for many (Mariotti and Delbridge, 2012). Redundancy programmes that take place in organizations as a means adopted by managers to cut costs have aggravated a poignant rollercoaster of disbelief, shock, resentment and anger among officials who anticipated having an incessantly ascending career trajectory (Gulati, Puranam and Tushman, 2012). Royal Bank of Scotland has been facing a similar situation after its deteriorating performance. The managerial board decided to cut down on the number of employees in order to reduce the cost and avoid a probable insolvency. As a result of the organizational restructuring process that the bank was going through, it led to an evident corrosion of the very foundation of the customary employment relationship that the manager share with his/her employees. With its decision to reduce staffing levels to nearly 25,000 the organization was no longer being able to offer job security in return for the loyalty and commitment shown by the employees. That is why even the key people who were supposed to keep their jobs were also feeling insecure about their jobs and henceforth decided to seek employment in other companies. In such a situation, the best HRM principle is to balance the need of the organization change as well as the personal transition requirements of employees. HR managers need to consider two faces of the same coin. The managers need to make a proper intervention in terms of combining programmes that help them to manage the modifications that should be brought up at the organizational level as well as ensure a smooth transition at the individual level. This will enable the bank to help those who have been made redundant to prepare themselves to re-engage with work in another context as well as to provide assistance to the survivors in acquiring skills and self-dependence to adapt to the changing environment. In order to bring about such developments individuals need dissimilar but integrated approaches that are compatible with the changing environment of the bank. However, it is up to the bank to make sure that they provide a robust foundation that will help employees to attain such developments. They have to ensure that employees are able to institute themselves to the structural, cultural and process oriented changes made within the bank’s internal environment. In order to be able to do so, the organizational managers have to establish a robust line of communication between themselves and the employees in order to ensure that there is a smooth flow of information. This will enable the managers to define the objectives with clarity and outline the proper direction towards achieving the organization goals. The same communication channel can also be used by the employees in order to convey any issues that they may have while adapting to the changes within the organization. Given the fact that Royal Bank of Scotland emphasizes a lot on its corporate image, therefore the company should have additional facilities in place that will help the employees, who are being laid off, to have a smooth transition. Having a career transition program at place will allow Royal Bank of Scotland to assist its employees to move on to a next job quickly and secure their employment. In that way, Royal Bank of Scotland will be able to uphold its integrity and its corporate image as a company that thinks both about the employee’s welfare as well as the productivity. In addition to that, the bank can also decide to provide a satisfactory compensation package for the employees who are being laid off. One of the primary requirements for a company, that is conducting a redundancy program, is to ensure realignment in the relationship between managers and the employees. In order to do that, the HR managers need to clearly inform the survivors regarding the new future and vision of the organization. In addition to that, information regarding the new rules of employee manager relationship and how the new rules fit into the changing scenario of the organization needs to be clarified. Appropriate counselling needs to be provided to the retained employees in order to help them participate in the organization change management processes as well as to help them communicate properly. Counselling is also required in order to instil the new culture and vision of the organization into the employees as well as to enhance the level of commitment, trust and motivation. 2. Downsizing Downsizing often increases the level of stress for not only the employees who were laid off but also the officials who were not let go (Datta, et al., 2010). It has often been noticed that employees are rather not happy because of the fact that they survived the strenuous period. Their thought process in favour of the company tends to change. They feel that working environment within the company has become even more cut-throat where each and every individual is fighting hard to survive. This results in the reduced level of employee motivation which in turn has negative impacts on various factors such as employee productivity and work engagement (Cummings and Worley, 2014). They tend to be focused or distracted on issues that escalated because of the downsizing programs which in turn affects their level of efficiency. Employees also tend to feel insecure by wondering if a downsizing were to occur again (Demps II and Baker, 2011). This has a huge impact on the though process of the employees which in turn may compel them to leave the organization. This may increase the attrition rate of the organization by a significant margin (Klehe, et al., 2011). Therefore, it becomes imperative for HR managers to boost the morale of the retained employees. HR managers need to communicate effectively with the employees and give optimum effort to make them understand the reasons for downsizing. They need to arrange a meeting so as to discuss the nature of downsizing as well as to convey what the future holds for them within the organization. HR managers also need to discuss regarding the security of jobs offered to the retained employees in order to restore their confidence and faith on the organization. The managers also need to give sufficient time in order to address any and every issues or questions that the employees may have. Proper counselling can also be offered to those employees who are having a tough time to get acquainted with the organization changes. HR managers are also primarily responsible for addressing the new policies and the structural changes that are being brought about within the organization. In case if the organization undergoes a large proportion of restructuring then HR managers have to devote a considerable amount of time in order to enable employees to build work relationship through social time and workshops. This will help employees to get acquainted with the newly formed working environment. Off shoring As far as off shoring is concerned, it poses a number of problems for HR managers. Given the fact that off shoring is done in order to reduce costs for organization, it is associated with reduced salaries for people who are allotted for offshore services (Pedersen, et al., 2013). In such cases, the work engagement level of employees tends to get reduced which in turn also affects their efficiency. Offshore centres of many companies have found it relatively difficult to achieve their objectives in terms of scale (Ravishankar, Pan and Myers, 2013). Company offshore employees also convey the difficulties that they face due to cultural disparities which in turn also have a negative impact on their efficiency. Keeping an alignment between the organization policies, timing and the operational process followed in the headquarters and in the offshore centres becomes difficult for the HR managers (Manning, 2013). In order to make sure that employee have a swift transition at the company offshore centres, HR managers can have proper training programs in place in order to bridge cultural divide and skills gaps. One of the fundamental responsibilities of HR managers is to manage skill sets of the employees and allocate workforce in such a manner that offshore processes can be handled effectively and efficiently. Managers can also arrange for transportation of their employees who work during odd hours in order to match their time zone with the time followed in the parent company. It is imperative for HR managers to manage conflict effectively if discrete policies or processes are required to be maintained due to the terms and laws stipulated in the country where the offshore centre is based. Effective team integrators have to be appointed in order to establish coordination and cooperation among the workforce. HR managers have to arrange frequent meetings with offshore workforce so as to nurture a spirit of inter dependence and mutual trust. 3. The key career issue that has been identified in case of Royal Bank of Scotland is the organization’s failure in guarantying job security to its employees. This failure can be largely attributed to the inappropriate strategies adopted by bank which pushed it towards a brink of non-existence. Such a level of failure struck a panic within the entire organization which in turn compelled to the board to reduce the level of staff by a significant margin. The redundancy programme within the bank instilled a fear even among the employees who have been retained that left them wondering whether another downsizing is waiting in the corridors and whether it’s their turn next. This fear has induced an unhealthy competition among employees which in turn is having a negative impact on the career development of the retained employees. Moreover, given the fact that the downsizing came as a jolt to the employees, it has become relatively difficult for the managers to establish a relationship based on trust and commitment. This in turn is hampering the efficiency levels of employees by a drastic margin. In addition to that, a relatively distorted working environment has made it difficult for the managers to establish a robust line of communication within the organization. Information is not flowing in an appropriate manner which is why the managers are not being able to convey their vision to the employees. The objectives of the restructured organization are not clear to the employees. This factor in particular is restricting the employees from aligning their personal objectives with that of the organization. The employees have completely lost their expectation of any kind of development and that is why the attrition rate for the bank has increased considerably following the redundancy program. In order to ameliorate the employee concerns, the managers need to arrange for appropriate counselling programs. The programs will be designed in such a manner that it will help the employees to regain their confidence in favour of the organization. Moreover, the counselling program will also allow the employees to believe in the goals of the newly structured organization and will also assist the employees to get them acquainted with the new culture, rules and organizational policies. Managers need to arrange frequent meetings with the employees in order to gather valuable feedbacks regarding improving the working environment. The standpoints provided by the employees should be strictly in any decision making process. This will enable the managers to convey their concern towards the welfare of the employees which in turn will establish a manager employee relationship based on trust and respect. Appropriate training programs should also be designed in order to help employees learn about the newly formed operational processes within the organization. In that way, employees will get adequate time to familiarize themselves with the new organization framework. This is arguably the most important step as getting more familiar with the work process will enable the employees to be relieved of the feeling of job insecurity. Reference List Cao, H. J., Zhang, P. and Zhou, Z. Q. 2012. Design and Implementation of Recruitment Information Retrieval System Based on Low-Carbon Online Recruitment. Advanced Materials Research, 403, pp. 1883-1887. Cummings, T. and Worley, C., 2014. Organization development and change. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Datta, D. K., Guthrie, J. P., Basuil, D. and Pandey, A., 2010. Causes and effects of employee downsizing: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 36(1), pp. 281-348. Demps II, J. and Baker, E., 2011. 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