Recruitment Practices in Industry and the Impact of Technology on Recruitment Practices - Literature review Example

Recruitment Practices in Industry and the Impact of Technology on Recruitment Practices Copyright Technology and the capa for innovationthat is provided by technology have meant that application of technology is now a critical requirement for the workplace. Reduced costs and processing time as well as a reduction in labour intensive activities are some of the obvious benefits of technology, but technology also results in better value creation. The human resource function in organisations has also been influenced by technology and recruitment has changed in form, if not in substance. Internet not only reduces recruitment costs and time, but it is also possible for organisations to benefit from individualisation and range advantages. This brief essay presents a discussion about recruitment practices in industry and the impact of technology on recruitment. Declaration I certify that, except where cited in the text, this work is the result of research carried out by the author of this study. The main content of the study which has been presented contains work that has not previously been reported anywhere. _____________________________________________ Name and Signature of Author September 2008 This write - up is presented in fulfilment for the requirements related to an essay on Recruitment Practices in Industry and the Impact of Technology on Recruitment. Biographical Sketch Acknowledgements Contents Introduction 1 Recruitment Practices in Industry 3 How has Technology Changed Recruitment? 8 Conclusion 11 Bibliography/ References 13 (This page intentionally blank) Introduction Any organisation depends on its staff for its success and this means that it is important that the right people are selected and retained in organisations (Leech, 2005, “Introduction”). Cost of staff turnover can be high for organisations and it can be very costly to replace senior managers. Also, it can be costly to recruit the wrong person for a job because the recruitment and selection process may have to be repeated and it can be costly to sort things out with the person who has been wrongly recruited. A poor fit with a job can become a burden on the team which can result in a loss of customer service and satisfaction. Thus, organisations should be able to attract and retain the right employees. Recruitment refers to those steps that are associated with suitable applications being received and the process of selection is about identifying the right applicant for a job that is required to be performed. If recruitment is to be initiated then it is important that a decision be made about whether a job vacancy exists and then a decision has to be made about the job description as well as the type of person who is likely to be able to fulfil the demands of a job. Once a decision has been made about the type of person that is required, an attempt can be made to try to attract applicants and to manage the response. If recruitment and selection is to result in a satisfactory placement, it is important that organisations try to adapt strategies that will ensure that they have a pool of talented and qualified applicants from which vacancies can be filled as and when required (Richardson, 2004, Pp. 2). However, having a huge pool of applicants is only possible if organisations have a certain reputation for compensating and retaining those that are hired. It can be stupid to think that an organisation can constantly keep pulling individuals out of a pool without any regard for those who it inconveniences in its desire to acquire the best possible gem for the barest minimum (Hiltrop, 1999, Pp. 420 – 426). Thus, recruitment practices in industry should first focus on the development of an organisational recruitment and retention policy with the implementation of systems that can give life to such a policy. Obviously, when developing such a policy, it will be important to examine and to understand the limitations of the organisation. When a pool of talented and qualified applicants is available, the recruitment processes are mostly directed towards the matching of applicants to the job vacancies that arise on a constant basis (Chen – Fu, 2008, Pp. 280 – 282). In large organisations, such as the United States military or large multinational organisations, there are very many job vacancies that are constantly presented for filling and information technology can reduce the workload associated with matching applicants to job specifications (Reiter – Palmon, 2006, Pp. 281 – 283). Advances in communications and computers not only assist human resource professionals with creating and managing a pool of applicants, but technology also helps with the preparation of job specifications and the matching of such specifications with applicants to provide suitable candidates. For those hard to find candidates, it is also possible to try deep web mining in order to locate suitable candidates that are in short supply and the application process can be made much more efficient and manageable. Because employees are important for an organisation and good recruitment and selection ensures that the organisation has the best, it is likely to be of benefit to examine the recruitment practices that exist in industry and try to understand how technology has been able to assist in the recruitment process. This brief essay presents a discussion of recruitment practices and the impact of technology on recruitment. Recruitment Practices in Industry There are many ways in which a job vacancy may be filled in an organisation (Richardson, 2004, Pp. 2 – 10). Promotion from within, transfer of existing personnel, word of mouth referrals, response to notices placed in publications or electronic notice boards and interest expressed by applicants who may send in their resumes to a website maintained by an organisation are all likely to provide suitable candidates. These candidates are shortlisted and matched to available jobs or those that are likely to become available as a result of the implementation of strategic plans. Internal recruitment and promotions cannot always provide the number of quality candidates that may be required and aging or staff attrition can pose its own demands. Often, the choice of recruitment methods depends on the calibre of the person that is required, the timescales that are involved, the cost that can be sustained for recruitment and if suitable candidates have been found using the less expensive recruitment methods. An organisation may have certain broad objectives in addition to the specific requirements associated with a job function, such as increasing diversity of employees and these may influence the recruitment process. Recruitment practices do differ amongst cultures and the way recruitment is carried out in one nation may differ from the way in which it is handled in another (Lai, 2007, Pp. 362 – 366). As an example, in Japan firms build up their relationships with universities and colleges and special attempts are made to hire every year when a batch of students graduates. Although lifelong employment is no longer an expectation due to economic volatility, Japanese still consider it important to try to retain employees and this is something that is interesting because changing employers is neither healthy for the employee and nor does this result in any sustained development of skills. Thus, Japanese employers are often more interested in recruiting those that have a long term future with a company. However, in the Western system, termination benefits are often useful in sustaining individuals and cushioning the effects of a change. The schools that an employee has attended are often important in Japan and the best employers try to select the best graduates. Although educational attainment is important, recommendations by professors, interest expressed at job fairs, ambition, attitudes towards work and fundamental ability as well as good health does count. Japanese firms place a lot of emphasis on training employees. In the more Westernised cultures, experience counts a lot because little training is provided to those that are hired and long term employment policies may not exist (Lai, 2007, Pp. 373 – 374). Qualifications are not as important as experience and hiring is usually carried out on an ad-hoc basis from a pool that is created in response to newspaper advertisements. There is little commitment on either side and employees are constantly seeking greener pastures, while firms are constantly looking for better employees. In Western countries, the destructive aspects of such attitudes are often controlled as a result of the state sponsored unemployment benefits that are available to individuals and perhaps it is these unemployment benefits that had perpetuated such thinking. Thus, the manner in which pools of potential employees are created and processed according to a criteria may somewhat differ, even though a matching is important between applicants and a job criteria. Interview screening, skill check screening and background checks are important pre - selection practices and it is important to carry out post – employment screening to ensure that a recruited employee is performing as expected (Wang, 2000, Pp. 73 – 79). Interviews make it possible for the hiring decision-makers to make an assessment about a candidate’s personality, health and their suitability for becoming a team member or for fitting into a corporate culture. Skills tests should only be directed to assess those skills that are likely to be essential for a job. Thus, typing or technical vocations are likely to need skills tests, but it should be appreciated that the more senior positions in which a candidate is expected to assume an executive position are not suited to skills testing because problem solving skills and not memory testing is important. It is very easy to fail a dean of mathematics by asking them to solve a very carefully selected integral equation, even though such a person may have an outstanding research record. Employers should only inconvenience candidates by calling them for an interview if they are likely to be on a very short list because it is unlikely to be helpful for a candidate to squander his precious funds by attending interviews if they are not likely to be selected. Background checks can include health checks, security clearance checks or other discrete checks that determine criminal records or other problems that can interfere with employment. However, it should be understood that employers who ask candidates to present expensive medical examination results or to incur other expenses should also be prepared to offer something reasonable in return. Many nations in which the level of cognitive development is rather limited try to entrap employees by having them squander their money in the recruitment exercise and this is likely to results in the employee reciprocating in kind when the opportunity presents itself. Post – employment monitoring should not become an opportunity for bullying to have decent employees removed. Matching employees to a job can require skills and insight. Thus, apart from educational qualifications, interview impressions and skills testing results, some organisations also try to include other measures for evaluating the suitability of applicants. Personality measures are now being used by several organisations as an added dimension for the selection of personnel (Rothstein, 2006, Pp. 155 – 174). Studies have indicated that personality measures add to the ability to predict job performance and for successfully working with teams. It is possible to rapidly and cheaply administer personality tests on the web and this means that the cost of recruitment is not significantly changed. The Five Factor Model which tries to describe personality in terms of openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism is the most frequently used model for recruitment and selection. It should be clear from the discussion that has been presented above that it is possible to apply information technology creatively in order to try to better manage recruitment. Large organisations are more likely to benefit from the application of technology to recruitment. A discussion about the impact of technology to recruitment is presented next. How has Technology Influenced Recruitment? The reduced price and vastly enhanced capability of technology has made a difference to business and the pervasiveness of the Internet continues to increase. Thus, the human resource function in an organisation has also been influenced by technology trends (Ensher, 2002, Pp. 230). An increasingly larger number of organisations now use the Internet to post jobs and to receive resumes. These resumes are stored on databases for easy retrieval and processing. The use of Internet and computing resources for receiving, processing and maintaining applications reduces the cost as well as the turnaround time that is involved in filling vacancies and Internet also makes it possible for organisations to vastly expand their geographic range for the selection of suitable candidates. For those organisations that maintain a website for recruitment and which have an established reputation, the response for candidates required to fill a vacancy can be extremely rapid and overwhelming (Ensher, 2002, Pp. 228 - 230). Also, the cost for posting an online advertisement can be significantly lower than that for a newspaper advertisement. Some websites, including Monster.com, Hotjobs.com and Headhunter.net have acquired a reputation for listing quality jobs and it can be very convenient for an organisation to list their requirements related to a vacancy on such websites. Shortlisted candidates can be asked to take a personality test or skills test online and it is also possible to conduct a preliminary interview online or to ask for more information and copies of credentials. It is also possible for employers to access online databases that maintain a pool of resumes for a fee and this means that a need for fresh advertising is diminished unless a rare or quality applicant is desired. However, it should be understood that an organisation should have put into place an information technology infrastructure to deal with the large number of resumes that can be received. Applications for scanning resumes, online testing and assessment and preliminary interviewing are used often and expert systems can provide lists of shortlisted candidates who have been matched to job requirements that have been generated electronically (McEntire, 2006, Pp. 310 – 320), (Reiter – Palmon, 2006, Pp. 294 – 300) and (Chen – Fu, 2008, Pp. 280 – 282). A case study which illustrates how Cadance, a high technology design company in Scotland, has been able to establish a searchable database of highly skilled design engineers is presented in (Kinder, 2000, Pp. 464 – 465). Such a database would have been far more expensive and difficult to establish if newspaper advertisements had been used and without technology, managing several thousand resumes is likely to have been impossible. However, it must be realised that a digital divide still exists in many countries and this means that Internet based submissions must also be supplemented with the more traditional approaches so that neither the recruiting organisation nor the candidates suffer unduly. In the more developed countries, the human resource function has benefitted more from technology and about 50 -80 % of all firms in Europe have information technology deployed for use in the human resource function (Torres – Coronas, 2009, Pp. 27). Internal corporate websites can easily reduce the burdens associated with internal recruitment (Torres – Coronas, 2009, Pp. 268). The growth attained by the ten leading employment websites was about 232 % between 1999 and 2000 (Torres – Coronas, 2009, Pp. 71). However, it must be understood that a limit does exist to recruitment by Internet. Organisations do not like to broadcast their senior executive requirements and the successful professionals who are working may prefer to be recruited in a more personalised manner. Also, the website of any organisation is a representation of the organisation and its culture, which should send friendly signals to those that are required to be attracted (Torres – Coronas, 2009, Pp. 269). A corporate website also represents a brand and employees prefer to work for good brands as compared to the mediocre. Internal corporate websites can offer an individualisation advantage as compared to the external corporate websites that offer a range advantage. However, it is likely that the Internet and technology may have changed the manner in which recruitment is carried in form rather than substance, but it is very likely that e-recruitment will continue to play a prominent role in the future as the war for talent continues to intensify (Torres – Coronas, 2009, Pp. 360). Conclusion It can be concluded that as the world becomes flatter as a result of the digital revolution brought about by laptops, iPods, flash drives and a host of other technical gadgets, e-recruitment will continue to provide definite advantages for the recruitment processes in organisations by reducing costs and the time to hire. Even developing economies like India and Mexico now benefit from this trend, but organizations should be aware of the economic and cultural pitfalls when recruiting globally. (This page intentionally blank) Bibliography/ References 1. Bodea, Constanta et al. 2003. Human Resource Management in the Internet Age: e-Recruitment and e-Selection Methods. Economy Informatics, 2003. Retrieved September 10, 2008. From: www.sciencedirect.com 2. Chen – Fu, Chien and Li – Fei, Chen. 2008. Data mining to improve personnel selection and enhance human capital: A case study in high-technology industry. Expert Systems with Applications 34 (2008) 280–290. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eswa 3. Coronas, Teresa Torres and Arias – Olivia, Mario. 2009. Encyclopaedia of Human Resource Information Systems: Challenges in the e-HRM. IGI Global. 4. Cronin, Brian et al. 2006. Public sector use of technology in managing human resources. Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 416–430. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.socscinet.com/bam/humres 5. Ensher, Ellen A et al. 2002. Tales from the Hiring Line: Effects of the Internet and Technology on HR Processes. Organisational Dynamics, Vol. 21, No. 3, Pp. 224 – 234. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: www.sciencedirect.com 6. Hiltrop, Jean – Marie. 1999. The Quest for the Best: Human Resource Practices to Attract and Retain Talent. European Management Journal Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 422–430, 1999. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: www.sciencedirect.com 7. Khosrow-Pour, Mehdi. 2004. Annals of Cases on Information Technology. Idea Group Publishing. 8. Kinder, Tony. 2000. The use of the Internet in recruitment—case studies from West Lothian, Scotland. Technovation 20 (2000) 461–475. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation 9. Lai, Wan Hooi. 2007. The Adoption of Japanese Recruitment Practices in Malaysia. International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 29 No. 4, 2008, Pp. 362-378. Retrieved: September 11, 2008. From: www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-7720.htm 10. Lawler, Edward E et al. 2006. Achieving Strategic Excellence: An Assessment of Human Resource Organizations. Stanford University Press. 11. Leech, Corinne. 2005. Positive Recruitment and Retention. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. 12. Losey, Michael et al (Editors). 2005. The Future of Human Resource Management: 64 Thought Leaders Explore the Critical HR Issues of Today and Tomorrow. John Wiley and Sons. 13. Marr, Erica R. 2007. E-recruitment: the effectiveness of the internet as a recruitment source. Queensland University of Technology. Retrieved: September 11, 2008. From: http://adt.library.qut.edu.au/adt-qut/uploads/approved/adt-QUT20080320.155354/public/02whole.pdf 14. McEntire, Lauren E et al. 2006. Innovations in job analysis: Development and application of metrics to analyze job data. Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 310–323. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.socscinet.com/bam/humres 15. Mehrabad, Saidi M and Brojeny, Fatihan M. 2007. The development of an expert system for effective selection and appointment of the jobs applicants in human resource management. Computers & Industrial Engineering 53 (2007) 306–312. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/dsw 16. Olivas-Luján, Miguel R. 2003. Determinants of the Assimilation of Information Technologies in Human Resource Service Delivery in Canada and the United States of America. University of Pittsburg, Joseph M. Katz School of Business. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07232003-191847/unrestricted/Olivas-LujanMR_etd2003.pdf 17. Reiter-Palmon, Roni et al. 2006. Development of an O*NET web-based job analysis and its implementation in the U. S. Navy: Lessons learned. Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 294–309. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: www.sciencedirect.com 18. Reiter-Palmon, Roni et al. 2006. What we can learn from large-scale human resources initiatives in the Federal Government and Department of Defense. Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 281–283. http://www.socscinet.com/bam/humres 19. Richardson, Margaret A. 2004. Recruitment Strategies: Managing / Effecting the Recruitment Process. United Nations Public Administration Network. Retrieved: September 11, 2008. From: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN021814.pdf 20. Rothstein, Mitchell G and Goffin, Richard D. 2006. The use of personality measures in personnel selection: What does current research support? Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 155–180. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: http://www.socscinet.com/bam/humres 21. Stewart, Greg L and Carson, Kenneth P. 1997. Moving Beyond the Mechanistic Model: An Alternative Approach to Staffing for Contemporary Organizations. Human Resource Management Review, Volume 7, Number 2, 1997, pages 157-184. Retrieved: September 10, 2008. From: www.sciencedirect.com 22. Wang, Jund – Ming and Kleiner, Brian H. 2000. Effective Employment Screening Practices. Management Research News, Volume 23 Number 5/6 2000. Retrieved: September 11, 2008. From: www.emeraldinsight.com Read More