This week’s guest column from FTdynamo suggests that whilst online recruitment is set to grow there is room for developing things much further
Recruiters in the UK like web-based recruitment sites – except for the number of poor CVs posted there.
A recent study by US research firm Forrester Research of UK employers with 100 or more staff reveals that those that are currently using the services of recruitment sites are committed to spending more money with, and advertising more jobs on, career-oriented sites.
The survey found that 44 per cent of UK employers that currently use online recruitment sites will increase the amount of money they spend with them and a further 46 per cent plan to utilize the medium over the next year. Moreover, only 12 per cent said they would cut their budget allocation to online recruitment and just nine percent indicated an intention to cut the number of jobs they will place with recruitment web sites. Of employers not currently using the Internet to recruit only 17 per cent said they prefer to use traditional methods when recruiting while over a quarter (28 per cent) are either considering using the Internet in the future or haven’t thought about it yet.
“In order to grow to become a truly invaluable tool for UK employers, recruitment sites must listen to what current users are saying, both candidates and employers – and act,” says Forrester’s William Reeve. He adds that candidates demand three fundamental criteria when hunting for jobs online – locality, industry specialization, and personalization. But a third of employers are saying that too many inappropriate CVs and unsuitable candidates are disadvantaging career-oriented sites. As a result, more than three-quarters (78 per cent) are not using the main feature offered to employers – the candidate database.
“Online recruitment sites must act in the short term and evolve their offering to provide a more tailored focus,” says Reeve. “In the longer term, recruitment sites will need to provide both candidates and employers with a unique, specialist offering focusing on a particular industry or a particular type of candidate.”
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