This information was supplied by CIPD.
This fact sheet gives introductory guidance. It:
What is online recruitment?
Online recruitment, also known as e-recruitment, is the use of technology to attract candidates and aid the recruitment process.
According to the annual CIPD recruitment surveys1, the growth of online recruitment has increased in recent years. Almost two-thirds of respondees to our Recruitment, retention and turnover 2006 survey describe themselves as using e-recruitment.
Eighty-four percent of respondents have made greater use e-mail applications in the last three years. Over seven in ten organisations also say they are advertising jobs on their corporate websites and using online applications. Currently, online testing (used as part of the selection process in some way by a quarter of respondees) is less prevalent, although this is also growing.
The key drivers for e-recruitment identified in the survey among those making use of technology were reducing recruitment costs (cited by 71%), broadening the selection pool (60%) and increasing the speed of time to hire (47%). Over a third of respondees believed it brought greater flexibility and ease for candidates, and over a quarter believed it strengthened the employer brand. However the survey revealed some concerns that e-recruitment could increase the number of unsuitable applicants and that it could act as a barrier to recruiting older workers.
Many different organisations use online recruitment as a cost-effective method of recruiting new staff. It is popular among job-seekers - latest figures from the British Market Research Bureau show that using the Internet is the favoured job-hunting method for one in four UK adults, with the most likely job hunter to be 33 years old with 11 years experience, according to the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS). It is important to remember when designing a recruitment campaign that online job hunting is not the first choice for all.
Using online recruitment
Technology can be used:
Advertising vacancies
This is the most basic form of using technology to recruit. Vacancies can be placed on an organisation's own website or on a commercial job board. In the US it has been estimated that 19% of an organisation's recruitment advertising budget is spent on online recruitment advertising, but the UK has a long way to go to match this as presently the spend is only 7.5%, but rising.
Own website
The amount an organisation invests in its online recruiting (from custom designed sites to basic information pages) will depend on organisation's ‘e-strategy', resources available and competitor activity. The basic option is to provide a list of vacancies and contact details. A more in-depth approach would involve a dedicated web site area that gives details of vacancies, person specifications, benefits and the application process egg complete online application forms. Large organisations may have areas for specific types of employee's egg graduates, technical specialists or have a search facility for candidates to view all vacancies.
Job areas are often signposted directly from an organisation's home page so that more general browsers can access them too. An intranet may also be used to host vacancies for internal staff to access.
Some organisations take a ‘partnership' approach, working closely with recruitment consultancies and specialised web agencies who manage the online process for them as they don't have the necessary skills in-house.
Commercial job boards
These are large databanks of vacancies. These may be based on advertising in newspapers and trade magazines, employment agencies, specific organisation vacancies and many other sources. They often have questionnaires or tests for applicants to improve their job-hunting skills to act as an incentive for them to return.
Some vacancies are purely extensions to ‘old media' printed advertisements so that ‘online' is merely an alternative communication medium, while other vacancies are only found online with no printed equivalent. The vacancies often have link back to the organisation's website for candidates looking for further information and to get a ‘feel' for the type of employer that is recruiting. Monster.co.uk and Fish4jobs.com are example websites. Some job boards target specific groups e.g. Jobsgopublic.co.uk so it is important to explore who the target audiences for particular boards are.
Advantages of using online recruitment
Online recruitment has the potential to:
Disadvantages of using online recruitment
The disadvantages to using online recruitment include the potential to:
Monitoring
Online recruitment may not be cost effective for all positions so it is important to review the use of technology along with the overall assessment of the effectiveness of the recruitment process.
Some tips
Recent developments and future prospects
Online testing
Companies are extending the electronic recruitment process by conducting assessments, such as psychometric or aptitude tests, online. The process significantly reduces the administrative overhead of distributing and collecting written test papers though care needs to be taken in how feedback is given. For more information see our fact sheet on Psychological testing.
Broadband
Ofcom estimates that one third of the
This may also help to encourage on-line job hunters currently discouraged by frustrating waits for web pages to download. While take up of the new service in the
Blogs
A number of companies have started to make use of recruitment 'blogs' (or online diaries) from employees as part of the information they offer to potential candidates about working for the organisation (for example based on the experiences of graduates on a development scheme). This is a potential way to build relationship with would-be candidates - and to feature different areas of your company and vacancies.
CIPD viewpoint
An effective recruitment strategy is essential to all organisations. There are no fundamental philosophical differences between recruiting using ‘old media', such as advertising in newspapers, and the ‘new media' such as online recruitment. Making use of technology has great potential to speed up the recruitment process, giving recruiters more choice and flexibility in how they wish to fill their vacancies and attract talent.
The purpose of both is to fill a vacant position with the best candidate, cost-effectively and on time. Utilising online recruitment fully involves expertise in both the technology and the recruitment cycle, and many organisations currently lack the resources or expertise to achieve this. But the technology has to be utilised effectively and fully integrated into the recruitment strategy. The method chosen should be appropriate to the vacancy to be filled.
This information was supplied by agreement of CIPD
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Further reading…
Job boards for recruitment agencies
