E-RECRUITMENT & THE BOTTOM LINE

Human Resources, the division responsible for managing an organisations greatest asset, is often the first to face cost-cutting at budget time, and be challenged to tighten operating expenditure year upon year.

Increasingly HR professionals are looking to technology to make a positive impact on the more transactional aspects of their division’s workload. Visionary managers are seeking new ways of returning savings to the business so that they can get on with implementing more strategic HR practices.

The recruitment function has been one of the most recent transaction-based components highlighted to add more value to the bottom-line.

In a search for technology that would help achieve this, the focus has fallen on putting it online- eRecruitment. It is no longer just the early technology adopters who are taking the leap with recruitment software. It seems that the typical gap between innovators and mainstream buyers is definitely closing, as many companies begin to reap significant rewards from a new, more efficient recruiting model.

The Changing recruitment landscape

Recruitment has evolved through several different operational modes over the past two decades. Commission driven agency solutions were welcomed in the 1980’s as an alternative to managing a predominantly paper-based and time consuming process. Job boards looked like a threat to agencies in the 1990’s, but were soon recognised to be a useful ally in the game, offering an effective and inexpensive way to reach a large audience of job seekers.

The trouble with recruiting via the internet (E-Recruitment) in the 1990’s was the tools to quickly and effectively screen masses of candidates down to a quality shortlist simply didn’t exist. Internet job adverts attracted a large number of applicants from all over, but in many cases just made the job for the recruiter a bigger, more difficult task.

The e-recruitment wave of the 2000’s has addressed this volume issue, and is the reason we are seeing more and more companies shift yet again to a new recruiting mode. With the tools to manage recruitment drives simply and effectively, a growing number of companies are choosing to carry out their own company and job-specific targeted candidate filtering.

How does an online solution work?

The trend is for companies to integrate careers sub-sections into their websites, so that prospective employees can either apply directly to available jobs or simply register their interest in working for a brand. Company have effectively become their own agencies, inviting “passive” job seekers into a database for future consideration when roles become available. Companies with high-turnover divisions such as call centres have been first to recognise the cost benefits of having a pool of available, pre-screened talent at their disposal.

Company career sites usually provide a facility for job seekers to create a personal account with an email address and password, which they can revisit and update. Job seekers provide information about themselves via an online application form or by uploading their CV into the system, and are then able to view a list of job openings. Targeted questions related to the job roles are also included. These help capture the exact recruitment information required and allow for quicker and unbiased comparisons by employers.

So … how does online recruitment stack up?

Like any technology project, an online recruitment solution must deliver a definite return on investment and realistic payback period.

Companies can measure the direct costs of recruitment by looking at employee time spent on administration, the cost of advertising and communications and the use of agencies.

Advertising is another cost expected to decline, as company talent pools grow and more use is made of online advertising via job boards.

What you can’t put a value to, is the goodwill you develop with job seekers and the enhancement of your brand. You may also improve the return on your total website investment, now that it’s delivering a more streamlined and effective recruitment process.