View with images and charts Online Recruitment and Selection Practices of Business Organization- Problems and Prospect: HRM & Its Function Concepts of Human Resource Management: Let us understand HRM by dividing the term into its subparts. • Human – people, us • Resource – assets/costs for organizations • Management – co-ordination and control to achieve set goals but humans, unlike other resources in the context of work and management, cause problems. HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources. It is a specialized field that attempts to developing an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programmers which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success. HRM is proactive rather than reactive, i.e., always looking forward to what needs to be done and then doing it, rather than waiting to be told what to do about recruiting, paying or training people, or dealing with employee relations problems as they arise. The techniques for the application of HRM will include many familiar functions of personnel managers, such as manpower planning, selection, performance appraisal, salary administration, training and management development. These will be overlaid by special programmers designed to improve communication systems, involvement, commitment, and productivity. Broadly, there are three meanings attached to the concept of HRM. In the first place, persons working in an organization are regarded as a valuable source, implying that there is a need to invest time and effort in their development. Secondly, they are human resources which mean that they have their own special characteristics and, therefore, cannot be treated like material resources. The approach focuses on the need to humanizes organizational life and introduce human values in the organization. And thirdly, human resources do not merely focus on employees as individuals, but also on other social realities, units and processes in the organization. These include the role or the job a person has in the organization, the dyadic unit, (consisting of the person and his superior), the various teams in which people work, inter-team processes, and the entity of the total organization. Objectives of Human Resource Management: Objectives are pre-determined ends or goals at which individual or group activity in an Organization is aimed. Objectives can be divided in to two parts: Primary Objectives: HRM main goal is the creation of a workforce with the ability and motivation to accomplish the basic organizational goals; They relate to the satisfaction of the personal objectives of the members of an Organization through monetary and non monetary devices; They relate to the satisfaction of community and social objectives, such as serving the customers honestly, promoting a higher standard of living in the community, bringing
comfort and happiness to the society, protecting women and children and providing for aged personnel; To utilize human resource effectively; To establish and maintain a productive and self respecting relationship among all members of an Organization; To establish and maintain an adequate organizational structure; To bring about maximum individual development of the members of an Organization; To maintain a high morale and better human relations inside an Organization by sustaining and improving the conditions which have been established so that employees may stick to their jobs for a longer period; To assist employees in achieving their personal goals, at least insofar as these goals enhance the individual's contribution to the organization. Personal objectives of employees must be met if workers are to be maintained, retained and motivated. Secondary Objectives: The secondary objectives aim at achieving the primary objectives economically, efficiently and effectively. Function of Human Resource Management: Human resource management is the part of the organization concerned with the “people” dimension. HRM can be viewed in one of two ways. First, HRM is a staff or support function in the organization. Its role is to provide assistance in HRM matters to line employees, or those directly involved in producing the organization’s goods and services. Second, HRM is a function of every manager’s job. Whether or not one works in a formal HRM department, the fact remains that to effectively manage employees all managers must handle the activities. According to different authors HRM functions can be divided in to different categories. Some of the categories are as follows: General and Specific functions Personnel administration and Industrial relations functions Managerial and Operative functions General Functions: • To conduct personnel research. • To assist in the programmers of personnel administration. • To develop appraisal plans. • To launch education and training programmers. • To develop a competent work force. • To establish and administer varied personnel services delegated to personnel department. Specific Functions: • Employment • Safety • Wage and salary
• Benefit Schemes • Community relations and • Advice and counseling the employees Personnel Administration and Industrial Relations Functions: Personnel Administration: These functions relate to the function of managing people from the lower to the upper level of the Organization and embraces policy determination as well as implementation of policies by the personnel at the lower levels. Industrial Relations Functions: These functions relate to interactions between the management and the representatives of the unions. Such functions involve all activities of employer employee relationship, such as Organization of the union members, negotiations of contracts, collective bargaining, grievance handling, disciplinary actions, arbitration etc- the purpose of all these being to prevent conflict between two parties. Managerial and Operative Functions: Managerial Functions: Management is Personnel administration. It is the development of the people and not the direction of the things. Managing people is the heart and essence of being a manager. Thus, a Human Resource Manager is a manager and as such he performs the basic functions of management.
(Managerial Functions) Planning: Is a predetermined course of action? Planning is a hard job, for it involves the ability to think, to predict, to analyze and to control the actions of its personnel and to cope with a complex, dynamic fluid environment. They bridge the gap from where we are to where we want to go.
The two important features of planning are research and forecasting. The task of forecasting personnel needs in relation to changes in production or seasonal variations and the leveling out of differences in the production extremely important, both for employees and for management. Therefore, planning and decision making has to be undertaken much in advance of an action so that unforeseen or anticipated problems and events may be properly handled. This as also stressed by the saying: “Good managers make things happen�. Organizing: An Organization is a means to an end. It is essential to carry out the determined course of action. Complex relationships exist between the specialized departments and the general departments as many top managers are seeking the advice of personnel manager. Thus, Organization establishes relationship among the employees so that they can collectively contribute to the attainment of company goals. Directing: Direction is an important managerial function in building sound industrial relations besides securing employee contributions. Coordination deals with the task of blending efforts in order to ensure successful attainment of an objective. The personnel manager has to coordinate various managers at different levels as far as personnel functions are concerned. Personnel management function should also be coordinated with other functions of management like management of money, machine, and material. Controlling: Controlling involves checking, verifying and comparing of the actualize with the standards, identification of deviations if any and correcting of identified deviations. Thus, action and operation are adjusted to predetermined plans and standards through control.
Fig. Functions of Personnel Office/ Personnel Management.
Operative Functions: The operative functions of human Resource Management are related to specific activities of personnel management e.g. employment, development, compensation & Relations. All these functions are interacted by managerial functions. These functions are concerned with the activities specifically dealing with procuring, developing, compensating and maintaining an efficient work force. These functions are also known as service functions. Procurement Function Development function Compensating function Integrating function Maintenance function Employment: Employment is concerned with securing and employing the people possessing required kind and level of human resources necessary to achieve the organizational objectives. It covers the functions such as job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement, induction and internal mobility. Human Resource Development: It is the process of improving, molding and changing the skills, knowledge, creative ability, aptitude, attitude, values, commitment etc. based on present and future job and organizational requirements. This function includes Performance Appraisal, Training, Management Development, Career Planning and Development, Internal Mobility (Promotion, Demotion), Organizational Development. Compensation: It is the process of providing adequate, equitable and fair remuneration to the employees. It includes job evaluation, wage and salary administration, incentives, bonus, fringe benefits, social security measures etc. Human Relations: Practicing various human resource policies and Programmers Loire employment, development and compensation and interaction among employees create a sense of relationship between the individual worker and management, among workers and trade unions and management. It is the process of interaction among human beings. Human relations are an area of management in integrating people in to work situation in a way that motivates them to work together productively, cooperatively and with economic, psychological and social satisfaction. Recruitment & Selection Concepts of Recruitment & Selection: Concepts of Recruitment Successful human resource planning should identify our human resource needs. Once we know these needs, we still want to do something about meeting them. The next step in the acquisition function, therefore, is recruitment. This activity makes it possible for us to acquire the number and types of people necessary to ensure the continued operation of the Organization.
Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies or from other perspective, it is a linking activity- bringing together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs. “Recruitment a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force” Yoder & others “It is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an Organization. It is often termed positive in that it stimulates people to apply for jobs to increase the “hiring” ratio i.e. the no. Of applicants for a job.” Flippo Technically speaking, the function of recruitment precedes the selection function and it includes only finding, developing the sources of prospective employees and attracting them to apply for jobs in an organization, whereas the selection is the process of finding out the most suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates attracted (recruited).
Figure: Recruiting and other Human Resource Management activities Concepts of Selection:
Selection procedure is concerned with securing relevant information about an applicant. The objective of the selection decision is to choose the individual who can most successfully perform the job from the pool of qualified candidates. Selection- Analyzing the qualifications of applicants and deciding upon those who show the most potential. Selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants those individuals best suited for a particular position. Most managers recognize that employee selection is one of their most difficult, and most important, business decisions. This process involves making a judgment -not about the applicant, but about the fit between the applicant and the job by considering knowledge, skills and abilities and other characteristics required to perform the job Selection procedures are not carried out through standard pattern and steps in this. Process can vary from organization to organization some steps performed and considered important by one organization can be skipped by other organization. Objectives of Recruitment & Selection: Objectives of Recruitment: • • • • • • • • • •
To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and experience that suits the present and future organizational strategies. To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company. To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization. To develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to the company. To search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills fit the company’s values. To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits To seek non-conventional development grounds for talent. To search for talent globally and not just within the company. To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum. To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.
Organizational and Individual Goals in Recruiting: Organizational Goals
Attract a pool of qualified applicants Keep pool at manageable size Provide realistic job previews
Individual Goals
Meet work-related goals Meet personal goals Address personal needs
Objectives of Selection: Various steps involved in a selection process depend on the type of personnel to be selected. For example, more information is required for the selection of managerial personnel as compared to subordinate workers. Selection process depends on the sources of recruitment and the method that is adopted for making contact with prospective candidates. For example, in the case of advertisement, selection process is more comprehensive and time-consuming, where as in the case of campus recruitment; the process is shortened and may be completed in a day. Selection process depends on the number of candidates that are available for selection. If the number is large enough, there is a need for creating various filtering points and reducing the number of applicants at each successive point. However, where the number of applicants is small, lesser number of filtering points are required. Organization’s selection policy also determines the ways to be involved in selection process. Methods of Recruitment & Selection: Sources or methods for Recruiting: Recruitment is more likely to achieve its objectives if recruiting sources reflect the type of position to be filled. Sources are those where prospective employees are available like employment exchanges while techniques are those, which stimulate the prospective employees to apply for jobs like nomination by employees, advertising, promotion etc. Certain recruiting sources are more effective than others for filling certain types of jobs are. The sources of recruitment are broadly classified in to: • Internal Recruiting • External Recruiting
•
Recruitment Alternative/ Search of Recruitment
Internal Recruiting: Internal recruiting is the process of looking inside the organization for existing qualified employees who might be promoted to higher-level position. Internal recruiting are the sources within organizational pursuits. It includes (a) Present permanent employees; (b) present temporary/ casual employees; (c) retrenched or retired employees; (d) dependents or deceased, disabled, retired and present employees; (e) Promotions; (f) Transfers. Present Permanent Employees: Organizations consider the candidates from this source for higher-level jobs due to: (1) availability of most suitable candidates for jobs relatively or equally to the external source, (2) to meet the trade unions demands; (3) to the policy of the Organization to motivate the present employees. Present temporary or casual employees: Organizations find this source to fill the vacancies relatively at lower levels owing to the availability of suitable candidates or trade and pressures or in order to motivate them on the present job. Retrenched or Retired employees: Generally a particular Organization retrenches the employees due to lay-off. The Organization takes of the candidates for employment from the retrenched employees due to obligation, trade union pressure and the like. Sometimes the organizations prefer to re employ their retired employees as a token of their loyalty to the Organization or to postpone some inter personal conflicts for promotion etc. Dependents of Deceased, Disabled, Retired and Present Employees: Some organizations with a view to developing the commitment and loyalty of build up image provide employment to the dependent(s) of deceased, disabled and present employees. Such organizations find this source as an effective source of recruitment. Promotions: Most of the internal candidates would be stimulated to take up higher responsibilities and express their willingness to be engaged in the higher level jobs if management gives them the assurance that they will be promoted to the next higher level. Transfers: Employees will be stimulated to work in the new sections or places if management wishes to transfer them to the places of their choice. Why do organizations prefer Internal Source? • Internal recruitment can be used as a technique of motivation. • Morale of the employees can be improved. • Suitability of the internal candidates can be judged better than the external candidates as “known devils are better than unknown angles”. • Loyalty, commitment, a sense of belongings and security of the present employees can be enhanced. • Employee’s psychological needs can be met by providing an opportunity for advancement.
• • • • •
Employee’s economic needs for promotion, higher income can be satisfied. Cost of selection can be minimized. Cost of training, induction, orientation, period of adaptability to the Organization can be reduced. Social responsibility towards employees may be discharged. Stability of employment can be ensured.
Sources of Recruitment
Internal Sources • Present permanent employees • Present temporary/casual employees • Retrenched or retired employees • Dependents of deceased, disabled, retired and present employees • Promotions • Transfers
Recruitment Alternative/ Search of Recruitment • • • •
Overtime Temporary workers Employee leasing Part-time
External Sources • Campus Recruitment • Private Employment / Agencies / Consultants • Public Employment Exchanges • Professional Associations • Data Banks • Casual Applicants • Similar Organizations • Trade Unions • Advertisements • Online or ERecruitment
Why organizations don’t prefer internal sources? • It often leads to inbreeding and discouraging new blood from entering in an Organization; • There are possibilities that internal source may “dry up”, and it may be difficult to find the requisite personnel from within an Organization; • Since the learner does not know more than the lecturer does, no innovations worth the name can be made. Therefore, on jobs which require original thinking (such as advertising, style designing and basic research), this practice is not followed; • As promotion is based on seniority, the danger is that really capable hands may not be chosen. The likes and dislikes of the management may also play an important role in the selection of personnel.
External Recruiting: External recruiting is the process of looking to sources outside the organization for prospective employees. These sources include: (1) Campus Recruitment; (2) Private Employment Agencies/ Consultants; (3) Public Employment Exchanges; (4) Professional Associations; (5) Data Banks; (6) Casual Applications; (5) Similar Organizations; (6) Trade Unions; (7) Advertisements; (8) Employee Referrals.
Figure: process of Campus Recruitment Campus Recruitment: Different types of organizations like industries, business firms, and service organizations, social or religious organizations can get inexperienced candidates of different types from various educational institutions like colleges and universities imparting education in science, commerce, arts, engineering and technology, agriculture. Medicines from the training
institutes. Most of the universities and institutes imparting technical education in various disciplines provide facilities for campus recruitment and selection. Employment Agencies: These agencies or consultants perform the recruitment function on the behalf of a client company by charging fee. Line mangers are relieved from recruitment functions so they can concentrate on their operational activities and recruitment functions are entrusted to a private agency or consultants. These agencies are also called Executive Search Companies. Public Employment Agencies: The govt. set up Public Employment exchanges in the country to provide information about vacancies to the candidates and to help the organizations in finding out suitable candidates. Public sector and private sector industries have to depend on public employment exchanges for the specified vacancies. Professional Organizations: Professional organizations maintain complete data of their members and provide the same to various organizations on requisition. They also act as an exchange between their members and recruiting firms in exchanging information, clarifying doubts etc. Data Banks: The management can collect the bio data of the candidate from different sources like employment exchanges, educational Training Institutes; candidates etc. and feed them in the computer. It will become another source and the company can get the particulars as and when they need. Casual Applicant: Depending upon the image of the Organization, its prompt response, participation of the Organization in the local activities, level of unemployment, candidates apply casually for the jobs through mail or hand over the applications in Personnel Department. This would be a suitable source for temporary and lower level jobs. Trade Unions: Generally, unemployed or underemployed persons or employees seeking change in employment put a word to the trade union leader with a view to getting suitable employment due to latter’s intimacy with management. Similar Organizations: Generally, experienced candidates are available in organizations producing similar products or are engaged in similar business. The management can get most suitable candidates from this source. This would be the most effective source for executive positions and for newly established organizations or diversifies or expanded organizations. Advertising: Advertising is widely accepted technique of recruitment, though it mostly provides one-way communication. It provides the candidates in different sources, the information about the job and company and stimulates them to apply for jobs. It includes advertising through different media like newspapers, magazines of all kinds, radios, television etc. Employee referrals:
Friends and relatives of present employees are also a good source from which employees may be drawn. When the labor market is very tight, large employers frequently offer their employee’s bonuses or prizes for any referrals that are hired and stay with the company for a specific length of time.
Overtime
Help Wanted
e Ti m rt- ers Pa ork W
Temporary Workers
Em Le p lo y asi ee ng
Recruitment Alternative/ Search of Recruitment: • Overtime: Recruitment alternative are which current employees are asked to work extra hours. • Temporary workers: Join the organization to work a specific period of time, rather than with the expectation of permanent or continued employment. • Employee leasing: Where the organization pays a fee to a leasing company that provides a pool of employees to the firm. • Part-time: Workers are those who routinely expect to work less than forty hours a week.
Sources or methods for Selection: There is no standard selection process that can be followed by all companies in all the areas. Companies may follow different selection techniques or methods depending upon the size of the company, nature of the business, kind and number of persons to be employed, govt. regulations to be followed etc.
Application Form: It’s also known as application blank. This technique is widely accepted for securing information from the prospective candidates. It can also be used as a device to screen the candidates at the preliminary stage. Information is generally required on the following items in the application forms: a) Personal background information b) Educational attainments c) Work experiences d) Salary e) Personal details f) References Written Examination:
The organizations have to conduct examination for the qualified candidates after they are screened on the basis of the application blanks so as to measures the candidate’s ability in arithmetical calculations, to know the candidates attitude towards the job, to measure the candidate’s aptitude, reasoning, knowledge in various disciplines, general knowledge and English language. Preliminary Interview: The Preliminary interview is to solicit necessary in formation from the prospective applicants and to assess the applicant’s suitability to the job. This step is useful as a process of eliminating the undesirable and unsuitable candidates. Group Discussions: The technique of group discussion is used in order to secure further information regarding the suitability of the candidates for the job. Group discussion is a method where groups of the successful applicants are brought around a conference table and are asked to discuss either a case study or a subject matter. Tests: The next stage in the selection process is conducting different tests. The objective of tests is to solicit further information to assess the employee suitability to the job. The important tests are:
Aptitude Tests: These tests measure whether an individual has the capacity or latent ability to learn a given job if given adequate training. Aptitudes can be divided in to general and mental ability or intelligence or specific aptitudes such as mechanical, clerical, manipulative capacity etc. These are: Intelligence Tests: These tests in general measure intelligence quotient of a candidate. In detail these tests measures capacity for comprehension, reasoning, word fluency, verbal comprehension, numbers, memory and space.
Mechanical Tests: These tests measure the capacities of spatial visualization, perceptual speed and knowledge of mechanical matter. Psycho meter Tests: These tests measure abilities like manual dexterity, motor ability and eye hand coordination of candidates. Clerical Aptitude: Measure specific capacities involved in office work, items of this test include spelling, computation, comprehension, copying, word measuring etc. Achievement Tests: These tests are conducted when applicants claim to know something as these tests are concerned with what one has accomplished. These tests are more useful to measure the value of specific achievement when an Organization wishes to employ experienced candidates. These are: Job Knowledge Test: Under this test a candidate is tested in the knowledge of a particular job. Work Sample Test: Under this test a portion of the actual work is given to the candidate as a test and the candidate asked to do it. Situational Test: This test evaluates a candidate in a similar real life situation. In this test the candidate is asked either to cope with the situation or solve critical situation of the job. Group Discussion: This test is administered through group discussion approach to solve a problem under which candidates are observed in the areas initiating, leading, proposing valuable ideas, conciliating skills, oral communicating skills, co-ordination and concluding skills. In Basket Test: The candidate in this test is supplied with actual letters, telephone and telegraphic message, reports and requirements by various officers of the Organization, adequate information about the job and Organization. The candidate is asked to take decisions on various items based on the in basket information regarding requirements in the memoranda. Interest Tests: These tests are inventories of the likes and dislikes of candidates in relation to work, job, occupations, hobbies and recreational activities. Personality Tests: These tests prove deeply to discover clues to an individual’s value system, his emotional reactions, and maturity and characteristic mood. Objective Test: most personality tests are objective tests as they are suitable for group testing and can be scored objectively. Projective tests: Candidates are asked to project their own interpretation of certain standard situations basing on ambiguous pictures, figures etc., under these tests. Final Interview: Final Interview is usually followed by testing. This is the most essential step in the process of selection. In this step the interviewer matches the information abstained about the candidate
through various means to the job requirements and to the information obtained through his own observation during interview. Medical Examination: Certain jobs require certain physical qualities like clear vision, perfect hearing, unusual stamina, tolerance of hard working conditions, clear tone etc. Medical examination reveals whether or not a candidate possesses these qualities. Reference Checks: After completion of the final interview and medical examination, the personnel department will engage in checking references. Candidates are required to give the names of reference in their application forms. In case the reference check is from the previous employer, information for the following areas may be obtained. They are: job title, job description, period of employment, pay and allowances, gross emoluments, benefits provided, rate of absence, willingness of the previous employer to employ the candidate again etc. Final decision by the line manager concerned: The line manager concerned has to make the final decision whether to select or reject the candidate after soliciting the required information through different techniques. A true understanding between the line managers and personnel mangers should be established to take proper decisions. Employment: Thus, after taking the final decision the Organization has to intimate the decision to the successful as well as unsuccessful candidates. The Organization sends the appointment orders to the successful candidates either immediately or after sometime depending upon the time schedule. Costs of regarding Recruitment & Selection: Cost Analysis of Recruitment: Many aspects of recruitment, such as the effectiveness of recruiters, can be evaluated. Organizations assign goals to recruiting by types of employees. For example, a goal for a recruiter might be to hire 350 unskilled and semiskilled employees, or 100 technicians, or 100 machinists, or 100 managerial employees per year. Then the organization can decide who the best recruiters are. They may be those who meet or exceed quotas and those whose recruits stay with the organization and are evaluated well by their superiors. Sources of recruits can also be evaluated. In college recruiting, the organization can divide the number of job acceptances by the number of campus interviews to compute the cost per hire at each college. Then it drops from the list those campuses that are not productive. The methods of recruiting that are used by a company can be evaluated along various dimensions. In addition, the organization can calculate the cost of each method (such as advertising) and divide it by the benefits it yields (acceptances of offers). The organization can also examine how much accurate job information was provided during the recruitment process.
Another aspect of recruiting that can be evaluated is what is referred to as the quality of hire. This measure can provide management of the quality of new employees being recruited and hired. The quality-of-hire measure is calculated as follows: QH = (PR+ HP + HR) N Where, QH = quality of recruits hired PR = average job performance ratings (20 items on scale) of new hires (e.g., 4 on a 5-point scale or 20 items × 4) HP = percent of new hires promoted within one year (such as 35 percent) HR = percent of hires retained after one year (e.g., 85 percent) N = number of indicators used Therefore, QH = (80 + 35 + 85)/3 = 200/3 = 66.6% The 66 percent quality-of-hire rate is a relative value. It will be up to management to determine whether this represents an excellent, good, fair, or poor level. Some caution must be exercised with the quality-of-hire measure when evaluating the recruitment strategy. Performance ratings and promotion rates are all beyond the control of a recruiter. A good new employee can be driven away by a lack of opportunities for promotion, inequitable performance ratings, or job market conditions that have nothing to do with the effectiveness of the recruiter. Nevertheless, the quality-of-hire measure can provide some insight into the recruiter’s ability to attract employees. Cost Analysis of Selection: An organization has made a commitment to investigate what types of selection devices it will use, it must attempt to evaluate whether its efforts will be worthwhile. Ultimately, a large part of the answer to this question involves the utility of the selection process. Utility refers to the degree to which using a selection system improves the quality of the individuals being selected by the organization. Utility has two related components. Statistical utility is the extent to which a selection technique allows an organization to better predict who will be successful. Organizational utility, which is dependent, in part, on statistical utility, is a matter of costs and benefits. In other words, answering the question whether the selection system should be developed and used is ultimately an issue of whether it saves the organization more money than it costs. Generally speaking, an analysis of the costs versus the benefits of selection requires estimates of the direct and indirect costs associated with the selection system. Direct costs include such things as the price of the tests, the salary paid to an interviewer, and the equipment used in a work sample test. Indirect costs include changes in public image associated with implementing procedures such as drug testing. The organization must also estimate how much money it will save by hiring more qualified employees using the selection system. These savings can come from improved outcomes
such as higher levels of quality or quantity of output, reduced absenteeism, lower accident rates, and less turnover. Sometimes, when an organization’s managers see how costly systematic selection can be, they wonder whether it will ever have benefits. The answer to this basic question depends on many factors. But valid selection procedures can yield enormous benefits, especially in situations where the direct and indirect costs of hiring a poor performer are high. Imagine the costs associated with a single wrong hiring decision when airlines are selecting pilots. Pilot errors can cost the company millions of dollars in destroyed or damaged equipment, and no amount of money can offset the potential loss of human life that may be involved. One final note about selection and a cost-benefit analysis of it-the way that an organization hires employees is directly tied to other human resource programs. Perhaps the most important linkage is with training. Many trade-off decisions must be made between selection and training. At the very least, organization should realize that putting more money into selection can significantly reduce the amount of money it must spend on training, especially if the increased commitment to selection allows the organization to hire a more capable workforce. On line Recruitment & Selection Concepts: Organizations first started using computers as a recruiting tool by advertising jobs on a “bulletin board service” from which prospective applicants would contact the company. Then some companies began to take e-mail applications. Now some employers are not only posting jobs and accepting resumes and cover letters on-line but also are conducting employment interviews on-line. Advantages for such Internet recruiting by employers include:
Reaching more applicants. Having lower costs and faster response time frames. Tapping an applicant pool conversant with the Net.
Employers often begin the Internet search process by establishing an organization website and listing jobs on it. Alternatively, companies with a web page that specializes in posting job listings (an Internet job service)—much like the electronic bulletin board of days gone by— can be used by job seekers. Finally, online employment agencies can be used to post jobs and find applicants on the Net. One advantage of Internet recruiting is that it may improve the chances of contacting “passive job seekers”—those people who are not actively seeking work. Listing at popular job-search Internet sites is a good way to attract such browsing hightech workers.27 Indeed, recent surveys show that about 37% of companies now use the Net for recruiting, and the rate is increasing rapidly. Alongside the long-term growth in both temporary and permanent recruitment, there has been an explosion in online advertising. A generation ago the print media’s dominance in advertising looked unchallengeable but the emergence of the internet, the rise of job sites, the low cost and speed of advertising online, and companies’ use of their own websites has challenged that position. In 2006 recruitment advertising in print generated a total of £1.168 billion in revenues (down 13 per cent for the year) with online advertising worth £200.5 million (up 27 per cent).14 In a world in which 62 per cent of all UK adults are online, 50 per cent of internet users go online
each day and there are 12 million online job seekers in UK, the web is an increasingly important way of connecting with potential employees. As a result of this: • 65 per cent of FTSE 100 companies use the internet to recruit candidates. • 78 per cent of recruitment companies advertise job vacancies online. • UK job sites currently receive around 40 million visits per month. • Monster.co.uk alone has over two million CVs on its website. • Developing country like Bangladesh, also use online recruitment. About 77 per cent multinational company use the online recruitment now. • Bangladeshi website like job1, jobbd, and many other website is popular for jobseeker. The internet is also blurring the old, neat divisions between advertisers and recruiters. Websites are taking on some traditional recruitment functions, particularly where employers are looking to fill low-skilled jobs at minimum cost, while both employers and recruitment companies are investing in their online capability as a way of connecting directly with potential applicants. Necessity: Many big organizations use Internet as a source of recruitment. Online recruitment is the use of technology to assist the recruitment process. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae i.e. CV through e mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements. The necessities of online recruitment are: • Low cost. • No intermediaries. • Reduction in time for recruitment. • Recruitment of right type of people. • Efficiency of recruitment process. The main focus of the efficiency plan is better use of resources rather than expense reductions alone. The introduction of online recruitment may be an opportunity to use the saved recruitment resources to create a higher impact. Efficiency gains for the hr dept: Drastic reduction in overall cycle time for recruitment from inviting applications to recruitment. Reduction in the time for data entry and processing the raw data. Reduction in time from the traditional manual communication modes to the web based automation. Economies of scale in advertising spend Reduced advertising spend from fewer and smaller adverts. Reduced need for advertising in the local dailies. Saving in storage space for receiving applications and scrutiny. Reduced spending on temporary manpower for manual sorting /scrutiny.
HR staff carrying out higher value activities, for example workforce planning. Less HR staff time spent on basic recruitment tasks. Completely transparent and fool proof system with minimal manual intervention Easy handling of huge volume of data & maintenance of confidentiality. Final master database handed over along with an archival of the images for future reference. This may surprise you but technology in online recruitment is not expensive. By saving on time, design and print costs and targeting precisely the best sites for the best candidates, online recruitment is a very cost-effective option. Not only that, but the hours saved through automating the pre-selection process represent a considerable cost cut in terms of HR time needed to get candidates to the interview stage. Suddenly, HR staff has time to do more productive things. Advertising online opens up a much wider candidate pool than advertising in print. This gives you a much better chance of finding the right candidate for the job. Note, however, this is only a benefit if sifting, sorting and grading tools are applied to the applications coming in. Otherwise you'll have hundreds to go through manually which becomes a liability. As we said, the advertising is only part of the effective online recruitment. The pre-selection process can be tailored to individual companies' needs. This way, you can sift and sort candidates who meet your exact needs. Not only does this save time (and cost) it also results in a better quality of candidate reaching the interview stage having already established they meet certain key criteria. Automating the application process also gives a level playing field to all candidates - whether they come directly to your company's site, via a recruitment consultant or in response to a print advertisement. For many larger organizations, achieving consistency of handling candidates across many branches or regional offices can be a problem: online recruitment solves it. Improved ability to target specific audience. Huge saving in printing and postage costs. Not presently using the Internet. Cost of placing the job postings. Easier reach through the web. Distribution of postings. Absence of middleman. Resume management. Quality of candidates. Quality of service.
Less paperwork. Convenience. Speed. Benefits to the applicant: •
24/7 access via the Internet with support available through local libraries at no cost to the applicant
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Online status update in the website. Online redress of queries No need to contact departments in person/phone.
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Application packs and job details are available online and job applications can be submitted online, thereby enabling a process that is not dependent on postal systems.
Purpose: The buzzword and the latest trends in recruitment is the “E Recruitment”. Also known as “Online recruitment”, it is the use of technology or the web based tools to assist the recruitment process. The tool can be a job website like naukri.com, joba1.com the organization’s corporate web site or its own intranet. Many big and small organizations are using Internet as a source of recruitment. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements. Purpose of Online recruitment and selection: • Process of bringing the prospective employee & employer to stimulate / encourage the employee to apply for the job. •
Determine the present and future online requirements of organization in conjunction with its personal- planning and job analysis activities.
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Increase organizational & individual effectiveness.
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Increases the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.
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To search for talents globally & not within the organization.
Functions regarding online Recruitment & Selection: It is extremely important that HR managers find employees quickly to fill vacancies because otherwise the companies that they represent risk losing a lot of money. So what should HR managers do to find employees quickly and effectively? The answer to this question is easy for the companies that have embraced Internet job sites. Job ads can be posted on the Internet literally within 5 - 10 minutes:
The Internet has increased the speed by which job ads can be posted for job seekers. It is now possible to post a job ad which can be displayed to thousands of job seekers within minutes. Looking through ads is facilitated by key word searches that enable job seekers to find the job ads that are of interest to them, rather than having to wade through pages of job ads in the newspaper. Traditional methods have required for a job ad to be carefully prepared and formatted, keeping in mind that it should be short and to the point because of cost considerations. This has required for companies to prepare job descriptions that are described in brief. The result of short job descriptions can be catastrophic for HR Managers, because such ads often attract the wrong type of candidates. An inappropriate job ad can result either in a flood of resumes from unqualified candidates or in a complete lack of CV’s. Either outcome requires additional work from the HR Manager. Internet job ads do not have the space limitations of print job ads. The benefit for HR Managers is that they can now use longer job description that fully describe the company, company location, the job requirements and the working conditions offered. Some Internet job sites can even prepare company presentations in order for job seekers to get a better taste for the company and its culture. This has changed the traditional approach of HR Managers in preparing job ads. In effect HR Managers pass on some of the prescreening to the candidates themselves who are better able to decide whether they meet the job requirements and equally important, candidates can better decide whether they wish to work for the company in question as described in the company presentation. The result is a higher response rate to Internet job offers in comparison to candidates who respond to print advertisements by candidates who fully meet job requirements. This is a win situation for the HR Manager and the job seeker. The Internet enables HR Managers to instantly locate the employees that it seeks: Many Internet job sites also have candidate databases that companies can use to fill vacancies instantly. These databases can usually be searched through by key word searches and sorted by industry, location and other criteria. Such searches are facilitated by the fact that most candidates publish their minimal salary expectations which is very helpful for employers in determining candidate suitability for an opening. There are even some firms that enable employers to use their database free of charge, charging employers a percentage of each hire’s salary. Potential candidates can submit their job details to the CV database instantly using online forms that they fill out and send to the web site's database. Internet job sites ensure that their database is current by deleting submissions older than three months. Candidates that want their job details to be posted for longer periods must update their CV periodically. Job seekers all over the world have the same instant access to all data: The Internet enables for job advertisements to be accessed instantly by job seekers all over the world. This information is accessible to all job seekers regardless whether they live in Chicago or Jakarta. This has revolutionized recruitment, because for the first time it is possible to find candidates anywhere in the world without paying any extra charges. The only possible additional charge for companies is for relocation for hired candidates who live in other locations. Filling certain positions increasingly requires for HR Managers to search outside the company location. The revolutionary transformations taking place due to changing technology requires for companies to hire employees with knowledge of technology that did not even exist several years ago. Finding the ideal candidate for such difficult
positions to fill makes it more than worth it to pay for relocation charges. The savings accrued through the use of Internet job sites will more than make up for additional costs such as moving expenses. In addition, attracting skilled and experienced employees from outside the firm will allow the employer to save considerable sums that would otherwise have been required for training. Moreover, the company would not be wasting these training funds on potentially unproductive employees, because they would have already been weeded out by the former employer. The advent of Internet jobs sites has made recruitment an increasingly faster, more effective and efficient process. These new digital corporations make it possible for traditionally expensive newspaper advertisements to be replaced by digital ads that are many times less expensive than their printed counterparts. The popularity of this medium is on the rise, because access to this information is free of charge to job seekers who can efficiently and conveniently browse through job ads any time of day they desire. Employers are no longer limited by space considerations and can include much more about the job offered in their ads than could be done in the newspaper model. All this can be done instantly with just a click of the mouse. How It Works: Online recruitment and selection, e-recruitment and selection, or web based recruitment and selection is the use of online technology to attract candidates and aid the recruitment process. What this usually means is the use of a company's own website, a third-party job site or job board, a CV database or search engine marketing to fill vacancies. Careers websites or Company’s own website: Research suggests that the careers area of a company website is the second most visited area after the home page. People are always looking for careers opportunities so the use of a company's own website as an online recruitment resource is now common practice for many. Indeed, some companies integrate their careers sites to manage the entire recruitment process. Candidates not only apply for jobs via the website but these job applications are pushed through an online HR back-end where HR can monitor, rate and track applications, conduct psychometric tests, screen out unsuitable candidates and, in some cases, even set up interviews. Job sites and job boards: Most employers who have invested in any form of online recruitment will, at some time or another, use third-party job sites and job boards as part of their online recruitment strategy. Job sites and job boards are websites that advertise large numbers of job vacancies from many different recruitment agencies and employers. 'Specialist' or 'niche' job sites usually focus on particular job type, industry sector or location: For job seekers, job sites make searching for jobs much easier. Rather than having to trawl hundreds of employer websites, job seekers can find lots of vacancies in one place. Often job sites and job boards will provide daily emails of new jobs, up-to-the-minute RSS feeds, or SMS's of new vacancies. Many job sites and job boards allow job seekers to create online profiles and/or upload their CVs for recruitment agencies and employers to view. Job sites may also provide other services to job seekers such as careers advice, web forums, salary surveys etc.
CV Databases: A CV database is another important product in online recruitment. Candidates can upload their CVs to the CV database and these CVs are then released to recruitment agencies and employers to view and purchase. There are a number of dedicated stand-alone CV database providers, but many job sites and job boards offer access to CV databases as an additional service to basic vacancy advertising. Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Marketing is slowly becoming another element of online recruitment for employers. Search engine marketing for online recruitment advertising generally involves utilizing Per-Per-Click advertising on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to drive potential candidates to careers websites. However, search engine marketing for recruitment does require some specialist knowledge and largely remains the preserve of larger companies and recruitment consultancies. Smaller employers will generally only come into contact with search engine marketing when they engage an online recruiter. Online recruiters: Online recruiters are much like other recruitment agencies: they work with you to create a job specification, look after the advertising, screen applicants and provide you with a shortlist of the best. Unlike recruitment agencies, however, their sourcing techniques are all online. They advertise jobs on job boards, scour CV databases for candidates, and utilize social networks and search engines as recruitment tools. And, typically, they charge a flat fee for their service rather than a percentage of salary. Social Networking: Social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and professional networks like Linkedin offer employers another way of reaching potential employees. For many employers, their pages on social networks are often simply duplications of their careers websites. However, some companies are using "recommend a friend" and referral programs to encourage their current employees to promote vacancies to their friends on social networks. Again, however, using social networks to recruit can be resource-heavy and in the current candidate-rich market, it may be more work that it is worth. As you can see, online recruitment covers a wide range of activities in the digital media space. Obviously, success rests with choosing the most effective channel. In an ideal world you could use all of these channels. Realistically, there is seldom enough time for that. With this in mind, we would encourage smaller employers to use job sites and job boards as a starting point in online recruitment. Job boards offer the most cost effective and, perhaps more importantly for small and medium-sized companies, the most time-effective method of recruiting online. How the Online Recruitment & Selection Work: There is lots of online jobs website in Bangladesh. Like bdjobs, jobsa1, prothom-alojobs, jobsbangladesh, deshijob, apnarjob, jobsbd and much more. HR department of any company or job seeker search employee or job resume in this site. There are some steps we can follow for online search. They are‌..
Online Jobs Website
C.V Sorting
Written Test
Interview
Other Test
Final Selection
C.V of new jobseeker:
7.4.3 What the HR department of any company do: Every company has a different set of criteria and HR Portal tailors its services and products to meet individual needs. 7.4.3.1 First and foremost, you need to establish what you want. There are three main points of entry into the market: Media Buying: This is where you simply seek someone to place your adverts on the right job sites and negotiate the media rates. Sounds easy but in fact it can be a hit and miss affair if your adviser doesn't know the market particularly well.
Beware: There is a right and wrong way to buy online media advertising. There's a world of difference between posting your ads to the sites you think are right (because you've heard of them or their name sounds OK) and posting to sites you know are right (because hard quantitative data has proven they yield the best candidates for given jobs). HR Portal has been gathering this hard data for years and updates it daily. It is based on how many candidates respond to each vacancy from each job site. They are now also measuring candidate quality by job site. After all, it's better to target a smaller site that will yield a handful of suitable candidates than a bigger player that throws you hundreds of unsuitable people. And there's more... As a major player in media buying in its own right, HR Portal enjoys economies of scale with the job sites. These cost savings are handed on to its clients, enabling them to buy online media at a far reduced rate than they could achieve alone. Media Buying with Pre-Selection/Sorting: It is advisable to supplement your intelligent media buying with a quick, effective candidate handling process. This way, the true benefits of online recruitment will be realized. A good Application Service Provider will develop and tailor such a programmed to your business: don't just accept the cheapest programmed - it is unlikely to be flexible. Make sure it meets your needs. Insist it is tailored to your business and check there will be strong support to get it up and running and maintained. HR Portal is very service and support orientated: experience has shown that partnerships with its clients are far more fruitful than just selling and leaving. Furthermore, HR Portal finds that over time its clients' needs change: it is far easier to accommodate any updates and upgrades within an on-going relationship. The Full Monty: Well not literally as in the film, but an impressive display of skills and expertise nevertheless. HR Portal can take a job on from scratch: build the website, develop the candidate assessment and management software, identify the best job sites and post ads to them. By now you should feel more confident about venturing online to recruit staff. Once you've tried it out, you'll be unlikely to revert to print-only advertising. Online recruitment can offer so much more in terms of value, efficiency and effectiveness. It is the ultimate in flexible and responsive job advertising. But remember, if a job's worth advertising, it's worth advertising properly. Take time to research your options. Talk to some professionals in the marketplace and go for someone who can prove they have the right combination of media knowledge, buying power and software skills. Finally, make sure they will take time to understand your needs so you can invest in a partnership rather than a simple buyer/seller agreement. Tips for applying for a position online:
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Fully research the company's website. Test out the consumer experience on the website, to find out how that works.
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Don't be rushed to complete the application online in one go. Print out pages if you need more time to complete them. Take time to understand the approach.
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If possible, complete the form in an environment where you can concentrate.
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Answer all answers as honestly as possible. You will be asked about the answers you put in the online application in a later interview.
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Do searches for the company on the web. Get as much independent background information about the company as possible.
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Having completed the application once, don't fill it out again. This will produce duplicate applications, and will cause embarrassment for you.
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Make sure the email address you supply is one you check regularly, as employers will want to get back to you and will want a quick response.
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Write down user name and passwords for graduate websites for future identification.
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Make sure you have your CV in electronic format. This will save time, as most websites will ask you to upload your CV, and you can cut and paste it into the application form.
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Before submitting your form, double check you have answered all the questions you intended to, and have not left any gaps.
Problems of online recruitment and selection: Problem: • While you may wonder how too many candidates applying for your job could ever count as a disadvantage, it is a fact that dealing with inappropriate, irrelevant and bad candidates is the bugbear of many a HR manager. Candidate spam can waste a lot of time. However, with a bit of thought about what job site you use, how you write your job description and using candidate screening and filtering tools on job boards, it is possible to reduce the number irrelevant applicants. •
That's right. Online recruitment won't always work. Not every job vacancy you post can or will be filled online. There will always be difficult-to-fill jobs that can only be filled by recruitment consultants, headhunters or in other ways. However, most companies tend to hire for pretty standard job roles so this is seldom an issue. And with more and more job seekers choosing the internet to look for jobs, and more and more job sites and job boards specializing in ever more diverse areas, those difficultto-fill jobs are becoming fewer and fewer.
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Limit the applicant audience as the Internet is not the first choice for all job seekers.
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Cause applications overload or unsuitable applications if care isn’t taken drafting the job profile/specification.
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Exclude those who do not want to search for a new job online.
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Limit the attraction of those unable to fully utilize technology certain disabled groups.
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Give rise to allegations of discrimination, in particular the use of limited keywords in CV search tools. Make the process impersonal, which may be off-putting for some candidates. Impact on the ‘cultural fit’ dimension of recruitment.
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‘Turn-off’ candidates, particularly if the website is badly designed or technical difficulties are encountered.
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Lose out on candidates, especially if your own website is below the search engine ranking of your competitors.
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Base recruitment decisions on subjective information found after trawling the Internet for personal information on candidates.
Present problem of recruitment and selection practice in Bangladesh: •
Bribe in the name of donation
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Biased recruitment
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Unfair selection
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Quota based recruitment
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Unwillingness to recruit female candidates
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Political recruitment
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Recruitment biased by religion, groups and Recruitment biased by religion, groups and ethnic priority ethnic priority
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Not following a standard system
Prospects of online recruitment and selection: With more and more Bangladeshi businesses, including small and medium businesses, adopting information and communication technologies, HR managers in Bangladesh are increasingly resorting to online hiring. The benefits of online recruitment are many although there are a few problem areas as well. I am forecast at the costs and benefits of online recruitment.
The first and most important forecast of online recruitment is, of course, cost savings. Employing headhunters or advertising in the print media involves high costs. While print media advertising costs are in theory position-neutral - you pay the same column-centimeter rate whether you are advertising for top positions or for lower and middle level positions - in practice, recruiters tend to spend somewhat more on higher level recruitments and relatively less on lower and middle level positions mainly because they opt for better display ads for higher positions compared to lower and middle level positions On the other hand, costs of hiring headhunters is directly related to the position you are advertising as headhunters charge on a commission-on-salary basis so that the higher the position and salary the higher the costs. In contrast, online recruitment usually almost costs nothing compared to either print media advertising or hiring of headhunters and employers can achieve savings of up to 80% by recruiting through online methods. For example, small Technologies Company in Bangladesh needs argent employees. They needed a chief operating office and he needed him fast. But simply didn’t have the kind of money needed to either go for print media advertising or hiring a headhunter. He chose to advertise in his preferred business networking site joba1 or jobbd at a cost of only $1000. And, bingo! They got his man in almost no time. Second, online recruitment facilitates just-in-time hiring. When an organization needs a candidate it can access the database of job portals, screen resumes and send a mass mail. It can also shortlist people based on skills, location, salary and availability and move on to the interview stage. Third, online recruitment offers candidates the advantage of knowing the job profile, responsibilities expected and the nature of the organization, which are well defined at the outset. Regular communication with potential employees in the manual recruitment process is almost nil, whereas communication with job seekers and within the team is seamless in online recruitment. Recommendations While it is abundantly clear that online recruitment has inexorably altered the hiring process, its impact upon the overarching practices and principles of human resources and personnel management are not yet fully defined. At the current juncture, it seems as if the primary change has been a technological one, in which the newspaper help-wanted ads and snailmailed paper rÊsumÊs of the past have been neatly replaced with their electronic successors. In other words, although the tools we use have changed, most of the underlying principles that govern the recruitment process have remained basically unchanged. Today, the HR profession stands at a critical junction. We have been presented with the unique -- and formidable -- opportunity to help usher in a new paradigm that combines the best of both worlds -- the efficiency and unparalleled reach of the Internet with the high-touch, intuitive, and exceedingly human focus of traditional recruitment methods. Technology has been and will continue to be an important factor in this process, but we should bear in mind that it is a tool, rather than an end unto itself. Our overarching objective remains unchanged: as recruitment professionals, we are charged with the responsibility of
finding and keeping the best candidates. Online recruitment should be regarded as just one of the many techniques we use to achieve this goal -- no more and no less. Five steps to successful online recruitment for the HR department: Success in online recruitment depends very little on the vagaries of the internet and very much on careful planning and a clear step by step strategy. Here are our five steps to recruitment success. What job is it? First of all, identify the vacancy you are trying to fill. You'd be surprised how many employers start on the process trying to hire someone without a clear idea of what vacancy they are trying to fill. It is this lack of clarity which leads to too many people realizing, right in the middle of an interview with a candidate, that there is a lot more to the job than they realized. It can be a terrible waste of time for both you and the candidate. The easiest way to avoid this is to prepare a job specification. A job specification is a written document which outlines the duties of the job, skills required, personal aptitudes etc. A good job specification will let you see exactly what you are looking for and will not only help you avoid hiring the wrong person but also help you avoid hiring for the wrong job. Read our article, 'First things first: write a Job Specification,' for help on writing a job specification. And use our handy 'Job Specification Template' to write your job specification. What person is running things? Decide who is going to do what in the recruitment process. For example, you will need to pick someone to choose the job sites, post the ad online, reply to applicants, sift the CVs, write rejections, set up interviews etc. What's more, relevant line managers and interested parties will need to review applicants. All this requires management and following up. Individual tasks can be assigned to different people, but we would recommend that you assign overall responsibility for the recruitment process to one single person. As you know, splitting responsibility in any organization generally leads to failure. What job site to use? Using what jobsite can help you find relevant quality job sites quickly and easily. But, to be honest, using what jobsite isn't enough. You will still need to make a decision on what job board/s to use. For more help on choosing the right job boards read our article 'How to choose a job site'. You have to make sure that not only do candidates find your job ad on your chosen job board but also that they want to apply for it when they find it. To do that you have to write good ad copy. Writing job ads for job boards is different to writing ads for other recruitment media. Luckily, it's not rocket science and our article 'Writing job ads for job sites' will give you plenty of helpful tips. The important thing to remember is that you are writing a job advertisement: sell the job, sell the salary and benefits, sell the prospects, and sell your company. Make people want to apply for your job rather than one in another company. What about the response to the ad? If you are getting applications from wonderful candidates then you can sit back and thank the good Lord for the internet. If, on the other hand, response is poor either in terms of quantity or quality of candidates, then try to figure out what is wrong and fix it. It could be that the
salary is too low or that the ad is posted in the wrong sector on the job board. It could be one of many things but find out what the problem is and fix it. Talk to your client manager at your job board for advice. They know all about online recruitment. They can help. Luckily, unlike with newspapers, job seekers will come back to a job site the very next day, next week or next month to look for vacancies. In other words, you get a second chance. Take advantage of it! If you follow these steps we are sure that you will be well on your way to having a successful recruitment campaign. How to choose a job site or job board for the HR department: Choosing the right job site for your vacancy is fundamentally important to the success of your online recruitment campaign. If your job ad is on the wrong job site or job board, you won't ever fill it. Use what jobsite Okay, this sounds a bit cheeky, but we really are trying to be helpful. If you were to search the hundreds of job sites and job boards on the web, you'd spend weeks doing it ―we did! And Google isn't much help either. Google only gives you the job sites and job boards that have put effort into appearing high up in Google. That's no guarantee of how good they are as job sites. We've checked and verified lots of job boards so you'll be able to create a short-list of relevant job sites to advertise your vacancy. You can search all the approved job sites on our database via the search box above; if you are looking for a specialist and niche job site use the tick boxes or go to Advanced Search. You can also find more job boards in our A to Z directory of job boards. What's more, what job site profiles will answer many of the questions that follow? Is it free to search for jobs? Don't even look at a job site or job board that charges a candidate to search for a job. Simply move on to the next one. Why? Well, that's what the candidate will do. What jobsite does not include job sites and job boards that charge for job searching? Does the job site offer a 'jobs by email' service? A site that offers a 'jobs by email' service ensures candidates are kept up-to-date with new vacancies as they are posted to the site. This is another basic. All job sites and job boards should provide this service. Check what jobsite job site profile to see if your chosen site provides this service. Is there Account Management? Your job site or job board Account Manager can be a great source of advice and assistance and can help make sure your recruitment campaign is successful. Does the job site provide a person who will look after you during your recruitment campaign? You don't have to use the account managed service, but it's usually a sign of quality when a job board provides this. Again, check what jobsite site profile to see whether the job site provides an account managed service. Check the job site traffic.
A job site is only as good the job seekers and candidates using it. Before you advertise on a job board, you have to establish that those job seekers are the ones you are looking for. Most job sites will be able to give you a picture of who uses their site. They usually speak in terms of site visitors, unique users and registered users etc... (read our article 'Unique users, audited users, relevant users, registered users, email subscribers' to find out more about this.) However, at the end of the day, choosing the right job site comes down to choosing the one with the most job seekers looking for jobs like yours. And to find that out, there's nothing else for it but to ring them up and ask them. Check the job site for vacancies like yours If the job site doesn't carry jobs like yours then it won't be attracting people looking for jobs like yours. So there is no point in advertising on it. In addition, if there are jobs like yours make sure that there a good number from other employers. Having other employer jobs listed means that the site has been around for a while and has established itself as being good. If a job site only features jobs from recruitment agencies it's best to avoid it. Most job boards that feature only jobs from recruitment agencies tend to be just starting off or are dying. A healthy sprinkling of employer jobs is a good sign. Is there candidate screening or filtering? One of the most irritating aspects of recruiting online is applicant overload. Simply too many applicants apply for your job. Many job sites and job boards now offer the ability to prescreen applicants to ensure that only those that match your requirements go on to apply for your job. This simple tool can help to reduce the number of unsuitable applicants. How much does it cost? The bottom line: what's the cost? And how does it compare to other job sites and job boards? Is it more or less expensive? If it's more, why is it and do you think it's worth it? If it's less, why? As a general rule, specialist or niche job sites tend to cost more than generalist job sites. This extra charge can be worth it, but do check that the specialist has the audience you are looking for. A word on free job sites: With our very long experience in online recruitment we have found very few free job boards of any real value. Most of the time frees job boards are new and trying to break into a market or old and dying a death. Whichever the case, free job boards will have limited appeal for candidates and, therefore, limited appeal for you. It's not rocket science: if a site is good people will pay for it. Is there a CV Database? Many job sites and job boards allow employers to search their CV databases for relevant candidates. This can be an efficient way of finding the right person for a job. However, before you commit to purchasing this service, be sure to find out how up-to-date the CV database is, how much it costs to use it, and get an indication of how many relevant CVs there are on the database. 10.2.10 What other advertising services does the job site offer? Job posting is just the start. Banner advertising, home page buttons, company profile pages, online application management, candidate screening, job match services, keyword
sponsorship, email shots: all these additional advertising products can help to increase your chances of online recruitment success. Be sure to ask about what else is available. Conclusion When asked what she thought she had changed during her time as prime minister, Margaret Thatcher gave a reply that has since become famous: ‘everything’.90 This of course ignored questions as to whether ‘Thatcherism’ was the symptom or the cause of huge social change in that period. Nevertheless, what is clear is that as the twentieth century drew to an end, Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ had never been more visible. The West, including Thatcher’s Britain, had decided that it could not live without the market. With that choice settled, however, individuals, businesses and nations all around the world are faced with an equally important concern of how to live with the market. In business and in the labor market, organizations and individuals are coming to terms with a new set of sweeping changes across society, from mass migration and global competition to the rise of new technology. These changes are altering the demands that are made on organizations, the opportunities open to people and the nature of the workforce itself. And politically, both the left and the right in Britain are adjusting to a new era in which a market economy has become part of the mainstream, but the answer to what kind of market economy remains both contested and uncertain. Huge questions remain as to how to ensure that markets are fair and efficient, that people are best equipped to thrive within them and that as a society we are able to identify social challenges that will never be addressed through the market alone – however well it functions. This pamphlet has aimed to contribute to answering those questions by doing three things. First, offering a guide to those operating in the market for recruitment, from employers and recruitment companies to job seekers themselves, to the important trends shaping society – and their likely implications. Second, suggesting ways of improving the efficiency and fairness of the market for recruitment companies by giving that market a clearer sense of the future. Third, identifying a key set of social challenges which we believe will not be met through the market – and making recommendations designed to help address those challenges. Many big and small organizations are using Internet as a source of recruitment. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements. There are many benefits – both to the employers and the job seekers but the e-recruitment is not free from a few shortcomings. E-recruitment should be incorporated into the overall recruitment strategy of the organization. A well defined and structured applicant tracking system should be integrated and the system should have a back-end support. Along with the back-office support a comprehensive website to receive and process job applications (through direct or online advertising) should be developed. Therefore, to conclude, it can be said that e-recruitment is the “Evolving face of recruitment.” References 1. www.prothomalo.com 2. www.britishamericantobacco.com 3. www.google.com/search: Recruitment and Selection System of British American Tobacco Bangladesh Limited.
4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Peter J. Dowling, Denice E. Welch and Randall S. Schuler; “International Human Resource Management (Managing People in a Multinational Context)”; Third edition; International Thomson Publishing; p. 70 – 77, 80 – 90. David A. Decenzo, Stephen P. Robbins, Human Resource Management, Seventh edition, page: 157, 169-170, Gary Dessler; “Human Resource Management”; Seventh Edition; Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, India; p. 119,167,168. Aswa Thappa , “Human Resource Management”; Low Price Edition, page: John B Cullean; “Multinational Management (A Strategic Approach)”; First Edition; p. 419-420