The Success of On-line Recruitment in Selecting and Qualifying Candidates for Career Vacancies - Research Paper Example

Swarna1 Word count: 1545 P.Swarnalatha ID # 5448 Order # 192480 d 21st November 2007 The success of on-line recruitment in selecting and qualifying candidates for career vacancies. Introduction Online recruitment, is the use of technology to draw the attention of candidates and help the recruitment process (Borrell Asociates Inc., 2006). This is the most basic form of using technology to recruit in the recent days . Vacancies can be placed on an organisation’s own website or on a commercial job board. Now a days, several countries including UK are following online recruitment due to its major advantages compared to direct recruitment (Rankin, 2005). In the US it has been estimated that 19% of an organisations recruitment advertising budget is spent on online recruitment advertising, but the UK has a long way to go to match this as presently the spend is only 7.5%, but rising. Several studies have been conducted on the success of on-line recruitment in qualifying candidates for career vacancies. Majority of them explain about the advantages of on-line recruitment. Some studies have mentioned that the disadvantges of online recruitment can be reduced so that it becomes more popular in future. Keeping these points in view, a research proposal is being planned with the following objectives. Objectives 1. To identify the main reasons for success of on-line recruitment relative to direct recruitment 2. To analyze the disadvantages of on-line recruitment and to overcome the same for its future prospects. Literature Review There have been several research studies on the on-line recruitment and it advantages and hence they have to be reviewed before formulating the present study. Some studies mentioned that on-line recruitment has become more popular with the advancement of new technology. A CIPD survey in 2005 showed that 77% of organisations used some form of human resources information system and 51% of organisations reported that their use of technology systems were for recruitment and selection purposes (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2005). According to internet consultancy Point Topic there are now 14 million broadband users in the UK (Wray, 2007). Broadband access makes the transmission of live images via the Internet a feasible alternative to a conventional video linking and hence itaids in more online recruitment. Many different organisations use e-recruitment as a cost-effective method of recruiting new staff. It is popular among job-seekers – latest figures from the British Market Research Bureau show that using the Internet is the favoured job-hunting method for one in four UK adults, with the most likely job hunter to be 33 years old with 11 years experience, according to the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS). Some studies confirmed the following adavntages of online recruitment. It fastens up the recruitment cycle and streamline administration It facilitates organisations to make use of IT systems to manage vacancies more effectively and co-ordinate recruitment processes It is much faster than traditional modes of recruitment. It allows the hiring manager to screen out unqualified candidates in an automated way, which saves remarkable percent of the hiring time. One can track the progress that the candidate is making in various stages of the hiring process. It reduces recruitment costs It has the potential to reach a wide pool of applicants One can post a job online in just 20 minutes and receive resumes within minutes of the job going live. It reaches a niche pool of applicants It makes internal vacancies widely known across multiple sites and separate divisions It has the advantage of accessing an online pool of resumes on a 24X7 basis. It provides the image of an up-to-date organisation, reinforcing employer branding and giving an indication of organisation culture It offers access to vacancies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week reaching a global audience It is certainly a cost effective way to build a talent bank for future vacancies It handles high volume job applications in a consistent way It provides more tailored information to the post and organisation eg case histories of the ‘day in the life’ or self-assessment questionnaire or quiz to assess fit with role It is spontaneous for candidates as ease of use means there is the ability for applications to be instataneous.  The advantages that online recruitment offers are also highly relevant for HR departments during an economic downturn (Enhance Media, 2001). Some organizations may choose to freeze headcount during a downturn and not engage in any recruitment activity. However, those that are still recruiting will need to do so as cheaply and quickly as possible. It is here that the fundamental advantages of online recruitment become apparent. However, some researchers discussed about the disadvantages of online recruitment which have to be addressed so that the access of this system will be made to more number of peple in future. It limits the applicant audience as the Internet is not the first choice for all job seekers It results in applications overloading or inappropriate applications if care isn’t taken drafting the job profile/specification It excludes those who do not want to search for a new job online It also limits the attraction of those unable to fully utilise technology eg certain disabled groups It gives rise to allegations of discrimination, in particular the use of limited keywords in CV search tools It makes the process impersonal, which may be off-putting for some candidates It has strong impact on the ‘cultural fit’ dimension of recruitment It results in turn-off candidates, particularly if the website is badly designed or technical difficulties are encountered It may result in lose out of candidates, especially if your own website is below the search engine ranking of your competitors A rise in the number of employers using the web to gain information on prospective employees has highlighted a number of challenges that need to be considered. For example, there are employment law risks associated with using social networking sites to vet job candidates (Cronley Dillon, 2007). E-recruitment is becoming a more powerful and important tool in the current ‘war for talent’ environment. Some studies suggest the following measures by looking at the trends that will shape the recruitment industry for years to come (Doke, 2007). companies should align human resources, public relations and marketing, and be clear on core organisational values. companies should find ways to connect with the passive job seeker and make use of peer-to-peer relationships. Research Design and methodology Based on the review of the literature, the factors responsible for the success of on-line recruitment are to be identified and prioritized. Similarly, there should be a primary survey with some job seekers and job recruiters for assessing the advantage and disadvantages of online recruitment over direct recruitment. Meta analysis of the collected literature would be of immense help in this regard. At the same time, the interview schedule has to be statistically analyzed for validating the prioritized factors. Ranking has to be given for all the factors and the advantages with top rank will be encouraged for more success of on-line recruitment in future. Similarly, the disadvantages of online recruitment also would be ranked and the top ranked factors would be addressed to be managed for further success of online recruitment. The job seekers would be first supplied with the interview sheets, which contain the questionnaire related to factors of on-line recruitment. They would be given ample time for answering and their signatures would be recorded. The scores for each factor would be collected from them and the factors would be ranked based on the score. Statistical design like MSTAT-C package or NPRCSTAT package or any other popular package would be used for analysis of results. Finally conclusions would be drawn and future recommendations for successful recruitment of candidates through online system would be made. Conclusion Though there were several research studies conducted earlier on the factors affecting the success of online recruitment system, there is a necessity to analyze the advantages of the system and prioritize the same for increasing the efficiency of this system. Hence any useful recommendations made by investigators have to be followed for which extensive literature review is needed. At the same time, the disadvantages of existing system have to be identified and strategies have to be formulated to reduce their effect so that the success of online recruitment system would be further enhanced. Hence the present research design would be of immense help in this direction. References 1. Borrell Associates Inc. 2006. 2006 Outlook : Online recruitment advertising (Digital). P:29. 2. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2005) People management and technology: progress and potential. London: CIPD. Available at http://www.cipd.co.uk/surveys 3. Cronly-dillon, M. (2007) Face up to rules on researching recruits online. People Management. Vol 13, No 21, 18 October. p20. 4. Doke, D. (2007) Opening uo the future. Recruiter. 2 May. pp14-16. 5. Enhance media. 2001. The advantages of online recruitment during an economic downturn. October news letter.http://www.enhancemedia.co.uk/newsletter/newsletters_2001_oct.html. 6. RANKIN, N. (2005) Online recruitment in the UK: 10 years older and wiser. IRS Employment Review. No 822, 29 April. pp42-48. 7. WRAY, R. (2007) Broadband spreads across globe [online]. Guardian Unlimited. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/13/ newmedia.media. Read More