EFFECTIVENESS AND USE OF E-RECRUITMENT IN PUNJAB: A …

EFFECTIVENESS AND USE OF E-RECRUITMENT IN PUNJAB:

A STUDY OF VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS IN PUNJAB

DR. VIKRAM SANDHU

Assistant Professor,

University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, Punjab, India

Mobile No.9855609786, Email Address: [email protected].

KETKI BHABRA

Research Scholar,

University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, Punjab, India

Mobile No.7009474229, Email Address: [email protected]

DR. HEENA ATWAL

Assistant Professor,

Department of Basic and Applied Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India

Mobile No.9814754364, Email Address: [email protected]

Abstract

In the present scenario, organizations are becoming more dependent on online mode while dealing

with human resources. The process of recruiting employees through a long recruitment process,

involving huge cost and time has shifted to the process of e-recruitment. E-Recruitment involves

less cost and consumes less time as compared to previous recruitment process. It is the most

attractive way to pick the best employees from a pool of potential candidates. Addressing

the effectiveness of online recruitment and showing its effect on Indian scenario, is the key focus

of the research study. The study reveals the comparison between earlier process of recruitment

and the present e-recruitment process. An attempt to explain methods and criteria of e-recruitment

is made in this research study. A firm becomes different from its competitors by only one mean,

and that mean is the type of employees it hires and sustains. Recruitment is crucial because it

generates human capital. Human capital is as important to a firm as blood to life. This study reveals

the various aspects of perception of the people related to e-recruitment. The traditional method

of recruitment has been revolutionized through the use of internet, resulting in e-recruitment,

defining a new era of attracting more and more potential candidates to apply for the job.

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Keywords

E-Recruitment, Recruitment, Internet, Employer websites, Social media, Recruiting yield

pyramid.

1 Introduction

Human resource management involves various activities as it is a combines management and

people. In order to sustain in the market, every organization faces a lot of challenges and the

most difficult challenge is to acquire a job and to retain the employees. Thus, staffing enables

the supply and demand of employees as required. This creates human capital which is needed

to achieve organizational goals and objectives as a whole. The performance of employees is the

key to achieve organizational goals and objectives. The first step of staffing process is the

recruitment of employees. Recruitment is the process of inviting more and more candidates

to apply for the job by creating a vast pool of job applicants. It stimulates the budding

employees to apply for the job. Functioning of recruitment is dependent upon two strands. First

is to discover the sources of personnel as per job specification and job description. In the era of

globalization, prospective applicants could search for the positions in which they are interested.

Secondly, it enables contact with employers directly by using internet. Currently, organizations

have their own placement sites along with job postings. It is cost efficient, time saving and has

scope for better match. One of the drawbacks of e-recruitment is that it requires candidates to

be computer savvy. One cannot undergo e-recruitment process until they have access to internet.

Flippo stated that recruitment can be defined as the process of searching for potential employees

and motivating them to apply for the same.

The days when the recruiter just relied on advertisement and other referrals for finding the

suitable candidate are gone. The pervasive use of internet, shows that the recruiter is now

changing and is finding results with new methods of recruitment like social media, websites etc.

E-recruitment is the process of inviting employees to apply for the job by the employer or agency

using internet. It is particularly effective at getting an important level of response .While it may

generate hundred more applications than traditional print advertising, simply attracting more

candidates is only part of the job. The purpose of study is to broaden the research on

recruitment and its effectiveness with a specific focus on e-recruitment. A key element of

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HRM is the recruitment of staff that forms the foundation of the companies. The growth and

expansion of the company is dependent upon the staff it recruits and the costs it incurs on

recruitment. Organizational development is the result of manpower skills available in the

organization. (Flippo, 2002)

Some of the examples of e-recruitment portals are: naukri.com, indeed.com, monsterindia.com etc.

The present section discusses some of the advantages of e-recruitment.

1.1 Advantages of e-recruitment are:

Cost efficient: Advertisements in internet are quite cheap as compared to newspaper, magazines,

and employment agencies that charge every time the service is provided.

Saves time: Response through e-recruitment is direct and immediate without any delay.

Thus, time to deliver and to communicate is minimized.

Broadens the area of search: In today‘s era of globalization, the search and reach is not limited

to one place. It provides access to global reach within a fraction of second.

Provides clarity: Restriction on word limit by advertisements in employment news, other

newspapers and magazines may result into misinterpretation while internet denies the restriction

of word limitation. The opinion and profile are expressed according to one‘s own choice and

preferences.

Scope for better match: The information is provided in detail along with clarity, therefore, more

scope for suitable candidate match is there.

Standardized format: Candidate‘s information is collected by the employer in a standardized

format. The information of the candidates is collected in a standardized format. After the

collection of the data, it integrates the collected information received from various sources.

Pool of information: It acts as the pool of information as every information ranging from the job

profile to applicants profile, is available along with previous applicant data.

Reduced paper work: The burden of paper work has been reduced as all the data collection,

filing and administrative work is done electronically.

(Verhoeven H and Williams S 2008)

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1.2 In contrast, E-Recruitment has some disadvantages also. These are:

Requires being computer literate: The process is limited to one‘s who are computer literate.

As the search is totally based on different websites, screening, keywords and applications could

only be possible by a computer savvy person and company.

Legal consequences: Use of vicious and unethical words in advertisement may lead to a charge

of discrimination. So, words being used should be ethical and indiscriminating.

Vast pool of applicants: As this source invites more and more potential applicants, this results

in creation of vast pool of applicants. This huge database cannot be scanned in depth. So, either

first few candidates are called for the interview or the resumes are scanned on the basis of some

key words. On the other hand, global competition is also faced by the applicants.

Non-serious applications: This source results in large number of non-serious applications who

send their resumes just to know their value in the market.

No secrecy: As all the details are available to public, the point of secrecy is not present.

Sometimes, the applicants wanting change do not want their employers know about their plan

of change. Availability of phone numbers and address information to all has led to many security

problems. (Mostyn, 2016)

The study attempted to study the recruitment and e-recruitment process and its influence on the

applicants. The study also entails the cost and time consumed in recruitment as well as in

e-recruitment. The study reveals the changed pattern of hiring staff and how e-recruitment has

effected the Indian Scenario of recruitment of employees.

1.3 Sources of e-recruitment:

Globally practiced sources of e-recruitment by global companies are briefly discussed as:

Job boards: Job boards are the places where the job vacancies are posted by the employer and

in order to search for suitable candidates. Through this, candidates get the information about

the vacancies. Disadvantage of job boards is that it is non-specific in nature.

Employer websites: These websites are either owned by the company itself or are developed by

different employers. For example, the first e-recruiting cooperative cartel owned by the employer,

formulated by Direct Employers Association was Directemployers.com. It is working as a

non-profit organization formulated by the executives and top level management of leading U.S

corporations.

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Professional websites: These are specific and not generic in nature. These websites are formed

for a specific profession or skill. For example, www.shrm.org. is the Human Resource

Management site to be visited for HR jobs.

Social Media: Social media connects large group of people thus making it a powerful tool.

For job hunting websites like Monsterindia.com, Naukri.com, Big adda, Facebook are becoming

increasingly popular with recruiters as they enable the recruiter to have a more rounded picture

of the individual. These professional networks also enable candidates to register themselves and

post comments about the company. (Verhoeven H and Williams S 2008)

2 Review of Literature

The results of e-recruitment are much more dwindling than the traditional methods of recruitment.

Organizations undertake e-recruitment at the expense of traditional methods of recruitment.

Moreover, e-recruitment has proved much more popular than recruitment with traditional methods.

As per HR professionals, company‘s own websites have given better results for most of the jobs

than traditional method of recruitment.

According to Galanki (2002), recruitment can be defined as the complete process that comprises

of job advertisement, resume applications and creating human capital databases.

As per Vidot (2000), e-recruitment is the process in which potential candidates are attracted,

their resumes are screened with end result as selection process using internet.

As per Cullen (2001), e-recruitment is not treated as a standalone tool only but is an integration

of an overall recruiting and selection strategy.

As Buda (2003) suggested, the advertisements of recruitment are much more effective when

they comprise of positive information and words at the beginning without expert sources.

(for example: media)

The review of above stated literature shows that e-recruitment is considered as the vital aspect of

every candidate searching for job and organizations searching for candidates. Hence, e-recruitment

has become the most effective tool of recruitment for building relationship between the organization

and the job applicants. (Mooney, 2002).

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http://www.shrm.org/

2.1 Importance of study

1. This study is important to study the change in pattern of recruitment of employees as

compared to previous processes.

2. This study is important to study the use and effectiveness of e-recruitment in present

hiring process.

3. This study helps to study the pros and cons of e-recruitment.

2.2 Objectives of study

The study exclusively focuses on IT industry. The objectives of study are as follows:

1. To assess the effect of e-recruitment on quality of job applicants.

2. To analyze the effect of e-recruitment for generating broader range of talent.

3. To examine the effect of e-recruitment on job seeker‘s behavior.

3 Research Methodology

In this study, the following methods of data collection are used:

Primary data has been collected through structured questionnaire.

Secondary data was collected by visiting websites like Naukri.com, Linkedin, Indeed.com,

journals, reports of government.

Sample of five global e-recruitment companies is selected for achieving the objectives of study.

The companies selected belongs to IT, Pharma and Auto mobile sector. The sample of study

comprises of three important cities of Punjab i.e Chandigarh, Bathinda and Jalandhar. These cities

are considered to be hub for e-recruitment companies.

3.1 Recruiting Yield Pyramid 1 to be formulated:

The process of recruitment cannot stand without a proper estimation and a proper plan. It requires

to calculate the number of applicants to be generated, to hire the required number of employees.

E-recruitment facilitates by increasing the lead generation number. The present study reveals that

that 1200 applicants can increase to 2000 by e-recruitment and the ratio of estimation comes out

to 3:5. For instance if candidates interviewed do not reach 100, 50 new hires will be difficult. But

if from the base, the numbers are increased, selecting 50 candidates won't be a problem.

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CHANDIGARH, JALANDHAR and BATHINDA clocked in positive growth in recruitment

activity with 23 per cent, 22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively as discussed below.

3.2 City wise analysis:

1 Chandigarh: Hiring activity in the capital city increased by 13 per cent. Recruitment across the

areas like IT-Software, IT-Hardware and Pharma grew by 33 per cent, 18 per cent and 25 per cent

respectively whereas Banking saw a dip of 14 per cent. The experience band of 4-7 years witnessed

an increase in demand for talent with a rise of 20 per cent hiring.

2. Bathinda: Overall hiring activity in Chennai grew by 13 per cent. The industry that dominated

the hiring space for the city was IT-Software with 37 per cent year on year growth. Auto industry

saw a dip of 12 per cent. The functional area of ITES clocked in a growth of 26 per cent. Experience

band of 4-7 years saw a rise of 16 per cent in hiring.

3. Jalandhar: Recruitment activity in Jalandhar increased by 11 per cent in April 2018. The industry

that registered an increase in hiring was IT-Software(44 per cent) while BFSI saw a dip of

19 per cent. Recruitment in functional areas such as IT-Software and IT-Hardware grew by

45 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. Demand for entry level professionals with experience of

0-3 years saw a rise of 10 per cent in hiring.

(Source: Primary Data)

4. Results and analysis

In the Indian scenario, e- recruitment is developing its roads in the form of recruitment

professionals. This development has be seen by the increased use of e-recruitment sites like:

Naukri.com, Indeed.com, Monsterindia.com etc. These job sites provide customized solutions

to its seekers, fulfilling their needs and requirements.

The study reveals that in India 79 per cent of the respondents are satisfied with the

results of the e- recruitment process as compared to 55 per cent who were satisfied with the

traditional channel of recruitment of employees. While 41 per cent of those surveyed in India

found their most recent job online, 23 per cent found a job by direct employer approach, 14 per cent

through "word of mouth", 10 per cent from newspaper advertising, 9 per cent from directly

approaching an employer and 9 per cent through other methods. This highlights the growing

reach of internet and importance of e-recruitment in India. Job advertisement as posted regularly

on online communicates/ like forums, blogs and other websites. Recruiters are aggressively using

social networking sites like - Linkedin, Facebook, Whatsapp, Yahoo, gmail, google +.

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Online carrier events, virtual job, fairs have been adopted by Indian recruiters rapidly. In

India, E- recruitment has shown its escalation in term of commercial values and also in adoption

by recruitment agencies(jobseekers, applicants). Most of the Indian companies are also beginning

to use their own websites as well as some third party vendors/agents as a part of solution for

recruitment. Indian recruiters are finding online recruitment as the most efficient and effective

approach to finding the candidates and one that is targeted to their need and cost efficient.

Table no 1.1: Results revealed by the study

Serial

no.

Results revealed by the study Percentage

1. Respondents satisfied with e-recruitment 79

2. Respondents satisfied with traditional methods 55

3. Respondents getting jobs online 41

4. Respondents getting job being directly approached by

employer

23

5. Respondents getting job through ―word of mouth‖ 14

6. Respondents getting job from newspaper advertising 10

7. Respondents getting job through other methods 9

(Source: Primary Data)

4.1 Index for April 2019

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for April 2019 at (2,477), marked a 16 per cent rise hiring activity

as compared to April 2018 (2,139).

Results in the IT industry showed continuous growth in the last six months. Continuing with the

trend ,IT-software in April 2019 recorded a notable rise of 39 per cent growth. Hiring in functional

areas like Site Engineering and Sales & BD observed a growth of 27 per cent and 10 per cent

respectively

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Experience Rise in e-recruitment hiring

.

(Source: Naukri Jobspeak index)

5. Suggestions and Recommendations

Following are the two keys areas which are required for the functioning and success of e-recruitment.

Candidate be capable to:

1) Create and preserve their profile or CV.

2) Personalize to their requirement or interests.

3) Attach resumes, cover letters and academic documentations.

4) Get information about automated job alerts.

5) Accept and desire invitations for interviews.

6) View saved copies of all the correspondence forms of prospective employees in a personalized

mail section.

Recruiters should be able to:

1) Handle and manage an online or email based application approval process.

2) Co-ordinate all advertising and work flow of vacancies between external job boards and agencies.

3) Acknowledge at any level of the recruitment process.

4) Screen candidates and give them remarks/scores according to their responses.

•10% 0-3 YRS

•16%

4-7 YRS

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5) Pursue application process for any of these recruitments - contract, permanent, full or

part time etc.

6) Handle and manage a real talent pool and not fake or past applicants.

7) Handle and manage all interviews online with the ability of candidates to self schedule.

8) Handle all communications like: joining offer.

9) Report on every content of the recruitment process.

6. Conclusion

In today's present scenario, a recruiting manager cannot ignore the process of e- recruitment and its

tools. To get best results, it is mandatory to compliment old recruiting methods with new methods.

Growth of this emerging medium depends upon two aspects. First is the ability of job sites and

second is the access to internet. The use of e-recruitment aims to compliment traditional methods

and not to replace it. Traditional methods can be used to fill up the loopholes of e-recruitment.

Hence, it results in smooth and faster growth of e-recruitment with global reach.

A company having only two vacancies and only two candidates for the same does not has a wider

scope of choice. Thus in order to widen the search and stimulate more applications, company

prefers e-recruitment. But if for two vacancies, a company receives 200 applications then, in depth

filtration of all applications is not possible. This screening can be done either by campus interview

or internal search that has personal touch. But in hand receiving of applications and communicating

the same with candidates becomes time consuming without internet.

Cisco a global infotech player has gained competitive edge by their creative mix and

match of different recruitment sources. They changed the newspaper advertisement by availing

their internet address and inviting for application without giving the job profile. Another

innovation was clubbing employee's referral with internet. Cisco thought information about

them when provided by the friends, will be more approachable. They launched friends program

in 1996. Informal sources of information like referrals, word of mouth are also being used in

various IT companies, such as IBM, WIPRO. The study observed that they are hiring 1000

employees every three months of 1999, hundreds of positions still to be fulfilled. They formed

focus groups who targeted the senior engineers and marketing professionals of other companies to

find out how they spend their free time. The survey showed that 'corporate cartoon Dilbert" website

is extremely popular as watching movie was the preference. So, they linked the website with the

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webpage. The website offered online fill in resumes or create a resume using their resume builder

which appealed both active and passive job seekers. Their hiring cycle came down to 45 days from

68 days. By late 1999, job page of Cisco was recording around 500,000 applications per month.

By 2001, the Friends program accounted for 50-60 per cent of new employees into the organization.

Speedy global reach when supported with traditional methods serves the objectives of hiring

process. Cisco deserves special mention regarding this.

The study attempted to study the recruitment and e-recruitment process and its influence on the

job seekers. The study also entails the time consumed in comparison to e-recruitment.

The study reveals the changed pattern of hiring staff and how e-recruitment has affected the

Indian Scenario of recruitment of employees.

Certain outcomes of study are as follows:

1 Increased number of potential candidates.

2 Reduced recruitment time and cost.

3 Easy access to wide number of people.

6.1 Limitations of the study

1 It is not possible to study the whole concept in one research paper as e-recruitment and its

effectiveness is a wider concept.

2 This study has been confined only to three cities –Chandigarh, Bathinda and Jalandhar.

3 The inherent limitations of the statistical techniques used.

6.2 Scope for further research

1 This study will help to form a base for further studies on effectiveness and how the industry

adapts to the changes in e-recruitment.

2 In this study, only three cities have been analyzed, which cannot be universally generalized.

for further studies one must do state wise analysis.

References

1. Barber, A. E. (1998). Recruiting employees, Individual and Organisational Perspective .

Thousands Oak, California, 91320; Sage Publication Inc, http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452243351

2. Buda, R. (2003). The Interactive Effect of Message Framing Presentation Order, and Source

Credibility on Recruitment Practices. International Journal of Management, vol. 20(2),pp.156-163.

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3. Cober, R.T and Brown (2004). Form, Content and Function: An evaluative methodology for

Corporate employment website. Human Resource Management(USA), vol. 43,2,3. pp. 201-218.

4. Cullen (2001). Winning the war for talent: E-Recruiting Best Practices, Cambria Consulting

Boston, MA. vol. 2(34).

5. Galanki, E. (2002). ‗The decision to recruit online: A descriptive Study. Career Development

International, vol. 7(4), pp. 243-251.

6. Kapse, V. et al. (2012) E-Recruitment. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced

Technology (IJEAT) ISSN; 2249—8958, vol. 1(4).

7. Mooney, J. (2002). Pre-Employment Testing on the internet: Put candidates a click away and hire

at modern speed. Public Personnel Management, vol. 31(1), pp. 41-52.

8. Mostyn (2016). The fundamentals of being a great recruiter, edition 1, vol. 1, pp. 20-31.

9. The Economic Times, Kolkata, January 12, 2015.

10. Verhoeven, H. and Williams, S. (2008), ‗Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet

Recruitment: A UK Study into Employers‘, International Review of Business Research Papers,

vol. 4(1), pp. 364-373.

Books

1. Diane Arthur, Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting and Orienting New Employees. Edition 3, 2017.

2. Flippo, E.B.(1984). Personnel Management. edition 6, New York, Mc Graw-Hill Book Company.

Online

1. Vidot. J (2000) Online Recruitment: Taking the plunge. Available online at: http://www.gradlink.

edu.au/grandlink/employer/onlineartic.htm [accessed 2011, April 12].

2. http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/human-resources-hr-terms/8504-e-

3. http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/recruitment/recent-recruitment-trends-outsourcing-

raiding-and-e-recruitment/29527/

4. www.digitalcommunitiesblogs.com

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http://www.gradlink/

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EFFECTIVENESS AND USE OF E-RECRUITMENT IN PUNJAB: A …