Abstract
Recently, a web-enabled e-recruiting emerged quickly as a powerful method for both job seekers and recruiters. E-recruiting has driven companies to redesign the recruiting process and to move quickly to web-based integrated human resource systems that provide standardized frameworks for key personnel processes (Cullen, 2001). Currently, corporate career web sites are among the most widely deployed e-business web sites (Maurer and Liu, 2007). Job seekers visit corporate career web sites to survey a job market in addition to searching for job opportunities. Recruiting via social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn.com, and MySpace is also getting popular. E-recruiting systems have evolved through numerous technological developments since its introduction in the mid-1990s. A recent survey shows that Fortune 100 companies are in various stages of development (Lee, 2005). At the early stage of the corporate e-recruiting system, the purpose of the career web site was to simply post job openings on the static web page for job seekers’ information. As e-commerce technologies advanced and recruiters gained more e-recruiting experience, the front-end e-recruiting systems added new features and functions, targeted job seekers better, and integrated with a back-end human resource management system. An advanced e-recruiting system of large companies has been powered by an enterprise-wide system and incorporated best practice recruiting methodologies to achieve strategic advantage.
TopBackground: Traditional Recruiting Vs. E-Recruiting Processes
The traditional recruiting process consists of the following iterative phases: identification of hiring needs; submission of job requisition and approval; job posting, submission of job applications; screening of resume/application; interviewing; pre-employment screening; and job offer and employment contract. Both hiring managers and recruiters rely on hard-copy documents and conventional delivery mechanisms to complete the recruiting process.
The traditional recruiting process is typically a step-by-step sequential process whereby the subsequent phase starts the required tasks only after the previous phase completes its tasks. Labor-intensive hiring tools like face-to-face interviews, paper and pencil tests, and job previews are widely used in traditional recruiting. The traditional process has been fraught with task delays and miscommunications, which result in the long hiring process and high hiring cost.
Computers had been used in the traditional recruiting process even before the introduction of e-recruiting. However, computer applications were limited to the automation of internal processes rather than the rationalization of the process. Software packages could not communicate with each other, and the quantity and quality of job applications remained the same. Even with automation, most recruiting processes were still batch processes. The advent of e-recruiting moved the computer application of the recruiting process to a higher level. The e-recruiting system is a web-enabled, “anytime-anyplace,” ubiquitous system for both job seekers and recruiters.
We define the e-recruiting as practices and activities carried on by the organization that utilizes a variety of electronic means to fill open positions effectively and efficiently. The e-recruiting process consists of the following iterative steps: identification of hiring needs; submission of job requisition; approval of the job requisition via a job database; job posting on the Internet; on-line search of the job database by job seekers, on-line pre-screening/on-line self-assessment; submission of applications by applicants directly into an applicant database; on-line search of the applicant database for candidate selection; on-line evaluation of resume/application; interviewing by recruiters/hiring managers; on-line pre-employment screening; and job offer and employment contract.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Niche Job Board: A web site which serves highly specialized job markets such as a particular profession, industry, education, location, or any combination of these specialties.
Hybrid (On-line and Off-line) Recruiting Service Provider: A traditional media such as newspapers or recruiting firm which provides e-recruiting services to both recruiters and job seekers.
E-Recruiting Application Service Provider (ASP): A service provider which develops and markets to recruiters and job boards a combination of specialized services in recruitment software, recruitment process management, education and training, and management expertise. Specialized recruitment software for the in-house development of larger-scale e-recruiting web sites is available for recruiters who want to quickly develop career web sites on their own servers.
E-Recruiting: Practices and activities carried on by the organization that utilizes a variety of electronic means to fill open positions effectively and efficiently.
General-Purpose Job Board: A web site which provides a comprehensive on-line recruiting solution to both employers and job seekers across different industries. Monster, HotJobs, and Careerbuilder are leaders in this category.
E-Recruiting Consortium: A third party consortium which provides cost-effective alternatives to the e-recruiting services provided by job boards. DirectEmployers.com, the first cooperative, employer-owned e-recruiting consortium, was formed by DirectEmployers Association, a non-profit organization created by executives from leading U.S. companies.