E-recruitment Unravelled
The first generation of e-recruitment solutions were hit and miss. Jobseekers lacked the confidence to search online, and recruiters received large volumes of irrelevant resumes. Now, e-recruitment is becoming a crucial part of business, and forms the basis of many companies’ recruitment strategies.
For organizations looking to hire, reliable technology is already available to help. Virtual recruitment is a go-to method to keep hiring processes moving while protecting recruiters and candidates.
As recruitment has shifted almost entirely online during the pandemic, more companies are incorporating artificial intelligence to assist with screening and hiring.
- Virtual Recruitment is the new normal
- E-HR: the buzz
- End-to-end solutions
- What’s on offer
- The benefits
- And the future…
Virtual recruiting is the new normal
As business moves to online interviews, they reap many benefits beyond safety for their recruiters and job seekers — and this may be the kick many companies needed to augment their existing strategies with a virtual component.
Gen Z job seekers appreciate tech savvy organizations. Recent data suggests they will not even apply for a job with an organization if they think its recruitment methods are outdated. Businesses looking for top talent, even during this pandemic, will need to assure their brand messages cutting edge technology.
Video recruitment is a must-have for companies even in optimal hiring conditions. Individual recruiters and teams leverage the ability to interview essentially on-demand, without juggling interview scheduling. And those who are already using recruitment technology are more likely to speed up time-to-hire —pandemic or not.
E-HR: the buzz
E-HR encompasses the whole of the HR function, from compensation and benefits, training and management development through to recruitment. It’s best defined as web-enabling the processing function of the HR department’s job.
Peter Humphrey, director of TalentSphere, says, ‘Clients are becoming more attuned to web-enabled recruitment strategies. Their level of understanding of the advantages of e-recruitment is progressing at an outstanding pace. Whilst many of the concepts such as technical skills validation and behavioural profiling are still relatively new, other initiatives such as e-learning are still to be fully tested.’
According to Jolene Lawson, manager for talentsphere.ca, ‘The public services are well ahead of the game, mainly as a result of the e-Government initiative to make their services available online.’ Most private sector companies, on the other hand, now have an e-HR ‘champion’ on the team who’ll be proactively researching their options.
End-to-end solutions
So far, the most common online recruitment strategy for many clients comprises signing up with a few job sites, and establishing a careers section on their own site or on an agency job board. More and more organisations are looking for an ‘end-to-end’ solution whereby they not only attract candidates, but also use screening techniques such as technical skills and behavioural analysis to speed up the process. The end result is that innovative clients are first in line for the best candidates.
Kristen says, ‘These solutions can dramatically widen the pool of talent, provide objective assessments and shorten the whole recruitment cycle.’
What’s on offer
More and more large companies are choosing to outsource their HR functions and automate processes through the development of intranets and easy-to-use online facilities. Iain believes HR will reap the benefits of becoming technology and web-enabled. He says, ‘At present, we’re still in the phase where advertising, testing – hard and soft skills – and processing of management information are all well-established in forward-thinking companies. But, there’s still a long way to go in the delivery of training and e-learning via web-enabled solutions.’
Iain believes this will radically change in the not-too-distant future, with the advent of systems such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and 3G (third generation phone licenses). ‘These systems will increase the speed and amount of pictorial data that can be transmitted. In turn, they should be able to transform and elevate recruitment offerings to another level.’
The benefits
E-HR cuts costs
HR and recruiting managers are more cost-conscious than they were twelve months ago – they have to be! They want return on their investment and value for money. Kristen says, ‘This is one of the first major benefits that online recruitment is guaranteed to offer.’ If you look at the facts, it makes sense: paying out less money for an advertisement that runs for a month as opposed to one day, and gets a wider audience than can be possibly achieved from an offline publication! Statistics and back office support makes reporting easier and gives real-time information to you and your client.
E-HR is immediate
The second major benefit is instantaneous response. Candidate resumes apply ‘real time’ sending their response whilst ‘in the mood’. Iain says, ‘In our experience, 80 per cent of candidates, given the opportunity, apply online.’ A person who sees the advertisement could be presented to your client within minutes, rather than days.
E-HR is a promotional tool
We are working in a 24-7, computer literate society which expects information fast; online meets these demands. Candidates may be wary of who they want to work for – with all the talk of company failings and redundancies. They want to know about an organisation before they submit their resume. Online solutions such as campaign sites and microsites will promote an organisation’s image at the touch of a button, helping them to attract the best candidate for the role.
E-HR makes no assumptions
Not every job needs an additional way of attracting candidates. But if you’re not aware of how to incorporate online philosophy into your internal systems, you’ll not be in total control and run a dangerous game of assumption. More crucially, some of your more web-aware competitors will definitely be stealing your thunder!
And the future is…
Twelve months ago, online recruitment companies were in a position to deliver integrated solutions such as advertising, testing and online profiling. These techniques have been proven to produce revenue; now companies need to ensure that they’re comfortable with the new terminology of recruitment and human resources. Ask yourself, ‘Is online recruitment part of your 2021 strategy?’ You may be pleasantly surprised where the extra revenue streams are made available to you and your team.
Technology is moving humanity away from the office and back into homes across our nation every day. We are building culture outside of buildings, with work that supports life on a more even playing field, with talent that can come from anywhere. As we look to the future, it’s time to unleash these new way of working for the long-term, with a focus on well-being, equality, and productivity that can work for both employers and employees long after this crisis ends. It’s time to embrace the truly global talent pool that is available to drive growth, regardless of where those people call home.