Paper-based office procedures are under threat across the professional world, and the recruitment process is no exception. For HR departments, the internet is a godsend when it comes to speeding up and improving the recruitment process. But with massive expansion of the online recruitment industry, HR should bear in mind several pitfalls which may hinder rather than help their recruiting success.

According to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), almost half of organisations believe that e-recruitment will replace paper-based applications in the future.

Nicola Monson, research associate at CIPD, says that over recent years there has been a big increase in the number of job applications via email and corporate websites. She believes that 64% of organisations are now using the internet for recruitment. “Companies we’ve spoken to have three main objectives in their decision to use e-recruitment,” she says. “They want to reduce recruitment costs, increase the speed of time to hire and broaden the pool of potential applicants. As long as the new system is implemented properly, online marketing can achieve these.”

Going online can have other benefits. Once introduced, such systems can help companies achieve greater control of their recruiting process. A careful approach to the information contained in the job description and clever use of keywords can enhance a company’s online presence through search engines. “Done effectively, this can serve to strengthen the employer brand,” says CIPD.

Quality concerns

The convenience with which applications can now be sent and received does mean however that HR departments can find themselves buried under a deluge of sub-standard applications. Half of the companies questioned by CIPD said they believed online recruiting had caused a drop in the standard of applicants.

“Online recruitment can increase the number of unsuitable applications,” admits Monson, though she advises that much of this trouble can be avoided by including enough information to allow applicants to screen themselves. “It’s really up to the HR team to ensure that the job description is sufficiently detailed to dissuade unsuitable candidates from applying,” she says.

Mark Shaoul, marketing communications manager at Network Rail (NR), the infrastructure provoder for the UK’s railways, is well aware of the importance of harvesting quality applicants in today’s recruitment market. NR’s recruitment process is currently undergoing a period of radical change.

“Our previous online recruitment wasn’t really working,” he says. “What we needed was more centralisation, to really get a dialogue going and get people engaging with the brand.”

The company plans to introduce a system whereby applicants will be able to converse directly with current NR employees by email, gaining unique insight into the ethos of the company.

“In this way we can get to the point where employer and applicant can feel they would like to continue the discussion, usually by making a formal application,” adds Shaoul.

“It’s not about a scatter-gun technique. You have to be specific, while at the same time channeling the wrong people away.”

Competency testing

Some companies have begun using online testing as a way to screen candidates. This is not a new tactic, according to the CIPD, but is one which has not widely caught on. Three quarters of companies surveyed by the organisation said they didn’t use any form of online testing in their recruitment process.

However, hundreds of different competency assessments test are commercially available online, tailored to different areas of industry. Their aim is to build an image of the applicant’s suitability to the job in terms of ability and personality.

Companies offering these online assessments claim to be able to measure a wide range of personal attributes including professionalism, capability, self-management and motivation.

Automated testing can be problematic however, as it can reject between 50% and 90% of applications. The nature of personality testing means that results can be a matter of interpretation, which carries with it the danger that potentially suitable candidates will be denied entry to the application process.

Commercial jobs boards

Towards the end of 1994 commercial sites like Monster.com in the USA and Jobserve.com in the UK began using the internet to bring applicants and recruiters together.

Many companies have developed the original idea, and the market now comprises a numerous selection of niche and general recruitment websites. Many have expanded beyond merely bringing together recruiter and employee, and have introduced a range of employment based online tools.

Monster.co.uk, for example, now includes community forums, CV templates and aptitude feedback tests among the many services available for job-seekers.

For recruiters, there is a range of features aimed at delivering the best return on their paid-for job postings. HR professionals can perform targeted candidate searches and mail shots using Monster’s database of around 2 million CVs.

Organisations are able to integrate Monster’s job search tools into their own company websites and are offered free training on how to get the best from the product.

Some boards have begun to use the public as a tool in their search for suitable candidates, offering rewards of up to £1500 in return for a successful candidate recommendation.

However, at its heart, the service is still about providing the client with a standard of potential employee that meets their requirements. “The improving technology is refining the process,” says Wendy Trollope, PR chairman for the Online Recruitment Marketing Council (ORMC). “But what we have now is essentially the same car we had ten years ago, just with knobs on.”

The quality of applicants is obviously a key factor, and one with which CIPD research suggests employers are not yet convinced.

Refinement – getting what you pay for

While the net may speed things up, HR must spend just as long on online job advertisements as they do for the traditional print versions. “It’s important not to be seduced by the quick and easy nature of internet ads,” says Trollope, “Companies will spend a long time designing and perfecting their job ads for print, but will happily compile their internet ad in two minutes.”

She advises HR departments to appoint someone to monitor online postings and ensure a level of quality is maintained. “Remember, the ad is likely to be replicated in a host of different places,” she warns. “You can easily erode your brand by being slapdash.”

Alan Townsend, chief operations officer at Monster.co.uk, agrees. He sees his company as the online equivalent of a national newspaper in recruitment terms, and insists that recruiters should think of their post less like a job description and more like an advert for their business. “Your company brand should stand out as much in an online ad as it would offline,” he says. “We tell recruiters, always when you’re posting, avoid vague, non-specific descriptions.”

“It’s also important to ensure that response rates from job board postings are carefully monitored,” adds Trollope, “and to consider that responses are not the same as actual appointments. You may receive a high number of responses from a particular site, but if these don’t translate into appointments, you’ll be spending all this money for no real return.”

A number of ‘multiple posting companies’ have sprung from this principal. The software they provide can enable recruiters to post on multiple sites in one go. Perhaps more importantly, it can also gather data on the performance of each posting, enabling companies to calculate the effectiveness of respective job sites.

“The result is that your HR consultants are free to get on with the job of recruiting rather than administration, and can make informed decisions on which job boards to subscribe to,” says Piran Littleton, general manager of one such company, Absolute Resourcing.

He adds that technology needs to make the process more controllable for recruiters, and that such a development is not too far away. “The next big step for employers will be the development of a total recruitment tool,” he says. “We hope this would perform all the tasks that an HR professional would pay a recruitment agent for.”

Development – extra knobs

The spread of broadband has brought the multi-media possibilities of e-recruitment into sharper focus and some job board sites have begun offering a ‘video CV’ feature.
However, CIPD’s Nicola Monson believes it is difficult to predict which way the sector will head but is sure of one thing. “The more we utilise new technology,” she says, “the more e-recruitment will grow in general.”

“What we’re beginning to see now is companies posting live video, virtual office tours and pod-casts explaining the workings of their business,” she says. “These can create greater engagement among applicants, and encourage a commitment to the organisation early in the recruiting process.”

The scope of these developments is limited only by the technology available at present. Real-time video interviewing may become widely available in the near future.

Network Rail plans to target different groups within its recruiting area. For instance, Shaoul admits that the company’s corporate site is not appropriate for recruiting younger applicants for its annual apprenticeship scheme. It is currently creating a separate micro-site, aimed at school leavers precisely for this purpose.

Monster’s Townsend mentions how access to information is likely to improve in the future given the recent advances in WiFi technology. “In a few years you’ll probably carry a device which will allow you to view the net anywhere,” he says. “Companies will be able to advertise their vacancies to people as they pass by the building.”

It’s an interesting concept, and one he says that Monster is currently looking into. “Improvements in technology will also allow employers to narrow their searches,” he adds. “You’ll contact fewer candidates, but these will all be the right candidates.”

Online recruitment looks likely to continue its expansion as the percentage of people using the internet as their first tool of research continues to grow. “Many companies don’t want to wait a month or a week for paper job pages to come out,” says Trollope. “The speed and ease of the internet has redefined their expectations.”