On-Line Recruitment Essay, Research Paper

On-line recruiting is the process of attracting and hiring applicants for positions within an organization through use of the internet. In this paper I will assess an on-line recruitment service, identify the advantages and disadvantages of this vehicle as a recruiting technique for an organization, evaluate the pros and cons of dealing with virtual resumes, and develop criteria an organization can use for selecting an on-line recruiting service.

CareerBuilder.com is an on-line recruitment service based out of Reston, Virginia. Their resume database contains of over 1.5 million resumes, utilizes over 250 search agents, and has over 48,000 jobs posted on the main site, as well as 243,000 on their network, which consists of over fifty participating sites and network job boards. CareerBuilder.com was rated by the February 2000 Forester Report as the most efficient on-line service, and claims to provide employers with the best access and exposure to top websites such as MSN and USA Today, along with various industry sites and localized new sites. CareerBuilder.com also provides interactive banner advertising on its home site, as well as all participating job sites and career centers on the internet, providing additional advertising exposure to their cclients (Career Builder, Inc.,1996-2000). Although the Job Search Agent only hunts through jobs posted on the Career Builder network, which limits the amount of information available to their clients, CareerBuilder.com was rated by The Standard.com as by far the best job megasite for employers… practically perfect in every way (Slayton,2000,popup chart).

There are several advantages and disadvantages to using this particular vehicle to recruit potential employees. Using an internet recruitment service is more cost effective; a newspaper advertisement costs between $50 to $100, and is good for approximately ten days. An internet listing costs as little as $10, and lasts up to thirty days. Internet services also provide immediate results, where as newspaper ads can take as long as one week for the company to receive any responses. Lastly, utilizing the internet provides an employer access to a greater number and range of applicants . Disadvantages include a greater amount of responses to review, which can be very time consuming, many of which may not be qualified skill wise or geographically for the positions advertised (Dessler, 2000).

There are pros and cons of incorporating the use of the internet in the pursuit of qualified applicants. Millions of resumes and various data is posted on the web for other reasons than the search for employment. It is possible to search the internet for resumes of employees in any company, and according to Peter Capelli at the Wharton Shchool, a division of the University of Pennsylvania (2000) anyone can flip the URL …[and] follow links back through websites and get into a companies intranet to get lists of employees. [this isn t considered] hacking into the sites. These sites are legally accessible, but were never intended for outsiders to see. These are called passive applicants, prospective employees that are not currently looking for a change of employment, but are able to be enticed if approached (para. 3),. According the University of Pennsylvania, 36% of employees are happy with their jobs, but would move if something better came along (2001, para. 4). This opens up a whole new market for those companies looking for new people, as they are not limited to only those actively searching for employment. This also brings up the issue of privacy and the internet, aand according to Capelli (2001) that s the essense of the internet…information is free[ly available] and cheap (para. 12).

On the other hand, employee loyalty is at an all time low due to layoffs and mergers, and the time where employees received job security and a defined career track for loyalty and good work is gone. According to Capelli, (2001) the playing field between employee and employer has been leveled, the introduction of the internet has change[d] the notion of equity…issues of fairness, with respect to things like compensation, opportunities etc. that [used to be] all based on internal criteria. Now, increasingly, they are based on external criteria… The rate of pay we decided was based on how long you ve been with the company, your job title, and position within the hierarchy of the company. Now it s increasingly based on the rate for similar jobs elsewhere…[this] makes the balance of power much more based on a market relationship rather than a kind of inside political relationship (para. 7).

Once an organization decides to employ an online employment service, several factors should be considered. Price is a factor, as well as the overal user friendly quality of the service. It must be quick, vast, and easily searchable. The organization s ranking in the search lists, in proportion to the size of that list, is an important factor, as is the clarity, variety, and ease of use of the search.

In summary, the introduction of the internet has completely altered the way employers hire, how individuals seek out work, how employees feel about their current employer, and how companies manage human resources. The utilization of an on-line recruitment service has become a necessary, as well as very effective way, to organize and manipulate the information available to both employers and employees adequately in today s job market.

References

Career Builder, Inc. (1996-2000). About Us. CareerBuilder.com. [On-Line]. Available: http://corporate/ourcompany.html.

Career Builder, Inc. (1996-2000). What We Do. CareerBuilder.com. [On-Line]. Available: http://corporate/employers.html..

Slayton, Joyce (2000). Recruiter Beware. The Industry Standard Magazine.

[On- line]. Available:

http://www.thestandard.com/article/table/0,213,18304-1,00.html?popupw=511

Dessler, Gary (2000) . Human Resource Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Human Resources at Wharton (2001). How On-Line Recruiting Changes the Hiring Game. Knowlege at wharton.Com. [On-Line]. Available:

http://knowlege.wharton.eupenn.edu/articles.cfm?articleid=314&catid=10.