Part A – Question 1

With advances in technology, e-recruitment has become a key mechanism for recruitment by employers nowadays. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of corporations utilizing website as a recruitment channel since 1998 (Searle, 2006). Even though the potential of the Internet has been realized, there’s still some limitation under e-recruitment. In this part, I’ll critically evaluate its potential. Effective recruitment is dependent on targeting the right potential candidates, projecting the right image of the organization and providing the right information necessary forcandidates to take an interest.

1. Reach a wider pool of applicants

With the rapid development of technology, searching jobs through Internet becomes more and more popular. For instance, when a corporation posts a job advertisement through an online recruitment channel (e.g. JobsDB), not only the local candidates can read the advertisement instantly, but all the candidates around the world can have access to the information. Beside, company can poach employees from other firms easier.

However, corporations have to think about what sort of candidates they want before choosing to use e-recruitment since the Internet may not be an effective mechanism when targeting different groups of candidates, such as different occupations and demographic groups. E-recruitment seems to be more attractive to certain types of applicants with more education such as IT specialists, professionals and middle management. For those older, lower paid workers or ethnic minorities, they are less likely to have access to the Internet. Suppose the company needs to recruit a batch of

site workers (地盤工人), we can imagine that no one will apply the job through online recruitment. Instead, those potential labors will go to the site in person and then tell the site supervisor about their interest. Then the supervisor will help to handle the recruitment. If with only e-recruitment, it may turn out that that group of good applicants will be missed out. Also, employers need to utilize other media as well so that no possible discrimination has been involved.

2. Faster hiring process

For posting the job advertisement, it can be simply done by either (1) contact your recruitment channel agents or (2) log in the recruitment website and post the advertisement by self. Time can be saved since posting advertisement can be done almost instantaneously. Company needs only design the advertisement format for the

first time. Unlike the print advertisement, time can be saved in designing, processing and publishing. Applicants can apply for the job through email and the recruiter can receive it immediately without any time delay.

3. Lower recruitment cost

Corporation can use web interviewing and a number of pre-selection tools and tests to screen out those inappropriate candidates, thus improving the likelihood of the match between candidates and job openings (Redman & Wilkinson, 2006). Recruiter can conduct Skype interview to assess different aspects of the candidates first such as the work experience, communication skill, attitude, personal characteristics and so on to form a pre-interview evaluation of the candidate. Those who are not deserved to further conduct a face-to-face interview can be screened out. Moreover, with technologies, recruiter can recruit in different countries with lower cost.

However, the face-to-face interviews cannot be replaced by web interview. Through a web interview, the recruiter cannot read the body language/gesture, facial expression, instant response clearly. All these will also make some critical judgment in deciding if the candidates be hired. High stake selection testing should be avoided too because the candidates can cheat during the assessment (O’Leary et al. 2002). Let’s say the applicants need to do an aptitude test through online system. They can invite their friends and group a talent team to finish the test together. Thus, the result of the test may not be authentic. Moreover, the cost of posting job advertisements on the company’s website or through recruitment channel is much lower than the print advertisement. For reference, each online advertisement costs around $130 – 250 and each print advertisement cost around $5,000 – 10,000. But, some research findings show that the turnover rate of employees recruited via online services is much higher than those through other channels. Also, e-recruitment will sometimes create many inappropriate applicants. It will add cost for recruiters to screen out.

4. Workload reduction

With e-recruitment process, there is a reduction in the amount of paperwork by receiving application through online system or email. Since HR receives the information of applicants electronically, that information can be easily fed into the HRIS system for further use. For instance, the system can measure the success of those hired and therefore the factors the company might look for to replicate success or avoid mistakes in the future (Anon 2001).

In spite of the problems, the benefits of e-recruitment do appear to be outweighed the costs.