Online Recruitment in Selecting and Qualifying Candidates for Career Vacancies - Research Paper Example

Swarna1 Word count: 3142 (excluding appendices) ID # 5448 Order # 204099 d 11th February 2008 The analysis of the success of online recruitment in selecting and qualifying candidates for career vacancies. Introduction The terms online recruitment or e-recruiting, or Internet recruiting are synonymous and they imply the formal sourcing of job information online (Galanaki, 2002). It is also defined as the use of technology to draw the attention of candidates and help the recruitment process (Borrell Associates Inc.,2006). The first online recruitment sites were introduced in the UK around a decade ago. The industry now boasts hundreds of business-related job boards and around 13 million job seekers in 2007. This is the most basic form of using technology to recruit in the recent days. Vacancies can be placed on an organisation’s website. Nowadays, several countries including UK are following online recruitment due to its major advantages compared to direct recruitment (Rankin, 2005). According to the CIPD, in the US, it has been estimated that 19% of an organisations recruitment advertising budget is spent on online recruitment advertising, the UK only spends 7.5%, but it is steadily rising. The main aim is to analyse the success of online recruitment in selecting and qualifying candidates for career vacancies. The reason behind this study is because the researcher is interested in online recruitment in general. Furthermore, he is going through online applications when applying for new jobs. Several studies have been conducted on the success of online recruitment in qualifying candidates for career vacancies. The majority of them explain about the advantages of online recruitment. Other studies have mentioned that the disadvantages of online recruitment can be reduced so that it becomes more popular in future. The investigator has identified 3 different groups in which he believes the survey can be appropriate. It includes the applicants, the recruiters and outsourcing companies (recruitment agencies). This study is considered as very important as it will demonstrate and give new recommendations for successful recruitment. Keeping these points in view, a research proposal is being planned with the following objectives: 1. To identify the main reasons for success of online recruitment relative to direct recruitment. 2. To analyse the disadvantages of online recruitment and to suggest how these could be dealt with for its future prospects. 3. An analysis of some case studies, demonstrating best practice in e-recruitment. Research Design and methodology Based on the review of the literature, the analysis of the factors responsible for the success of online recruitment are to be identified and prioritised. Similarly, there should be a primary survey conducted by the use of face to face questionnaires (Appendix-I), with some job seekers such as final year students and job recruiters for assessing the advantage and disadvantages of online recruitment over direct recruitment. According to McAuley L, Moher D, Tugwell P, Meta analysis of the collected literature would be of immense help in this regard because it is becoming increasingly a prevalent method of assessing the effectiveness of technology. The questionnaires are short, easy to answer and distributed to the relevant parties in order to diminish the limitations of the questionnaires such as non-response bias. At the same time, the interview schedule was statistically analysed for validating the prioritised factors. Ranking was given for all the factors and the advantages with top rank will be encouraged for more success of online recruitment in future. Similarly, the disadvantages of online recruitment were also be ranked and the top ranked factors would be addressed to be managed for further success of online recruitment. The job seekers were first supplied with the interview sheets, which contain the questionnaire related to factors of online recruitment. They were given ample time for answering and their signatures would be recorded. The scores for each factor were collected from them and the factors would be ranked based on the score. Statistical design called MSTAT-C package was used for analysis of results. Finally, conclusions were drawn and future recommendations for successful recruitment of candidates through online system were made. Literature Review There have been several research studies on the online recruitment and it advantages and hence they have to be reviewed before formulating the present study. Some studies mentioned that online recruitment has become more popular with the advancement of new technology. A CIPD survey in 2005 showed that, 77% of businesses used some form of human resources information system and 51% of companies reported that their use of technology systems were for recruitment and selection purposes. According to an internet consultancy Point Topic, there are now 14 million broadband users in the UK, up 6.4% in March 2006-07 (Wray, 2007). Broadband access makes the transmission of live images via the Internet a feasible alternative to a conventional video linking and hence it aids in more online recruitment. Many different organisations use e-recruitment as a cost-effective method of recruiting new staff, such as JPMorgan, E-on and Asda. It is popular among job-seekers such as graduates, from the CIPD, 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). The effectiveness of online recruitment depends upon following factors: The detailed job description should be given while posting jobs to attract candidates with the right skill sets (Express Computer, 2005). Precise and unambiguous questionnaire is required to reduce time in searching for a suitable candidate. All the approaches related to recruitment are to be linked to and centred on company’s recruitment site. Integration of e-recruitment into company’s overall recruitment strategy is very much required. Applicant tracking system should be of a high quality and should be integrated with the back-office. A comprehensive website to receive and process job applications is required. Large and small companies have extensively used the Internet in recruitment and hiring which streamlined their em­­ployment process (Washington Business Journal, 2004). Even those companies which follow paper applications are increasingly using the Internet for significant components of the hiring process. A report by Forrester Research states that the average cost to hire an employee via the Internet is nearly ten times less than through newspaper and magazine advertisements (Onrec.com, 2001). At the same time, it was concluded that online recruitment substantially reduces recruitment cycle time, on average from 90 to 30 days. Its advantage was also highly witnessed during economic slumps. Some studies confirmed the following advantages of online recruitment: It fastens up the recruitment cycle and streamlines administration, which is generally calculated to free 25 to 30 per cent of HR time for strategic issues, (Workforce, 2000a). 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, (Williams and Klau, 1997 and Workforce, 2000a) 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 24/7 basis. It provides the image of an up-to-date organisation, reinforcing employer branding, flexibility and giving an indication of organisation culture, (Fister, 1999). 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 such as 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 instantaneous.  It allows the recruiting companies to exactly assess the number of people that view and apply for jobs online (Recruiter, 2006). It provides global coverage at a constant basis (Baillie, 1996). The advantages that online recruitment offers are also highly relevant for HR departments during an economic downturn (Enhance Media, 2001). Some organisations 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 people in future. It limits the applicant audience as the internet is not the first choice for all job hunters. It results in applications overloading or inappropriate applications if care isn’t taken designing the job profile/specification, (Hays, 1999). 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 such as certain disabled groups. It is largely perceived as apposite for IT jobs and for young graduates, there is an hypothesis that e-recruitment works best for initial assessment at junior levels, where little expertise is needed in changing candidates and more than a quarter of the company that have a recruitment webpage focus solely on their graduate intake (Lamb, 2000a). 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. Primary survey: The results of the primary survey revealed that the main reason for the success of the online recruitment system was identified as fastening of recruitment cycle compared to that of traditional system of recruitment (table 1). It was ranked as number one factor among eight factors as respondents gave a score of 74 % which is significantly superior to that of other factors like cost reduction (65 %)and wide reachability (61 %). This is because the difference between the two factors is higher than the critical difference at 5 % level of significance. However there is no statistical significance between the cost reduction and wide reachability as the critical difference value is higher than the difference between the two factors. The higher flexibility of online recruitment system was recorded as the lowest ranked factor for success of online recruitment system (14 %). Similarly, the results of the primary survey also indicated that the biggest disadvantage of the online recruitment was in the form of elimination of effective candidates (table 2) who don’t have online access (81 %) followed by overloading of applications (72 %). There is a statistical significance between the two factors as the critical difference (0.05) is lower than that of the difference between the treatment means. However, the employment risks associated with the website information were considered as the lowest ranked disadvantages of the online recruitment system (9 %). One should emphasise on reducing the disadvantages which were given higher ranking by the respondents for increasing the success of online recruitment in the future. Case study: Name of the company : The Container Store. This company initially accepted only paper applications, but later it started accepting both the paper and online applications (Washington Business Journal, 2004). It has witnessed the significant impact of online recruitment process. In 2003, the company got 27,000 job applications, and 24,000 of them were applied through Internet reflecting the huge positive impact created. In this process, the company could get exact requirement of human resources. It could find matches for the companys culture and business rather than to fill a specific position through online recruitment process. Table 1 : Prioritization of advantages of online recruitment system Advantages of online recruitment Score Rank Statistical parameters Fastening of recruitment cycle 74 % I General Mean : 50.5 Coefficient of variation : 6.4 % Standard Error of Mean : 1.87 Critical Difference (0.05) : 5.69 Cost reduction 65 % II Wide reachability 61 % III Handling of high volume of job applications at a time 57 % IV The hour access to job information 52 % V More tailored information about job and organization 45 % VI Highly suitable during economic crisis 33 % VII Higher flexibility 14 % VIII Table 2 : Prioritization of disadvantages of online recruitment system Disadvantages of online recruitment Score Rank Statistical parameters Elimination of effective candidates who don’t have online access 81 % I General Mean : 44.8 Coefficient of variation : 5.9 % Standard Error of Mean : 1.53 Critical Difference (0.05) : 4.72 Overloadng of applications 72 % II Lose out of candidates, if website is below the search engine ranking 54 % III It results in turn-off candidates, if the website is badly esigned 45 % IV Strong impact on the ‘cultural fit’ dimension of recruitment 37 % V Scope for manipulation in bio-data 16 % VI Employment risks assoiated with website information 9 % VII Conclusion Though there were several research studies conducted earlier on the factors affecting the success of online recruitment system, there is a necessity to analyse the advantages of the system and prioritise the same for increasing its efficiency. The literature review and primary survey revealed that reduction in time and cost of recruitment and wide reach of the applicants are the major advantages of online recruitment system. 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. The present study also revealed that the elimination of effective candidates who have no access to online system and overloading of applications are the major disadvantages and all efforts must be made to minimize the same. Besides, these recommendations could be introduced by businesses in order to be proficient in that area. Thus, the present research design would be of immense help in this direction. The research proposal is ongoing process so therefore it will be reviewed and amended as appropriate. Consequently, a comprehensive research will be finalised when the study is completed. The researcher would like to thank his supervisor Mr. Trefor McElroy and his unit leader Dr Milena Bobeva for their support. References to reviews: 1. (2000a), "What’s up with Internet recruiting?” Workforce, Vol. 79 No.3, pp.100-12. 2. Baillie, J (1996), "Attracting employees who surf the Internet", People Management, Vol. 2 No.17, pp.46-7. 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 to the future. Recruiter. 2 May. p14-16. 5. Express Computer. 2005. E-recruitment is here to stay. Dated 18th April, 2005. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20050418/technologylife01.shtml. 6. Fister, S (1999), "Online recruiting; good, fast and cheap?” Training, Vol. 36 No.5, pp.26-8. 7. Galanaki, E. (2002). “The decision to recruit online: a descriptive study”.  Career Development International, Vol.7, No. 4, p 243-51. 8. Hays, S. (1999), "Hiring on the Web", Workforce, Vol. 78 No.18, pp.76-82. 9. Lamb, J. (2000a), "Firms shunning potential of online recruitment", People Management, Vol. 6 No.1,. 10. Rankin, N. (2005). Online recruitment in the UK: 10 years older and wiser. IRS Employment Review. No 822, 29. April, p42-48. 11. Recruiter. 2006. Online recruitment needs a standard definition of applications. Dated 29th November, 2006. http://www.recruiter.co.uk/Articles/332190/Online+recruitment+needs+a+standard+definition+of+applications.html. 12. Washington Business Journal. 2004. Net advantages: Online recruitment saves in time, costs. Dated 5th November 2004. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2004/11/08/focus2.html. (Accessed on 5th February 2008). 13. Williams, M, Klau, B (1997), "10 easy tips for recruiting online", Workforce, Vol. 76 No.8, pp.13-17. References to web pages: 1. Borrell Associates Inc. (2006). 2006. Outlook: Online recruitment advertising (Digital). p29. Available from: http://www.borrellassociates.com/reportDetails.aspx?prodID=49 [Accessed 13 October 2007]. 2. Careers network. (2007). Front cover image. Available from: http://www.careers-network.co.uk/image10.jpg [Accessed 3 October 2007]. 3. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2005) People management and technology: progress and potential. London: CIPD. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/surveys http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/onlnrcruit/onlrec.htm [Accessed 3 October 2007]. 4. Enhance media. (2001). The advantages of online recruitment during an economic downturn. October news letter. Available from: http://www.enhancemedia.co.uk/newsletter/newsletters_2001_oct.html [Accessed 3 October 2007]. 5. McAuley L, Moher D, Tugwell P. Annu Meet Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Meet. (1997). 13: 64. Available from: http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/102233023.html [Accessed 10 October 2007]. 7. WRAY, R. (2007). Broadband spreads across globe [online]. Guardian Unlimited. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/13/newmedia.media [Accessed 11 October 2007]. Bibliography: Books: 1. Bell. J., (1999). Doing your research Project. 3rd Ed. OU Press. 2. Buzan, T. (1995). The MindMap books.2nd Ed. London, UK: BBC books. 3. Collis, J. and Hussey, R., (2003). Business Research. 2nd Ed. Palgrave. 4. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A., 2003. Research Methods for Business Students. 3rd Ed. Financial Times/Prentice-Hall. Reviews: 1. Webster, J. & Watson, R. T., (2002). Analysing the Past to Prepare for the Future: writing a Literature Review, MIS Quaterly, v.26, n.2, pp. xiii-xxiii. Web pages: 1. Bournemouth University. (2007). Info Skills. Available from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/infoskills/index.html [Accessed 11 October 2007]. 2. The Meta Analysis of Research Studies. (2007). Meta-Stat, A Tool for the Meta-Analysis of Research Studies. Available from: http://edres.org/meta/metastat.htm [Accessed 11 October 2007]. 3. MSTAT-C. (2007). Design, Management, and Statistical Research Tool. Available from: http://www.msu.edu/~freed/mstatc.htm [Accessed 11 October 2007]. 4. Onrec.com. 2001. Benefits of online recruitment during an economic downturn. Dated 8th October,2001. http://www.onrec.com/content2/news.asp?ID=805 Appendix I: Questionnaire: a. Name of the respondent : b. Educational qualification: c. Occupation: d. Category : Recruiter / Applicant / Outsourcing agency e. Contact address: f. How did you know about online recruitment? g. Give the score for the following advantages of online recruitment system: a) Handling of high volume of job applications at a time b) Highly suitable during economic crisis c) Fastening of recruitment cycle d) Higher flexibility e) Cost reduction f) Wide reachability g) The hour access to job information h) More tailored information about job and organization h. Give the score for the following disadvantages of online recruitment system: i. Employment risks assoiated with website information ii. Lose out of candidates, if website is below the search engine ranking iii. Scope for manipulation in bio-data iv. Elimination of effective candidates who don’t have online access v. Strong impact on the ‘cultural fit’ dimension of recruitment vi. Overloadng of applications vii. It results in turn-off candidates, if the website is badly esigned i. Suggestions for improving the online recruitment system j. Signature of representative: k. Date: Place: Appendix II: Statistical analysis of advantages of online recruitment system: INPUT & OUTPUT FILES sangram sangram1 Treat mean Total 1 75.00 225.00 2 66.00 198.00 3 61.00 183.00 4 57.00 171.00 5 52.00 156.00 6 45.00 135.00 7 33.00 99.00 8 15.00 45.00 ANOVA FOR RBD ----------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE DF SS MSS F ratio ----------------------------------------------------------------- REPL 2 70.7500 35.3750 3.3633 TREAT 7 7776.0000 1110.8571 105.6163 ERROR 14 147.2500 10.5179 TOTAL 23 7994.0000 ----------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL MEAN & CV(%) 50.5000 6.4220 SE SED CD(P=05) CD(P=01) TREATMENT = 1.8724 2.6480 5.6932 7.8910 __________________E N D O F R E S U L T ___________________ Raw data Treat 1 2 3 Total Mean 1 69.0000 77.0000 79.0000 225.0000 75.0000 2 64.0000 66.0000 68.0000 198.0000 66.0000 3 57.0000 64.0000 62.0000 183.0000 61.0000 4 59.0000 58.0000 54.0000 171.0000 57.0000 5 50.0000 48.0000 58.0000 156.0000 52.0000 6 42.0000 48.0000 45.0000 135.0000 45.0000 7 28.0000 35.0000 36.0000 99.0000 33.0000 8 16.0000 14.0000 15.0000 45.0000 15.0000 Statistical analysis of disadvantages of online recruitment system: INPUT & OUTPUT FILES saakshi saakshi1 Treat mean Total 1 81.00 243.00 2 72.00 216.00 3 54.00 162.00 4 45.00 135.00 5 37.00 111.00 6 16.00 48.00 7 9.00 27.00 ANOVA FOR RBD ----------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE DF SS MSS F ratio ----------------------------------------------------------------- REPL 2 35.4275 17.7137 2.5134 TREAT 6 12920.5703 2153.4284 305.5500 ERROR 12 84.5725 7.0477 TOTAL 20 13040.5703 ----------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL MEAN & CV(%) 44.8571 5.9182 SE SED CD(P=05) CD(P=01) TREATMENT = 1.5327 2.1676 4.7254 6.6328 __________________E N D O F R E S U L T ___________________ Raw data Treat 1 2 3 Total Mean 1 83.0000 82.0000 78.0000 243.0000 81.0000 2 75.0000 70.0000 71.0000 216.0000 72.0000 3 57.0000 51.0000 54.0000 162.0000 54.0000 4 44.0000 42.0000 49.0000 135.0000 45.0000 5 38.0000 33.0000 40.0000 111.0000 37.0000 6 18.0000 16.0000 14.0000 48.0000 16.0000 7 11.0000 10.0000 6.0000 27.0000 9.0000 Read More