Chapter II Review of the Related Literature and Studies This chapter involves the studies and literature which

are related to the proposed system. Related Literature

Online job recruitment is a hot topic in intellectual papers and the HR proficient press. Previous research has examined how and to what extent the Internet is used as a means of recruiting job applicants and its effectiveness compared to traditional practices. While several studies provide best practice examples of companies that make operative use of online recruitment (Snell, 2001; Davidson, 2003; Harteveld, 2004) some other studies report that companies have momentous problems with the use of the Internet as a recruitment tool (Czerny, 2004; Welch, 2003). However, there is fairly limited literature on online graduate recruitment and in particular the experiences of graduates, who use the internet as a means of looking and applying for a job. This is where this research adds to the existing literature, by exploring the experiences and opinions of graduates regarding online graduate recruitment. In order to establish the effectiveness of online graduate recruitment, this research examines the graduates' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a means of looking and applying for a job. Moreover, this study analyses how company recruiters attract and select graduates on the Internet and how these processes might be developed. G i l l e y a n d M a y c u n i c h ( 2 0 0 0 ) o b s e r v e s that recruitment and selection is at the heart of any organization for it determines the quantity and quality of human resources needed to f o s t e r organizational renewal and enhance competitive readiness. S i m s ( 2 0 0 2 ) s u g g e s t s t h a t r e c r u i t m e n t i s c o n c e r n e d w i t h c o m m u n i c a t i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s a n d finding appropriate applicants to them. Recruitment is concerned with the process by which organizations discover, develop, seek, and attract individuals to fill actual or anticipated job vacancies. It includes interview, screening, and selection of the most qualified candidates, filling of positions through transfer or promotion, and coordinating temporary employment. The recruitment effort starts with a job analysis to document the actual or intended requirement of the job to be performed. This information is captured in a job description. This is followed by s o u r c i n g e n c o m p a s s i n g m u l t i p l e m e d i a , s u c h a s t h e I n t e r n e t , g e n e r a l n e w s p a p e r s , j o b a d newspapers, professional publications, window advertisements, job centers, and campus graduate r e c r u i t m e n t p r o g r a m s . S u i t a b i l i t y f o r a j o b i s t y p i c a l l y a s s e s s e d b y l o o k i n g f o r s k i l l s , e . g . communication, typing, and computer skills. Qualifications may be shown through rsums, job applications, interviews, educational or professional experience, the testimony of references, or in-house testing, such as for software knowledge, typing skills, numeracy, and literacy, through psychological tests or employment testing. The recruitment process is different from the selection. Selection is the method used to identify t h e b e s t a p p l i c a n t f o r t h e j o b i n t e r m s o f a n i n d i v i d u a l s

k n o w l e d g e , s k i l l s a n d a b i l i t i e s a s matched against job requirements. Sims (2002) contends that selection involves obtaining and using information about job applicants in order to determine who should be hired for short -or l o n g - t e r m positions. Selection tools that assess variables directly related to the job d r a w inferences about the candidates future performance. Therefore, to increase the predictability of a candidates future job performance, selection tools must relate to the job, and test the coverage of r e q u i r e d k n o w l e d g e , s k i l l s , a n d a b i l i t i e s .

Related Studies

The following studies that were conducted by various researchers may be of help to the researchers of this study in gaining knowledge in formulating this Computerized Enrolment System. The studies that will be enumerated in this chapter will only serve as basis of comparison and guide to the researchers. A study by Recruitsoft/iLogos Research of 50 Fortune 500 companies (ibid, 2001), revealed that companies on average cut almost 20 days off their hiring cycle of 43 days by using the Internet to recruit. With efficiency gains like these, it is not surprising that 90 per cent of companies are already recruiting via the Internet (IRS 2004,in Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). According to Robinson, commercial director at Totaljobs1 (Berry, 2004), online recruitment in the UK is still in its infancy compared to the US. A study conducted by total jobs (2003 in Berry, 2004)) revealed that the Internet in the UK only accounts for around seven per cent of the recruitment market, which suggests that company recruiter do not appreciate the medium. As some HR specialists warn, recruiting through the internet does not mean "just posting an ad on a Web site and waiting for the flood of applications to come in"(Fister Gale, 2001, p. 74; Berry, 2004). Indeed, one of the main problems of company recruiters is to manage the volume of online applications. Due to the ease of application, companies receive many unsuitable applications, which require screening-out thus increasing administrative costs (CIPD, 2003; Czerny, 2004). This highlights the importance of installing proper candidate-management systems and technology that can reduce the volume of applications by screening out unsuitable candidates immediately (Berry, 2004). However, a major benchmarking study of the top 500 companies in the UK (Welch, 2003) shows that only a tiny fraction of those companies that recruit online, back this up with fully automated recruitment systems to manage the process. It is suggested that the better the technology infrastructure is to support the recruitment process, the more effective the hiring capability will be (Smethurst, 2004). According to Bedford, head of recruitment at the Royal Mail Group (Czerny 2004), the Internet is highly effective as an overall advertising strategy, but he emphasizes that the best method of recruitment is a combination of online and more

traditional media. This would mean using the Internet in conjunction with other forms of advertising like newspapers in order to receive applications also from those people who may not have easy access to the Internet or who may prefer other job search methods (Berry, 2004; CIPD, 2003). It is, however, not clear whether this recruitment strategy would also apply to the recruitment of graduates. According to Peters (2001), most people are looking for a certain kind of job and want to see all the opportunities that match their interests, and then choose the ones that are most appealing. Especially students and graduates are not fussy in this respect, warns Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects (in Tulip, 2003). There is no loyalty to one particular source of job advertisements, be it a corporate Web site, a job board, a newspaper or other advertising mediums. As a result, employers need to tailor their advertising strategy and incorporate all the advertising mediums that provide the most suitable job applicants. With respect to graduates, however, there is no evidence that indicates whether they prefer a particular source of job advertisements so that graduate recruiters can adapt their advertising strategy for maximum effect. According to Clake, CIPD adviser, the key to targeting desirable candidates on the internet is to provide as much information about the job as possible because then job candidates are more likely to screen themselves out (Czerny, 2004). However, there is a great deal of evidence that many employers do not provide enough relevant and detailed information on their corporate Web sites and therefore have to cope with a flood of unsuitable applications (Feldman & Klaas, 2002; Tulip, 2003;Czerny, 2004). Dulewicz (2004), however, also voices concern about the nature of online testing and the testing practices of some companies. He discovered that some large companies used online ability tests to screen out almost 90 per cent of the candidates. Dulewicz warns that any testing which screens out more than 50 per cent of applicants based solely on one or two ability tests, could be screening out good candidates with other social and emotional competencies that may be valuable for the company. Although it is increasingly important to select the right kind of employees by using selection techniques such as ability tests, there is also a danger that, in using such techniques, the organization may simultaneously alienate the very candidates it wants to attract (Bratton & Gold, 2003). Selection techniques that may be effective from an employer's perspective may be seen as negative and unfair by applicants.