Effective Talent Acquisition Through E-Recruitment: A Study: Aastha Tyagi

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International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol.2 Issue 3, March 2012, ISSN 2231 5780
EFFECTIVE TALENT ACQUISITION THROUGH E-RECRUITMENT: A STUDY

AASTHA TYAGI*
*Faculty HR, Institute of Management and Development, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
ABSTRACT In the rapidly changing global world economy, its important to keep pace with the competition and succeed. Today, one of the most crucial sources of competitive advantage is based on human resource efforts through attracting and retaining talented individuals. The internet has helped in attracting potential candidates to an organization from the recruitment process, which is referred to as E-Recruitment. The practice of issuing a vacant position and applying for a job via a website has increased steadily. The purpose of this paper is to broaden the research on the recruitment practices, with focus on E-Recruitment practices and trends in India, to identify what e-recruitment methods are being used and what benefits are being experienced by organizations using these methods. A number of methods will be used for the study including the interview method, surveys and the secondary data available. KEYWORDS: E-Recruitment, Internet-based Recruitment, Online Recruitment, Trends in Recruitment. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION The growth in the e-recruitment industry has been fuelled with the adoption of technology by prospective employers and Internet penetration. Organizations have cut costs by almost 80 percent over traditional recruitment modes by moving over to the online recruitment process. Dhruvakanth B Shenoy, Vice President-Marketing, Asia, Monster.com, India. Talent Acquisition is the process of identifying, attracting, engaging and retaining highly qualified and talented individuals. Acquiring and Retaining the best talent acts as competitive advantage, but it equally important and difficult to find the right person for the right job.The increased competitiveness in the recruitment market has led to organisations spending more time, effort and resources on developing their recruitment strategy. The Evolution of Internet has changed everything. Every day we read about business-tobusiness value networks being reconfigured or further products are becoming available via onwww.zenithresearch.org.in
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line. According to a survey by India Online 2011 in June 2011, there are 65 Million Active Internet Users in India as compared to 51 Million last year. TABLE 1: PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS FROM 2010 TO 2011 IN INDIA
*source: India Online 2011 In the Internet Era, the traditional method of recruitment has also been revolutionized. Earlier, the newspaper advertisements were the only formal external way of posting a vacancy and attracting potential employees. The local newspapers were used for hiring the local talent and national newspapers for PAN India. Internet is one of the greatest recruitment resources available to recruiters today for locating qualified job candidates, making newspaper advertising an obsolete recruitment method. E-recruitment has proved to be boon for the job seekers for over the past ten years. The internet is a medium which connects the job seeker and the employer for the recruitment purpose virtually. E-recruitment takes care of the entire recruitment process, from placing the job advertisements to receiving the resumes and selecting the right candidate for the right job, online in a simplified and cost effective manner. E-Recruitment is also referred as Online Recruitment, Internet-based recruitment. There are thousands of resumes available on the job portals of IT professionals. Over 120 million professionals use social network LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Monster.com has more than 2.5 crore registered jobseekers 20,000+ jobseekers registering daily and 20,000+ top companies use the job board for the purpose of hiring. This tells us, how the Internet is bringing radical change to corporate recruiting. Earlier, the pools of candidates from which companies could choose were limited. Companies could only hire the active job seekers, those who were unhappy with their previous jobs, or those looking for the entry-level positions. For the managerial positions, companies had to hire expensive headhunters. Today, attracting
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good candidates towards your company is just click away. Internet based recruitment facilitates just-in-time hiring. By simply logging onto the Internet, recruiters can access the database of job portals and find thousands of resumes of the qualified candidates for jobs at every level. Screening could be done within minutes, and the potential shortlisted candidates can be contacted immediately by sending a mass mail. Candidates ate shortlisted based on knowledge, skills, location preference, salary expectations and their availability and further, move on to the interview stage. TABLE 2: PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN THE USER ACTIVITIES ON INTERNET FROM 2010 TO 2011 IN INDIA Online Activity Emailing Search or products Web Info /images) buy % Internet Users Undertaking 95% non-travel 76% (text 74% 69% 62% 61% 59% 57% 54% 51% % change from last year +1% +32% +22% -3% +6% +8% +25% +1% -2% +22%
Search
Download Music Job Search Social networking Search or Buy travel products Instant messaging / chatting PC to mobile sms Pay bills online *source: India Online 2011
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RECRUITMENT PROCESS FIGURE 1: PROCESSES INVOLVED IN RECRUITING THE STAFF
Source: IES, 2005 Figure 1 illustrates the processes involved in recruiting the talented staff. A wrong recruitment process can incur the companies huge loses. So, for hiring right person at the right place, designing a zero-error recruitment method is important. The Internet can also be used to facilitate the processes of: attraction (advertising/recruiting), selection and assessment (screening and testing), and on-boarding (offering and closing, induction). Also, e-recruitment can be used, in parallel, to support applicant tracking and workflow systems. STEPS INVOLVED IN E-RECRUITMENT: The steps involved in the process of E-recruitment: STEP 1: IDENTIFY THE NEED FOR RECRUITMENT Job descriptions of various positions are created after analyzing the company's goals. Based on the Job Description of the vacant position, the job specification of the prospective candidates can be identified.
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STEP 2: DESIGN AN EFFECTIVE JOB ADVERTISEMENT The aim of a job advert is to attract interest, communicate quickly and clearly the essential (appealing and relevant) points, and to provide a clear response. Design should concentrate on clarity or text, layout, and on conveying a professional image. An effective job advert should clearly specify the Job Title, Company Profile, Job Description, qualification required and how to apply for the position. STEP 3: RESEARCH FOR THE FEASIBLE ONLINE RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING SPACE AVAILABLE Depending on the budget and the availability of the potential candidates, decide whether to advertise online on own companys website or solely on a recruitment site. STEP 4: HOW APPLICANTS WILL APPLY TO THE POSITION Consider whether the applicants should directly contact you through an email or a telephonic call. Candidates can also apply online on the companys website, adding themselves to the companys databank of resumes. STEP 5: ATTRACT CANDIDATES Post the job advert and attract potential candidates towards the company. The companies that use their corporate website for the purpose of recruitment, are either a well-known brand as an employer or take measures to drive job seekers to their website. Advertising channels like jobs boards or print media can be used to drive people to the site. STEP 6: SORT THE APPLICATIONS AND CREATE A TALENT POOL Screen the candidates based on the requirements of the job description of the vacant position. Also, the resumes of all the candidates can be kept as a talent pool and accessed at a later date whenever another vacancy arises. STEP 7: CONTACT THE SHORTLISTED
Contact and call the shortlisted candidates for the final round of interview immediately through phone calls or emails, before they are hired by another company. STEP 8: CLOSE THE DEAL Offer the job to the selected candidate. Once he accepts the offer, the deal is said to be closed. Else search for another potential candidate.
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METHODS USED IN THE PROCESS OF E-RECRUITMENT E-Recruitment can be done through: 1. THE CORPORATE WEBSITE The corporate website of the organization can be used for posting a job through a link for career options where the potential candidates can log in for the current openings. On companys own website, HR department has a choice of posting the vacancies freely and indicate the career path expected after joining the organisation. The corporate website attracts only the interested candidates towards itself. For attracting other candidates, other channels should be used. 2. COMMERCIAL JOB PORTALS OR JOB BOARDS The company can use commercial job portals (like www.naukri.com, www.timesjobs.com, www.monsterindia.com etc) for posting the job advertisements and search for talented candidates. 3. PROFESSIONAL WEBSITES Human Resource Management sites like www.shrm.org can also be used for the recruitment purpose. WHY E-RECRUITMENT? Internet gives 24 by 7 access both to the employers and the job. The benefits of E-recruitment for organisations include: 1. COST EFFICIENCY Job Advertisements posted on internet are cheaper as compared to those on newspaper or magazines. Posting the job vacancy on your own companys website costs nothing while posting on a job portal can cost few hundred rupees, whereas a newspaper advertisement can cost in thousands.
2. WIDER POOL OF APPLICANTS In the era of globalization, the pool of applicants has widened and crossed the national borders. Today, the youth is net-savvy and one can log on the internet from anywhere, at any time. 3. REDUCED PAPER WORK Administrative work is done electronically.
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4. FASTER PROCESS Internet speeds up the recruitment process. From hiring time to shortlisting the CV to calling candidates for the interview to the final selection has reduced. A job vacancy advertisement can be posted on a job site in the morning, the first applications arrive by lunchtime, and a candidate interviewed by the end of the day, saving the total time consumed in the process of recruitment and selection. 5. BETTER CHANCES OF SUCCESS The success of a job advertisement depends on the number of people applying for the job and hiring a qualified talent. The availability of a job vacancy advertisement on a job portal or companys website is 24 by 7. Interested Candidates can come back to it again and apply. DRAWBACKS OF E-RECRUITMENT 1. NEED TO BE COMPUTER SAVVY The process is restricted to computer savvy candidates only. At times, there are too many processes and clicks, making it difficult for a layman to apply online for a particular position. 2. LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
Just like the other sources of recruitment, this source should also be aware of the words used in the advertisements otherwise this may lead to the charge of discrimination. 3. VAST POOL OF APPLICANTS This benefits the Organizations as well as it is disadvantage to them. Thousands of resumes in the huge database cannot be scanned in depth. The resume of the candidates are generally shortlisted based on certain key words. Also, company can miss out on few good candidates. 4. LARGE NUMBER OF NON-SERIOUS APPLICATIONS A Lot of applicants forward their resumes just for the sake of forwarding the curriculum vitae. They do not check the job description and job specification before applying to the job. This increases and hinders employers work of shortlisting the right candidate for the right position. If at all, they are called for the interview, the recruiter realizes candidates non-seriousness.
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5. LOSS OF HUMAN TOUCH With the advancement of technology, it feels we are not dealing with the human being but the machines and the emails. Because of the long distances, the interviews are conducted telephonically instead of in-person. One has to rely only on the resume, the employer may not get a correct and full impression of candidate's personality leading to a wrong selection. CURRENT TRENDS OF E-RECRUITMENT 1. ONLINE NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTS All the national dailies are available on internet as epaper. The method of posting advertisement in newspaper attracts attention of both the newspaper readers and those who use internet for applying to the job. 2. SPEEDY COMMUNICATION Company and the prospective candidate can communicate with each other via blogs. The process is no longer restricted to one way communication like mails, faxes only. Podcasts are the services of digital media files. Vodcasts are the video podcasts. 3. CANDIDATES PREFERENCE Earlier the employers had the privilege to be selective in hiring process, especially in screening resumes but were not always correct. Because of the time limitations, it was not possible to go through all the applications. Today, the candidates have the right to be selective in posting the resume and choose their employers. 4. E-MAIL JOB ALERTS Today, the candidates get the job advertisements on their emails. Email alerts also help in tapping the passive jobseeker in the market. These people are still on work and are not looking for a vacancy seriously. But there is an opportunity of their choice, they can respond and apply. 5. RSS FEED The number of people sharing the information on how to the use the web more effectively to find a suitable role has gone up, making the usage of RSS feeders more. Today, the potential candidates get searches from Google and specific websites with upto-date listing of jobs in the market at anyone time.
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6. WEB 2.0 - SOCIAL NETWORKING Gaining a reputation through word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising the company. With the evolving Web 2.0 activities, lines of communication are created between like-minded people. This is done through user-generated content, via blogs, social networking, business community, discussion groups and recommendations online. Anything written online about organizations within community sites is considered to be worthy by the potential candidates, helping in the recruitment process. CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE E-RECRUITMENT 1. Companies use the E-recruitment process for simplifying the selection procedure. To make the process effective, the Organizations should be concerned about the Return on investment (ROI), which should be calculated to compare the costs and risks involved. It helps in calculating the benefits and measures the estimated return on investment. 2. In the era of globalization, the recruitment policy should be flexible and proactive, to adapt market changes. 3. Unemployment rate, labor turnover rate are to be considered. Remember, the whole process of recruitment depends on the availability of candidates in the market. For every vacant position in the company, it is not viable to spend too much of time and resources.
4. Impact of availability of compensation details in the job advertisement should be considered. Also, the wage, salary, benefits, when disclosed online, should follow the legal norms. Chance for negotiation will not arise. Compensation policy of the company will be known to the candidates. 5. Precautions to be taken while screening the resume online. Keywords that discriminates gender, age, religion etc to be avoided. 6. Company should be selective while choosing the site for posting the job advertisement. It should be clear whether to post the advertisement on companys own website or on a job portal available.
CONCLUSION Acquiring the best talent involves the planning, sourcing, assessing, hiring and on-boarding of top talent. Automating the Recruitment Processes helps companies in implementing the Best Practices of recruitment and hiring the best talent available in the market. This leads to a better employment opportunities through career websites and also provides more effective recruiting tools for selecting suitable candidates. Traditional methods of recruitment cant be replaced by the process of e-recruitment fully. It complements the traditional methods, making the recruitment process faster. Today, the
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recruiters acknowledge the benefits of using e-recruitment for attracting and selecting the best talent available in the market. E-recruitment method ensures efficient recruitment functions and helps busy line managers fill their vacancies in the best manner. E-recruitment has bought a radical cultural and behavioral change, both within functioning of the HR department and the potential candidates. In spite of the large number of companies and candidates using the E-Recruiting, there are still many possibilities to advance Understanding of e-Recruitment. Therefore there is further scope of research on if, how, and why the Internet increases performance for companys recruitment process, and how specific Internet recruitment methods attribute to this performance. REFERENCES 1. Braddy, P. W., Meade, A. W., and Kroustalis, C. M.( 2006),"Organizational recruitment website effects on viewers' perceptions of organizational culture," Journal of Business and Psychology. 2. Breaugh, JA, Starke. (2000), Research on employee recruitment: So many studies, so many remaining questions. Journal of management. 3. Cappali, Peter (March 2001), Making the most of Online Recruiting, Harvard Business Review. 4. Cober, R.T., Brown, D.J. and Levy, P.E. (2004) Form, content and function: an evaluative methodology for corporate employment websites. Human Resource Management. 5. Feldman, D. C. and Klaas, S. B. (2002), "Internet job hunting: A field study of applicant experiences with on-line recruiting," Human Resource Management. 6. Galanaki, E. (2002) "The decision to recruit online: a descriptive study," Career Development International. 7. Kuhn, PK.(October 2000) , Policies for an internet labour market. Policy options.
8. Lievens, F., Van Dam, K., and Anderson, N (2002)., "Recent trends and challenges in personnel selection," Personnel Review. 9. Lievens, F, Harris.(2002), Research on Internet recruiting and testing: Current status and future directions. International review of industrial and organizational psychology. 10. Maarten Veger, JA,(2006) How does Internet recruitment have effect on recruitment performance? 4th Twente Student Conference on IT, Enschede, University of Twente. 11. Millman, H. (1998), Online job sites boom, InfoWorld.
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12. Rozelle, A.L. & Landis, R.S. (2002), An examination of the relationship between use of the Internet as a recruitment source and student attitudes, Computer in Human Behavior. 13. Schreyer, R. & McCarter, J.(1998), Future face of recruiting, HR focus. 14. Singh, P. and Finn, D.(2003), "The effects of information technology on recruitment," Journal of Labor Research. 15. Yakubovich, V, Lup, D (2005), Hiring on the Internet: Do social networks matter? University of Chicago.
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EFFECTIVE TALENT ACQUISITION THROUGH E-RECRUITMENT: A STUDY

RECRUITMENT PROCESS FIGURE 1: PROCESSES INVOLVED IN RECRUITING THE STAFF

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