Question
Your term project stresses the application of an HRM topic that interests you.
You choose the topic and write about a 20 page, double-spaced, paper in 11 pt. font with 20+ non-annotated references cited summarizing the topic. Start with an executive summary, like an abstract. Finish with a section on the future of this topic. Organize your paper with subheadings like you see in business articles.
Notes:
1. Application means: ???How is the concept or tool used in organizations???? Use examples. A paper on automated selection systems would include an introduction to ASS, a description of several examples and how they are used to improve the validity of new-hire selection.
2. You may use any font you wish in 11 pt. This is Times New Romans font, 11 pt.
3. Start with an executive summary and finish with your judgment about the future of this topic. Please go beyond, ???In the future, companies will use more ASS.??? What specific actions or applications are likely in the future?
4. Use at least five scientific, peer-reviewed sources retrieved from our ASU online library database. Your bibliography does not have to be annotated for your term project.
5. Use footnotes or references, e.g. (Barnes, 2013) to reference quotes or ideas sourced from credible sources. Please do not make stuff up.
6. This is an individual project and must reflect your own research and thinking.
Chose a topic of interest to you and you will find delight in creating your term project.
Name. Please put your name and OMT 452 in a header or footer on your work.
Answer
The Emergence of E-recruitment in HRM: Successes and Challenges
Contents
Introduction to E-Recruitment. 2
The Evolution of E-Recruitment. 5
Challenges of E-Recruitment. 10
The rationale for Employers’ Use of E-Recruitment. 11
How to Carry out E-recruitment. 13
Suggested Improvements in the E-Recruitment Process. 17
The Future of E-recruitment: Specific Applications That Are Likely to Emerge. 18
Executive Summary
E-recruitment traces its origin to the emergence of the internet and the World Wide Web. Since the 1990s, e-recruitment practices have been evolving in response to technological developments, although a lag has often been experienced because of some companies’ reluctance to adopt the new method of recruitment. Despite these challenges, the process of adopting e-recruitment and consequently phasing out traditional paper-based recruitment methods is on course. Some companies are using both internet-based and traditional recruitment methods while others have switched completely to the world of e-recruitment.
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This paper sets out to investigate the successes and challenges of e-recruitment as well as suggested improvements and future prospects for this new approach to human resources management. The paper’s findings show that e-recruitment is beneficial in many ways for both employers and job applicants and will continue to be embraced across the corporate world. The findings also suggest that although employers can sometimes be overwhelmed by the huge number of job applications, they can transform this challenge into an opportunity by adopting innovative e-recruitment tools, systems, and processes that make it easy for data to be analyzed in a manner that yields the best talent pool in a cost-effective manner.
Introduction to E-Recruitment
E-recruitment, also known as online recruitment or internet recruitment, is a method of recruitment whereby the internet is used as a medium of communication for both job-seekers and employers. It constitutes one of the most significant changes in the field of human resource management. Some companies have begun depending solely on online applications, thereby eliminating hard-copy applications. Online recruitment is advantageous in many ways. For example, it enables applicants to send applications very easily and quickly. Similarly, it enables employers to give timely responses to job applicants. Some online recruitment methods involve administering selection tests, which go a long way in reducing the amount of time that HR departments spend generating a pool of suitably qualified job candidates. For most job seekers, online recruitment provides a major convenience because a mouse click is all that it takes for an application letter to be submitted to a prospective employer.
The downside of this recruitment method is that it may create a situation where HR officials find it difficult to filter out the numerous applicants received in order to eliminate those who lack the minimum job qualifications. The ease with which online applications can be submitted often translates into thousands of job applications, and sorting through all of them in search of the most qualified job candidates can be an arduous task. Nevertheless, the use of these methods is becoming widespread, and employers are increasingly seeking to address emerging challenges while at the same time exploiting new opportunities. Although online recruitment has not become as dominant as pundits had initially anticipated, it is still one of the recruitment methods that companies continue to depend on in their hunt for talented employees.
Mixed outcomes may be said to have been realized following the use of internet recruitment. This means that the much-hyped “recruiting revolution” that was anticipated when the Internet was first used as a recruitment tool has not taken place (RoyChowdhury and Srimannarayana 190). Although recruiters have derived immense benefits through e-recruitment, the method has not yet revolutionized HRM. Radical changes in the process of recruitment are yet to occur. This is mainly because many employers continue to depend on a mix of online and traditional selection methods. Moreover, one may argue that the success of these methods is dependent on how they are used in specific contexts. If used properly, e-recruitment can enable companies and government agencies to hire the right people for the available positions (Selden and Orenstein 36).
Recruitment is important because it entails bringing into the organization a strategically important resource –human capital. Organizations that attract and retain a talented workforce are able to establish a competitive advantage. This argument is particularly important when one views HRM from the resource-based point of view. In this regard, organizational executives must always be wary of recruitment difficulties and labor market shortages. In fact, these factors are responsible for the highly competitive recruitment market that has emerged since the turn of the twenty-first century. As employers continue to compete for the best talent, there has been a paradigm shift from selecting employees to attracting them. In this undertaking, companies endeavor to build the “employer of choice” image in order to position themselves as targets for professionals of the highest quality. One way in which such talented workers are expected to communicate with those companies is internet recruitment.
Indeed, online recruitment methods have become increasingly popular during the last decade. According to Sylva and Mol, 50 percent of new hires in the United States are from online sources (315). Similarly, online recruitment has become very popular in the UK, with 64 percent of all UK organizations using the recruitment method to hire new employees(Bondarouk, Ruël and Louise 160). Based on these observations, one would expect corporate spending on internet recruitment to increase. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of literature on this area of study. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that this is a relatively new research area. For the most part, it seems that the dominant perspective is that of job candidates rather than that of employers.
Today, it is inconceivable to think of an HR department that operates without relying on the Internet at one point or the other. Frequent innovations have made it possible for HR information systems to be improved, thereby leading to the emergence of the concept of E-HRM or Electronic human resource management (Dhamija 35). E-HRM entails the use of the internet and related technologies to carry out various activities relating to the management of human resources. In other words, various technological tools are used to implement HR policies, strategies, and practices in a company through the support of channels that are based on web technology. It is in this context that internet recruitment is being used to select new employees to fill vacant positions.
In e-recruitment, vacancies are posted on the hiring company’s website or a recruitment agency’s website. Applicants who are interested in the position and who happen to see the advert send their applications by sending their resumes via email or any other online portal stipulated in the advert. This approach is normally preferred by many companies because it enables them to save on numerous routine administrative tasks relating to the recruitment process.
Demographic trends have greatly contributed to a situation where many companies are investing heavily in the development of an e-recruitment strategy. More young professionals continue to become internet savvy, meaning that the best way to target them is through online recruitment. Financial problems have also made e-recruitment to become a viable alternative to the traditional methods of recruitment. With internet recruitment, application costs are reduced both from the perspective of the employer and that of the employee. Furthermore, technological developments have made it easier for information to be shared across the workplace and even industry. This increases the probability that the hiring company will find the best candidate for the opening. The main disadvantage of reduced application costs is that they easily lead to a huge number of unqualified or underqualified applicants. This phenomenon forces companies to become innovative by looking for ways of improving their screening mechanisms.
The Evolution of E-Recruitment
The emergence of the internet as a recruitment tool may be traced to the early 1990s. Its use was hyped in the media, leading to claims of an impending “recruitment revolution”. Pundits predicted that the future of the recruitment industry was on the internet. Many companies that considered themselves highly innovative endeavored to be at the forefront of efforts to use the internet to meet their employee selection needs. It seems that these pundits were correct because the internet has emerged as the single force that has brought about the most far-reaching changes in recruitment. Because of the internet, the link between job seekers and employers is more intimate than ever before. The growing level of sophistication and interactivity in corporate recruitment websites and online recruitment agencies’ portals makes it easy for employers to communicate with prospective employees.
Since the 1990s, the world of internet recruitment has been undergoing numerous changes (Dhamija 35). Similarly, the manner in which job candidates are recruited by human resource departments has undergone a significant level of transformation. Initially, the internet was being used only as a platform on which job adverts could be placed. This activity was being carried out mainly through online adverts involving publishers, job portals, state employment agencies, and clients’ HR websites. With time, the scope of internet use was extended to address ways of attracting employees, mainly by contacting them. This was being done primarily through email applications and online communication. Companies even started sending email messages notifying applicants about interview outcomes. More recently, employers have even started designing online application tests aimed at filtering applicants for job suitability. Tests were introduced because the sheer convenience of the application process led to an outpouring of applications that overwhelmed many employers. In such situations, HR managers were concerned about the increasing chances of making the wrong selection choices, hence the need to introduce online application tests.
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The latest phase of evolution in internet recruitment takes the form of online interviews. During the earlier phases of internet recruitment, candidates could submit applications and even do an online application test. However, it was the norm for the final interview to be conducted in an offline, face-to-face setting. With the latest technological developments in place, employers have started embracing the idea of online interviews. Video conferencing has emerged as one of the greatest enablers of online interviews. Because of these developments, many HR researchers and practitioners expect that the internet will replace other media as the primary method of recruitment (Parry and Wilson 655). However, it may be necessary to view this prediction with cautious optimism because the adoption of online methods of recruitment has so far not been as revolutionary as many people predicted during the mid-1990s. For example, many companies in the UK are yet to embrace online recruitment. Moreover, many of those that have adopted it have chosen to retain traditional techniques such as the use of recruitment agencies and newspaper adverts (Parry and Wilson 655). Meanwhile, opportunities for assessing the exact extent of the adoption of internet recruitment will present themselves once more research studies that address the issue from the perspective of employers become available.
Benefits of E-Recruitment
Internet recruitment is beneficial in numerous ways. However, it has become common for researchers to claim that the advantages of internet recruitment are sometimes overstated (Verhoeven, Helen and Williams 365). In some cases, findings relating to an appraisal of internet recruitment have sometimes tended to be contradictory, such that some of the advantages can also be viewed as disadvantaged whenever they are looked at from a different perspective. Moreover, aspects that may seem advantageous to employers may turn out to be disadvantageous to employees and vice versa. Additionally, all companies cannot benefit from internet recruitment in the same way. For example, larger companies tend to attract more qualified candidates because they visit the companies’ websites more often. Conversely, smaller companies are easily disadvantaged by this recruitment method because their websites are relatively unknown by many job seekers, meaning that it is harder for them to establish a pool of qualified job candidates.
Meanwhile, there are many benefits that apply across the board as far as the use of internet recruitment is concerned. To begin, with, this recruitment method makes it easy for HR officers to dispense with the recruitment process. However, not everyone agrees with this view, especially in light of the numerous applications that employers receive, thereby making the pre-selection and selection tasks arduous. An ideal way to explain the advantage of convenience is by emphasizing the centrality of real-time interaction in the entire process. With e-recruitment, employers can post an advert for a vacant job post and begin receiving resumes and application letters immediately (Ramaabaanuand Saranya 448). This means that the cost of hiring employees also becomes cheaper. The element of cost reduction arises because of the greater level of flexibility that comes with the online process. For example, an employer can decide to publish a job posting in an online job portal for a limited time before pulling it down upon receiving a considerable number of applications from qualified candidates.
Other major advantages include a wider reach for employing companies and institutions, access to filtration tools (Braddy 18), increased confidentiality (Ramaabaanu and Saranya 448), and opportunities for corporate branding. The wider reach occurs because many people from different parts of the world and across the corporate and industrial divide are able to access the job posting and to respond by submitting applications. Once they gain knowledge about the availability of the job opportunity, it only takes them a mouse click to submit applications. Moreover, job seekers can post their resumes online, such that employers can contact them directly whenever job positions become vacant without even having to advertise those opportunities.
In terms of accessibility to filtration tools, one has to look at the enormous technological capabilities that have been taking place in the world of the Internet. In this regard, it is evident that filtration tools become a basic feature in virtually all websites. Similarly, a high level of sophistication is increasingly emerging in existing corporate websites, particularly those that handle online applications, with a view to filter candidates and screen them to determine their suitability for the advertised positions. If used well, these filtration tools can facilitate an efficient process of identifying the most qualified candidates. Similarly, using the internet for hiring purposes can potentially increase the level of confidence that can be afforded during the entire process. For example, companies can seek to fill a highly sensitive vacant post by searching the existing databases instead of posting the job vacancy online for everyone to see. At the same time, job candidates may easily keep their personal details confidential when they apply via online platforms such as Email.
In terms of brand building, job adverts provide an opportunity for companies to outline their core values. In many cases, job applicants use those descriptions as a basis for making a decision on whether to apply for the advertised positions. Companies that promote specificity and consistency in their core values, mission, and vision are likely to build a strong brand that easily attracts the most talented workforce in the labor market. Under these circumstances, any misunderstanding between the employer and the prospective employee can be sorted out expeditiously without creating a situation where the company’s reputation is put at stake. In many cases, HR officers are able to filter candidates without the involvement of any external agencies, thereby giving them insights into the level of competitiveness and talent availability in the labor market. This enables the hiring organizations to develop branding strategies that enable them to attract and retain the most qualified staff.
Challenges of E-Recruitment
Several challenges are being experienced by companies that use e-recruitment to identify qualified candidates for available job positions. Among these challenges is the high number of candidates that submit their applications (Shahila and Vijayalakshmi 119). Since some of the applicants, unfortunately, do not meet the minimum requirements, employers are compelled to develop sophisticated filtering tools as a way of ensuring that every individual whose application is considered for the next level of evaluation at least meets all the minimum qualifications stipulated by the HR department.
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Additionally, it can be difficult to ascertain whether a candidate is actually suitable for a job position unless that person is physically present in a face-to-face interview. This challenge is mainly posed to employers who rely on internet interviewing. When an overwhelming number of applicants who are not qualified for the job submit applications, the cost implications can enormous to the point of rendering the online method counterproductive. In this regard, many companies that are keen to protect their positive image and brand face an enormous responsibility of responding to each application in the right manner. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to limit the geographical reach of job adverts in the online world, an indication that this challenge may persist for a very long time.
On a different note, internet recruitment sometimes attracts negative perceptions from company executives, especially those who to use traditional management approaches. To them, it is better to use the traditional methods of recruitment that have been tried and tested for decades if not centuries. These perceptions arise mainly from technophobia among the older crop of corporate leaders. In many cases, questions regarding the credibility and safety of online recruitment tend to dominate the debate about the challenges of using the internet to hire workers. Similarly, some applicants have gotten so used to the traditional method of submitting applications that something feels terribly wrong about switching to the online mode of communicating with a prospective employer. Again, such feelings are driven primarily by negative perceptions and misconceptions about the viability and appropriateness of the internet as a recruitment tool.
Additionally, poor recruitment performance may occur because of a lack of familiarity with the new approach among some employers and job candidates. Indeed, many employers are used to the “you-find-us” approach to recruitment, yet online platforms promote the “we find you” approach (Suvankulov 12). In the former approach, the employer searches for qualified candidates while in the latter approach potential job applicants must take the initiative to respond to job postings. Although this distinction fails to capture all the subtleties in terms of differences between online and offline recruitment methods, it portrays a good picture of challenges that employers are likely to encounter following a switch from traditional recruitment methods to internet recruitment.
The rationale for Employers’ Use of E-Recruitment
In every organization, HR managers are often faced with the need to make a decision on the method of recruitment to use. In most cases, they look at the benefits that each method has to offer vis-à-vis the challenges to be encountered. However, it is surprising that many recruiters also use subjective assumptions and misconceptions about a recruitment method instead of relying exclusively on the success, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of the method (Ruel, Bondarouk and Van der Velde 284). In regards to online recruitment, employers are increasingly facing the challenge of assessing all variables to determine how it can be used to bring about maximum success in terms of workforce quality and quantity. Such research can go a long way in facilitating the realization of the potential of this recruitment in the job market. Such a development would have implications for both the employers as well as those who provide internet recruitment platforms.
One particular aspect of internet recruitment that can be developed to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness is the maintenance of an HR database of potential employees. Such a database can be built rather easily using this recruitment method because of the existence of online data management tools that provide for this possibility. E-recruitment is increasingly being integrated into the dynamic marketplace of today with a view to establishing revolutionary structures that can enable companies tap into the most talented workforce.
Moreover, it is a good thing to look at e-recruitment within the wider lens of e-HRM. Indeed, many organizations that embrace innovative practices are increasingly adopting this view as a way of integrating their HR activities within the overarching realm of e-commerce. For such organizations, the need to adopt e-recruitment on a fully-fledged basis arises from the realization its impact in the contemporary job market is undeniable (Kalambi 53). Indeed, e-recruitment has greatly contributed to the adoption of online approaches to other HR tasks and sub-tasks. For example, companies are increasingly embracing global-oriented employee retention, training, appraisal, and development practices using the power of online media. By drawing on the pool of knowledge being accumulated on various online HRM platforms, employers can learn about the challenges and opportunities of embracing e-recruitment based on new trends and developments.
In this case, a dominant issue that poses a major challenge relates to the power of online recruitment in linking prospective applicants to the employer. As the scope job market continues to expand, organizations are increasingly facing the need to source their workforce from different parts of the world. This is a difficult undertaking, and companies that are relying on internet recruitment tend to have their doubts on whether the workforce that they have assembled is the best there is out there. Although internet recruitment is a viable tool for reaching out to a talented workforce in a globalized job market, it may also be shroud in unique bottlenecks because the online space is becoming very crowded. It takes a lot of innovation for even the most renowned companies to attract the attention of the most talented workforce in this crowded environment where practically anyone can publish a job posting that seems to offer extremely exciting career opportunities to the most qualified professionals.
Indeed, the crowdedness of the online space has raised serious questions among job candidates and employers alike regarding its reliability. These are fundamental questions that have practical implications on the limits people are likely to impose regarding the use of this recruitment method. Moreover, answers to these questions can greatly influence the preference for certain approaches to internet recruitment and the tendency to shun those other approaches that they consider inefficacious.
How to Carry out E-recruitment
Internet recruitment basically involves three steps: preparing and placing a job announcement on the internet, processing income applications, and communicating with applicants. In the first step, recruitment personnel simply construct before selecting appropriate online platforms to place them. Just like in the case of traditional methods of recruitment, the online approach requires the recruitment staff to include specific design requirements such as size of the advert, quality of content, and graphic design. In most cases employers prefer to place these job adverts on their corporate websites. Additionally, internet database systems and job portals are becoming increasingly popular avenues of online recruitment. In many cases, employers rely on email communication to send the job adverts to the relevant online database or job portal.
The objective of this step is to attract applicants using the most appropriate e-recruitment platforms and techniques. Other than corporate, internet resume databases, and internet job portals, employers may use specialized websites that offer e-recruitment assistance services to companies and organizations. Another viable alternative is professional networks such as LinkedIn, which specialize in professional profiles of subscribers.
For operational efficiency, the e-recruitment system being used by the employer should be easy to use. For instance, it should provide tools that enable the HR officers responsible for placing the job announcements to reformat older job descriptions, texts, and graphics when designing new vacancies. At the same time, the recruitment team should be allowed to work in an environment where there is the freedom to choose the most ideal content template for specific job vacancies. Similarly, the process of transferring information from various computer programs to the online portal should not be tedious. In other words, the whole system should be integrated in such a way that one or several mouse clicks send out data to different media. Many companies are keen on adopting new improvements as soon as they become available as part of the wider process of technological advancement. Indeed, improvements in technologies constitute a much-sought development at this stage because of the high level of dependence on technical capabilities of e-recruitment tools that is exhibited by employers.
Upon placing the advert, employers start receiving applications, which they promptly begin registering and sorting. In many cases, this task tends to be fully automated. It is followed by a move by HR officers and line managers to review every application based on the data that has been captured by the e-recruitment system. At this stage, they begin identifying and ranking applicants as part of the selection process, which may also require them to rank the applicants, albeit on a tentative basis. Some organizations expressly indicate that they will not accept paper-based applications while others allow candidates to submit these forms of applications. In the latter case, the HR officers must transfer the paper-based applications into the e-recruitment system. An important observation to be made at this stage is that pre-screening may sometimes be carried out simultaneously with the task of receiving and registering incoming job applications.
Owing to the high number of applications that employers expect to receive after placing a job advert online, there is always a need to develop an automated system for processing those applications. In this case, full-automation works best for most employers although some prefer to go with partial automation. It would be virtually impossible for the first phase of pre-screening to be undertaken manually; the approach would be tedious and counterproductive. In the traditional approach that involves paper-based recruitment, incoming applications are normally pre-screened manually, but this process is normally tedious. In fact, some job seekers submit their applications at the earlier possible time based on the assumption that this increases the chances that their application letters will be among the first ones to be examined. The gist of the argument here is that late submissions may be looked at by a tired recruitment officer who may be too fatigued to identify the applicant’s greatest strengths. Whether this assumption is correct or not, it lends credence to the laborious task of pre-screening job applications. The task becomes even more complex in e-recruitment because of a larger number of applications are involved, hence the need for automation.
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The third stage entails communicating with applicants, where they are informed about the pre-screening results. The communication also provides details on how interviews with the shortlisted candidates will be arranged. Most companies also send email messages to rejected applicants through the internet recruitment system. Sometimes, though this is not a widespread practice, the HR staff may deliver the rejection messages via a telephone call. In e-recruitment, the first pre-screening stage may be followed by other online tests in order to filter out less qualified candidates. In many companies, line managers are increasingly taking up this role, whereby they arrange telephone interviews with applicants to ascertain their suitability for job positions. Some advanced corporate websites have even created e-calendars that facilitate automatic scheduling of interviews for job positions advertised online. This practice enables the HR team responsible for e-recruitment to stick to the stipulated timelines.
Nevertheless, e-recruitment sometimes involves an overlap between the tasks of attracting job candidates and communicating with them. This is simply because the e-recruitment is designed to work that way as a way of increasing efficiency. For instance, the automation features of most e-recruitment systems make it possible for applicants to receive immediate notifications indicating that the employer has received their applications. It also facilitates prompt sending of notifications to applicants whose applications have been rejected. These messages are normally sent even before the employer has formally filled the vacancies, thereby signifying an overlap between the processes of attracting and communicating with prospective employees.
To many employers, this overlap is necessary because it portrays a positive image of the company based on its unwillingness to keep job candidates waiting needlessly for a long time only to receive rejection notifications. Some companies even develop advanced e-recruitment features in their corporate websites whereby candidates can submit their application documents and keep monitoring the status of their application from time to time. Such features demonstrate that it is rather difficult to draw a definite line that separates different stages of the e-recruitment process. Nonetheless, such additional features should be embraced as long as the objective is to enhance the efficiency of the entire e-recruitment process.
One more thing that should be noted in this e-recruitment process is that similarities with traditional recruitment approaches begin to emerge gradually as recruiters proceed from one stage to the other. Moreover, one may expect that with time, e-recruitment platforms will involve in order to ensure that more of the selection-related tasks and sub-tasks are conducted online. For example, some employers have started embracing the idea of holding interviews over the internet instead of insisting on a physical meeting.
Suggested Improvements in the E-Recruitment Process
A number of suggestions have been made in the literature on how to improve the e-recruitment process. Similarly, the present discussion provides insights into some of the changes employers should put in place to harness the full potential of e-recruitment as a viable method of attracting the most talented workforce. To begin with, it may be a good idea for a company to outsource its e-recruitment department as a way of dealing with emerging challenges, chiefly absence of technical know-how within the department as well as financial constraints. Since e-recruitment is still an emerging trend as far as HRM practices are concerned particularly in emerging economies, it is important for more elaborate structures for outsourcing to be established (Tong 288). Such improvements will encourage more employers to embrace e-recruitment as a valuable platform for both employers and employees (Poorangi, Seyedehfatemeh and Rahmani 76). In this process, emphasis should be on eradicating communication barriers, particularly in cross-cultural contexts.
Another suggested improvement involves integrating e-recruitment and marketing functions (Sharma 24). In recent times, the hiring process has become closely interlinked with that of marketing. Employers are increasingly approaching prospective employees in more or less the same way that they approach prospective customers. For instance, the tasks and subtasks that a company undertakes during e-recruitment speak volumes about its brand and corporate image. The same may be said regarding a company’s choice of corporate marketing strategy. Thus, integrating both functions can go a long way in strengthening the kind of brand being built. The resulting improvement in the corporate image can go a long way in creating a corresponding competitive advantage in both marketing and e-recruitment. For example, a company can design a home page of its website in a manner that not only delivers marketing pitch but also sends a message to potential employees regarding career prospects.
Moreover, companies that intend to rely fully on e-recruitment need to maintain career websites. They need to consider this activity an ongoing task that, unlike in traditional recruitment, does not depend on hiring cycles. On the contrary, the website maintenance task should promote the element of interrelatedness among different hiring cycles, a practice that can also contribute to the creation of a unique corporate brand (Parry 1149). An additional improvement that can enable job seekers to send their applications with ease is an advanced candidate tracking system, which would notify candidates on the need to update the information that they have already uploaded to the database. Other areas of improvement include increased use of social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter as e-recruitment tools(Doherty 11) as well as the introduction of enhanced features in web-based tests to ensure that they are as good as, if not better than, their pen-and-pencil counterparts (Lievens and Harris 131).
The Future of E-recruitment: Specific Applications That Are Likely to Emerge
The future is bright for companies that have started adopting e-recruitment in an attempt to adapt to the globalization of the labor market (Kalambi53). For such companies, one area where they are continually being compelled to focus on is the improvement of the features that are contained in the career sections of their corporate websites. The reason for making these improvements is to enhance the usability of the websites for job applicants as well as the recruitment staff. Moreover, web-related technology keeps changing, hence the need to introduce new features, tools, and capabilities. In doing this, employers are essentially working towards bridging the science-practice gap that constitutes one of the greatest challenges in e-recruitment(Garcia-Izquierdo, Aguinis and Ramos-Villagrasa 432). This gap exists in the sense that whenever new technological developments emerge, companies tend to delay in implementing them for various reasons, including misconceptions, negative attitudes, and fear of change.
Equally important is the need for employers to develop the capacity to handle enormous data in their career websites. Few companies have fully exploited the potential that numerous applications have in terms of creating talent pools that can be relied on as drivers of growth within organizations. Thus, many companies are expected to introduce innovative tools that make it easy for recruitment staff to analyze the data and for the applicants to update their information easily. It is just a matter of time before these tools are introduced because employers have started acknowledging that the wealth of information that is being availed to them by applicants is not being exploited maximally.
Conclusion
E-recruitment is a new phenomenon in human resources management that entails the use of the internet as a medium of communication for both job-seekers and employers. As the labor force becomes more globalized, e-recruitment will continue to be embraced in the corporate world. Presently, many companies are relying on both traditional recruitment methods as well as e-recruitment to attract a talented workforce. A major challenge in the adoption of this recruitment method is that it yields too many applications, thereby making it difficult for candidates’ applications to be filtered based on minimum requirements.
Unfortunately, e-recruitment has not been embraced as wholeheartedly as pundits had predicted during the formative years of internet use in the corporate world during the early 1990s. Negative perceptions and misconceptions regarding the viability of this recruitment method have greatly contributed to this situation. The much-hyped recruiting revolution is unfolding at a much slower pace than expected. Nevertheless, companies that use e-recruitment derive numerous benefits, including increased confidentiality, brand-building opportunities, and ease of access to the global job market.
This paper has suggested several improvements with a view to making e-recruitment more adaptable to changing technological circumstances and labor markets. One important improvement should involve integrating e-recruitment and marketing functions. Another important improvement involves maintaining career websites to make them easier for recruitment staff and job candidates alike to use. In conclusion, the future of e-recruitment is bright because a growing number of companies have started adopting it in an effort to adapt to the globalization of the labor market. As these developments unfold, employers will start enhancing the capacity to handle enormous data in their career websites in order to create a large talent pool.
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