Online Recruitment Issues - Essay Example

Human Resource work Table of Contents Section A 3 Introduction to On-line Recruitment 3 A.Overall Impression of the Website and Ease of Navigation for Applicants 4 B.The Image Portrayed and the Values Presented 5 C.Key Information 6 D.How the Website Attempts to Set Expectations about the Work 6 Section B 7 Soton Data’s Retention Strategies 7 How Will The Strategies Help Soton Data? 10 Who Will Be Benefited And Who Will Be Harmed? 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 Section A Introduction to On-line Recruitment Recruitment has been one of the processes of drawing the attention of the potential candidates to fill the gap in the organisation. Online recruitment has been used by most of the organisation in today’s world that uses the power of the internet in order to match the candidate’s skills with the jobs. Online recruitment is all about advertising regarding the vacancies on the corporate as well as job sites. It has been effective in getting a greater response than the conventional methods of recruitment like print advertisement. The real strength of the online communication lies in attaching the internet technology not only with attracting the candidates but also in dealing with the candidates. There have been many benefits of the online recruitment over the traditional methods of recruitment. Online advertisement helps to provide a diverse geographical reach and chance of finding the right candidate for the gaps to be filled by them. Online recruitment tends to reach the candidate with greater speed as they can respond to it immediately. Online recruitment has been a very cost effective method than the traditional means of recruitment as lots of time and ad print cost is saved. Moreover, the best site for the best candidate can be targeted which makes it a cost effective option. As more and more people are logging on to different sites in order to find jobs for them, thus online recruitment can be the best, quick, personal and direct way to interact with the candidates. Via the online recruitment companies can get answers to the questions in seconds. On top of that, the personal information of the candidates is available in the CV database of the company. Therefore it becomes easier for the companies to match the candidate’s skills and their profile with the job requirements (HRM Guide, 2010). A. Overall Impression of the Website and Ease of Navigation for Applicants Sainsbury’s has been providing full details of the opportunities that lie in the supermarket, convenience stores and their pharmacies. Through its recruitment portal, the candidates can have a brief overview of the careers that lie at Sainsbury’s. At the recruitment portal, the requirement of the personnel in the various departments of the Sainsbury’s has been classified in such a way that it becomes easier for the applicant to understand the vacancies at each department (Sainsbury’s, n.d.). Microsoft has also been providing online recruitment service via its portal called ‘find your fit’, through which the candidate can understand what they exactly want to do. As the company has been providing various ranges of jobs under the same roof, it becomes easier for the candidate to match their skills with the requirement of the company. In its websites, under the ‘find your fit’ portal, the complete description of the roles and responsibilities of the applicant has been described in detail which will help the applicant to understand what they exactly have to do. At the “apply now” portal the candidates can search for jobs, prepare their resumes and also submit the application. Moreover, the blogs of the employees has been loaded in the “home” page with the intention that the candidates can have up to date information (Microsoft Corporation, 2010). The PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) online recruitment has also been very effective at attracting the candidates. The career portal of the company’s websites have been divided into various different sub portal like “Graduate Recruitment”, “Experienced Opportunities”, “Student Opportunities”, “Job Search”, “Global Careers” and “The HR Contact” where the candidate can choose his area of interest and apply accordingly (PricewaterhouseCoppers, 2010). B. The Image Portrayed and the Values Presented All the three company’s websites have been effective enough to provide all the relevant information that may be required by the candidate while applying for the job. The classification of the vacancies in the different departments according to the requirement of the candidate that matches the skills make the websites of a company, a faster and an easier means to apply for jobs. The websites portray the career advancement option which will help the candidate a lot. The Sainsbury’s websites ensures that the information provided by the candidates will be secured by the company and will not be retained with the company for a longer period of time. This makes the online recruitment a valuable option for the candidates. C. Key Information All the three websites have the short description of the company’s profile followed by the roles and responsibilities of the candidates and the details of the company’s products have been mentioned. The Sainsbury’s website has been more effective at providing detailed information about the recruitment. The information centre of all the three websites require the candidates to provide information related to their name, address, area of interest and educational details which helps the companies to trace the candidates in a much efficient manner. D. How the Website Attempts to Set Expectations about the Work The three company’s websites have been designed in such a way that the candidates don’t need to spend excessive time and money to search for jobs. The most important thing is that the websites of each company provides detailed information about the vacancies and opportunities that lies in each department and helps the candidates to shape their careers with the companies. Section B Soton Data’s Retention Strategies The main problem associated with the Soton Data was with the attrition rate of the employees after being trained. The trained computer operators were moving to the rival firm after they received training from the Soton Data which was very disappointing for the company. When the trained employees move on to the rival firm then the firms may have to incur huge amount of losses. They may have to incur both direct cost as well as indirect cost. The core competency is associated with the expertise; experience as well as the reputation of the staffs in case of this kind of professional IT firm. It is very essential to manage the most valuable assets of an organisation i.e. employees. The training process is a very costly and time consuming affair, and to prevent a scenario of employees leaving an organisation has been a major problem for most of the companies of the world. In this case it would be better for Soton Data to devise strategies to retain the employees. What Soton Data can do is that it can sign a contract with the employees that will state that the employees will not be able to move to the rival firms after receiving training for a period of six months or a year. Another step that Soton Data can take is, to treat the employees in a better manner and ensure them that the salaries, the bonuses as well as the other benefits do not match with that available elsewhere (Bryson & Et. Al., 2004). The cost of turnover of the employees may add thousands of pounds to the company’s expenses. As the senior employees leave the organisation, who were trained for the purpose of the organisation, the company experiences huge loss of money and time as the company had spend significant amount of time to train the employees. The effect of attrition has a negative impact on the organisation’s remaining staff as they feel quite discouraged and de-motivated to work. On top of these, there is loss of the internal information which the employee takes along with him after leaving the organisation. Therefore, it becomes the duty of the organisation to first consult with the employees and know the reason for leaving the organisation. They may cite several reasons for leaving the organisation, but it would be important at this stage to understand and compare the additional benefits that are being provided by the rival firms and make their strategies accordingly. Rewarding the employees is very important as that would provide them additional satisfaction. The employees also need to be encouraged to balance work with their life and for these the company needs to provide recreational facilities. If the company feels that certain changes need to be brought in the organisational culture, then this must be done as soon as possible to prevent the staffs from moving to the rival firm. Employee turnover has always been a dangerous issue for the firm but it becomes more dangerous when the resigning employees take away the most extensive and useful knowledge along with them and join the rival firm. As prevention is the best medicine, thus it would be better for the company to think about the retention on time before the employees leave the organisation. It has been found that the managers of the companies think of the retention only when they receive the resignation letters from their employees (Fern & Ware, 2010). There are employees who love to work in a particular organisation for certain reasons. For instance, they may like the atmosphere of the company, their co-workers or their boss. On the other hand, there are employees who leave the organisation because of the dissatisfaction he has with the job. Therefore, companies like Soton Data can offer higher salaries to any deserving candidate in comparison to the rival firm and can provide bonuses and other benefits from time to time. Conducting exit interview has also been one of the important methods to comprehend the reasons for the employee’s attrition. Financial support can be provided to the employees who wish to pursue higher studies. Many employees may have desires to take up certain kind of challenging assignments and may want to use their minds to contribute towards the success of the organisation. The employees have an internal desire to have flexibility as well as autonomy with the intention that they can organise and control their work environment and their work. Therefore, it is important for the companies like Soton Data to provide this kind of flexible structure. The employees need to be rewarded according to the contribution made by them in the organisation; else they will prefer to join the rival company where he might be rewarded accordingly. Along with the desire to obtain new skills employees also look for the opportunity where they can advance within the organisation as they grow and develop the skills. On top of that those companies are preferred by the employees who have a strong reputation and are high profile companies. Therefore, the companies like Soton Data needs to prove that they are the best in the field in which they are operating. If all these factors are taken into consideration then the employees will never leave the organisation and will serve them in a better way (Phillips & Connell, 2003). How Will The Strategies Help Soton Data? These strategies will help Soton Data both in the short run as well as in the long run. The strategies adopted will induce the employees to stay with the organisation for a longer time-period and will help to reduce the cost that the companies need to bear when attrition takes place. Who Will Be Benefited And Who Will Be Harmed? It is quite obvious to say that Soton Data will be benefited as the employees will stay in the organisation for longer periods if the above measures are considered. Competitors of Soton Data will be harmed as the employees will not shift to the rival firms any more because their likings are being taken care of by the Soton Data and there may be chances for attracting new talents because of the facilities provided at Soton Data. References Bryson, J. R. & Et. Al., 2004. Service Worlds: People, Organisations and Technologies. Routledge. HRM Guide, 2010. Introduction to Online Recruitment. What is Online Recruitment? [Online] Available at: http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/recruitment/introduction_to_online_recruitment.htm [Accessed November 20, 2010]. Microsoft Corporation, 2010. Find Your Fit. Where Do I Fit? [Online] Available at: http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/gb/findyourfit.aspx [Accessed November 20, 2010]. PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2010. Careers. Graduate Requirement. [Online] Available at: http://www.pwccn.com/home/eng/joinusmain.html [Accessed November 20, 2010]. Phillips, J. J. & Connell, A. O., 2003. Managing Employee Retention: A Strategic Accountability Approach. Butterworth-Heinemann. Sainsbury’s, No Date. Recruitment. Careers at Sainsbury’s. [Online] Available at: http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/aboutus/recruitment/careers_new.htm?WT.svl=2&WT.seg_1=nav_secondary [Accessed November 20, 2010]. Ware, L. & Fern, B., 2010. The Challenge of Retaining Top Talent: The Workforce Attrition Crisis. ITS. [Online] Available at: http://www.itsinc.net/retention-research.htm [Accessed November 20, 2010]. Bibliography Allen, D. G., 2008. Retaining Talents. SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series. [Online] Available at: http://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/research/Documents/Retaining%20Talent-%20Final.pdf [Accessed November 20, 2010]. Read More