Internet Job Search and Employment - Essay Example

Internet Job Search and Employment Andrew Carnegie states "The person who goes farthest is the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from the shore” (Applewhite, Evans & Frothingham, 2003). Job search had for many years been one of the toughest experiences jobs seeker underwent. Both cyclical and frictional unemployment have been high in many economies, thus increasing the rate of unemployment. Individuals have consequently been searching for jobs amid a myriad of challenges such as locations and costs associated with job search (Backhaus, 2004). Thus, this has forced many people to shift their attention to the new technology, that is, the internet job search. Internet provides powerful and fluid information that is of importance to any job seeker. Organisations have integrated web technology in their management, which has restructured the employment structure where employers nowadays use the internet to advertise job vacancies and recruit new employees (Fountain, 2005). People have, therefore, embraced internet as their job search tool to access the available vacancies. This essay discusses how internet job search is improving the employment prospects of today`s workers. The internet job search has enabled many new workers to find new employment opportunities from the convenience of their workplaces at lower costs. According to Stevenson (2008), 73% of households had access to internet by the year 2004 with one in four online adults visiting job websites. The people in the working class with internet access in 2004 were about 28%. Today the number has increased due to developments in many countries. For instance, in 2014, the number of people accessing internet was about 3billion according to the report released by the United Nations (Rodriguez, 2014). On contrary, today almost all employees in organisations have access to internet. This has increased their chances to search jobs with ease. Internet job search has, therefore, been an important factor in solving the frictional unemployment that is frequently occurring in many economies. Workers with aim of shifting from one organisation to another due to job satisfaction have been using internet as their quickest way of getting new jobs (Rodriguez, 2014). Today, internet job search is increasing and improving the employment prospects of workers in the following ways: Internet provides a broad range of information regarding employment opportunities thus increasing worker`s new job expectations (Fountain, 2005). For instance, almost every company has their websites on the internet today where they post their available job vacancies. For example, companies like Apple Inc. And Samsung advertises their job vacancies in their websites where they expect willing applicants to apply. Other platforms have been created that collect job vacancies from various companies and put together in websites for the purpose of advertising. For instance, Volti.com provides job vacancies to people worldwide. These platforms provide information that is not restricted to a certain location but rather give information about any available opportunity in any area (Krueger, 2000). For instance, a job seeker in Brazil can get Apple`s job advert on the internet and apply thus working in the US. Workers, therefore, have high expectations of getting jobs anywhere due to large number of available job opportunities. The prospects of coming to a company with better terms are great since a worker can do thorough research about a company before applying. Internet job search provides information about companies’ reputations on handling workers and their employment terms. This, therefore, provides the worker with many options to choose from. Internet job search has reduced unemployment rate by allowing workers to find new jobs while still in their current jobs (Fountain, 2005). In addition, internet job search leads workers to some websites with unique benefits that they offer to job seekers. Some of the websites such as monster.com (Stevenson, 2008), Kforce.com and HotJobs.com gives job seekers a chance to upload their resumes including all their necessary information about themselves. The employers visit these websites to analyze and evaluate the qualified applicants and later on invite them for interviews. Workers who embrace this idea have high expectations of getting new jobs because they are aware many employers will go through their resumes. Today many workers have managed to get new jobs through these types of websites without taking much of their time doing physical job search. These platforms connect applicants with a variety of employers even those applicants may not be having any idea of their existence. Other websites provide advices to the workers seek new jobs on tactics of how to fair well and pass the interviews. They also advise the workers on the strategies to please the recruiters, how to negotiate for salaries and on the questions to expect in case invited for an interview (Kuhn & Mansour, 2014). All these benefits provided by these websites give workers high prospects for getting new jobs. They add the worker's confidence to face any panel during interviews, thus gaining a competitive advantage. According Stevenson (2008), internet job search rises with the level of education. This means people with high levels of education have high chances of being employed. The internet job search, therefore, embraces the education as the key factor to recruit an employee. This reduces the rate at which other employers hire through favouritism (Hogler, Henle & Bemus, 1998). For instance, a research done by McGinnity et al., (2009) in Ireland, revealed that applicants with Irish were more likely to be invited to an interview in contrast with African, Asian and Germans origin. Internet job search, therefore, acts as an important factor to reduce such cases of favouritism because it matches the available job with the applicant`s education level and skills thus increasing workers prospects of being employed (Hogler, Henle & Bemus, 1998). According to search theory, workers prefer a job that pays high wages, desirable benefits, and safe working conditions. Workers will never be contented with their current working place if the above conditions are not fulfilled. They would continue searching for new jobs with other companies expecting to get better terms. This increases the costs of job searching since the job seeker has to produce copies of their resumes and travel to other firms to seek for a job (Krueger, 2000). Internet job search came in to save, especially the workers who want a job transition but could not get chances to go hunting for one and also who considered the whole process to be expensive. Internet job search is considerable cheap since many workers can access free internet in their offices while others own devices such as phones and tablets that serve the same purpose as computers. This has reduced the costs of searching for new jobs since one can apply a job at the comfort of their working offices as well as increasing the prospects of workers getting new jobs today because they have so many chances due to many jobs on the internet at a very low or no cost (Krueger, 2000). Before internet job search wasn`t embraced, workers could not easily find new jobs while still in their old jobs due to many restrictions on information access, lack of time and costs associated with job search. Internet job search has there played a crucial role especially in reducing frictional unemployment and bridging the gap between old and new job. As the search theory implies, the time taken when search a new job is reduced to internet job search. Internet job search has also improved the workers expectations on quick employment because it can be used in combination with other job search methods (Woodbury & Davidson, 2002). For instance, an advert in the local dairies directs the applicants to the company`s website where they can get more information about the job opportunity. These may include the requirements and the responsibilities that the applicant is expected to be aware of before applying so as to make their decision. Some other adverts contain the email addresses of the companies where the applicants have to post their job applications rather than physical delivery. This shows how today internet job search remains to be the only feasible way that job seekers can get jobs. With all these available options, workers have prospects of getting jobs by using either of the available methods. For instance, workers might send their applications to companies` emails or send them to the companies` websites (Kuhn and & Skuterud, 2002). Internet job search is more relevant compared to other job search methods. Today, internet lets an applicant find websites with jobs of one's specialty and relevant to their skills and experiences (Woodbury & Davidson, 2002). The employers post all the responsibilities and requirements in these websites. An applicant can search jobs relevant to the salaries they want, the location they wish to work in and the tasks they would wish to perform. This means that the internet job such is personalised to the applicant's needs. For instance, an advert in Monster.com contains the following information; the job summary that includes its location, its specialty, job type, the experience and educational level requirements and compensation terms (Backhaus, 2004). This gives an applicant all the relevant information they need to make a decision on whether to apply the job or not. The workers who want transition from their current job to another better job can with ease choose their next preferred jobs and apply. Ultimately, job search has been made very simple by the internet. It was once the most difficult and frustrating task to any individual seeking a job. Internet job search came to play a prominent role in reducing cyclical and frictional unemployment. As per the frictional unemployment, internet job has drastically reduced the time taken, for the worker, to make a transition from the current workplace to the next better workplace. The internet job search provides workers with a lot of information about available job opportunities and thus reduces the time taken in the transition as it enables workers make an application while still in their current job. The internet job search has, therefore, increased the worker's prospects of getting employment highly due to the benefits it offers to any applicant. References Applewhite, A., Evans, T., & Frothingham, A. (2003). And I Quote Revised Edition: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker. Macmillan. Backhaus, K. B. (2004). An exploration of corporate recruitment descriptions on Monster. com. Journal of Business Communication, 41(2), 115-136. Fountain, C. (2005). Finding a job in the internet age. Social Forces, 83(3), 1235-1262. Hogler, R. L., Henle, C., & Bemus, C. (1998). Internet recruiting and employment discrimination: A legal perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 8(2), 149-164. Krueger, A. B. (2000). Economic Scene; The Internet is lowering the cost of advertising and searching for jobs. New York Times, 20. Kuhn, P., & Mansour, H. (2014). Is Internet Job Search Still Ineffective?. The Economic Journal, 124(581), 1213-1233. Kuhn, P., & Skuterud, M. (2000). Job search methods: Internet versus traditional. Monthly Lab. Rev., 123, 3. Kuhn, P., & Skuterud, M. (2002). Internet job search and unemployment durations. McGinnity, F., Nelson, J., Lunn, P., & Quinn, E. (2009). Discrimination in Recruitment. Rodriguez, S. (2014). 60% of world's population still won't have Internet by the end of 2014, p. a single page. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-60-world-population-3-billion-internet-2014-20140507-story.html Stevenson, B. (2008). The Internet and job search (No. w13886). National Bureau of Economic Research. Woodbury, S., & Davidson, C. (2002). Search theory and unemployment. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Read More