|
|
 |
 |
Online recruitment: to succeed or not to succeed?
10-08-2007
|
By Dr. Emma Parry - Cranfield School of Management
Fifteen years ago the popular HR press claimed that online recruitment would lead to a revolution in recruitment advertising and that the internet would take over from the print media as most organisation's recruitment channel of choice. But is it different in reality?
The recent poll by HRLook.com has shown however, that this is not the case. Only 20% of respondents to the poll named their corporate website as their preferred method of recruitment, with a slightly higher 30% naming jobs boards as their method of choice. When this is compared to the 50% that said that they still prefer to use conventional media such as local or national press advertising, this shows that online recruitment advertising still has a long way to go before it revolutionises the recruitment market in the way that was predicted.
So why is this? Research from Cranfield School of Management has shown that many employers still believe that online recruitment is not suitable for their industry. There remains a perception that online recruitment is more suitable for the large corporate organisations or for high tech companies. With around two-thirds of the UK population having internet access and a large proportion of us looking for jobs online, this may not necessarily be true. Some employers have also had negative experiences of online recruitment, being flooded with applications from candidates who do not have the necessary skills and qualifications for a job or who are not allowed to work in the UK. Other organisations however, have found great success in using online methods. Employers claimed to have increased their reach to candidates, improved the efficiency of the recruitment process and saved money through the use of online methods. Our research at Cranfield shows that these employers are increasing their use of online methods and are beginning to switch their investment from offline methods into internet recruitment.
Why is it that some organisations struggle to use online recruitment and others achieve great success with this method? I am currently embarking on some research to examine exactly this. Is it really true that online recruitment methods are not appropriate for certain types of organisation or for particular job roles? Or can any organisation be successful if they use the right functionality and go about the development of their online recruitment offering in the right way? I'd like to talk to any employers with views in this area, whether they use online recruitment or not. I'd particularly like to talk to those who have found success using online methods. If you have any comments, or are interested in taking part in this research, please contact: emma.parry@cranfield.ac.uk.
|
|
< back to the news page |
|
|
|
