Employment and Recruitment

Internet and Employment
The advent of the twenty-first century has seen the popularity of the Internet on the rise, with personal computers becoming a common household appliance much like the television. The commercialization of the Internet, driven by the development of affordable private network services and the development of commercial products implementing the Internet technology, led to the proliferation of shopping and retail sites, as well as job sites.

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Arguably, one of the most important contributions of the Internet on the business sector and the society in general are the development of new job opportunities and the convenience it offers for job hunters and recruiters. The Internet, through job sites, made job application easy for those seeking employment, while helping employers find the best talents from a large pool of skilled workers and professionals. It has also allowed some jobs to be flexible and led to the popularity of home-based jobs, which is favourable for single parents, people with walking disabilities, and those who find daily work transportation inconvenient and expensive.

Employment

Advantages and Disadvantages
True, the Internet made job application and recruitment easy, but it is not without its shortcomings. Thus, before you jump into to applying for your dream job or start hiring applicant through job sites, it is advised that you first weigh the pros and cons of on-line application and recruitment. To give you an idea on what you are dealing with, we offer you here an insight on the advantages and disadvantages of on-line recruiting for both job seekers and employers.

The cons. . . .
To start with, let us first discuss the disadvantages of on-line recruiting (obviously, we want to be a harbinger of bad news first, so you can glorify us later when we start babbling how good e-recruiting can be).

First, for organizations, screening and mapping the authenticity of millions of resumes is time consuming.

Moreover, dealing with inappropriate and irrelevant candidates can cost companies a lot of time.

Second, organisations do not solely and totally depend on the on-line recruitment method. Job seekers who hand carry their application to the hiring company could have greater chance of getting the job or being interviewed instantly, especially when the company wanted to fill its vacancy immediately.

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Third, the Internet can reach a larger and wider geographic, which could result to higher number of unqualified applicants. A study on UK’s e-recruitment, conducted by Helen Verhoeven and Sue William that was published in the January 2008 issue of the International Review of Business Research Papers, found that many companies who posted job vacancy in job sites had received applications from a larger geographical area. It is true that the wider the geographical area, the greater is the chance that you can find the best one; however, in cases when suitable candidates need to relocate, they will have expectations of relocation allowance.

Finally, on-line recruitment does not always work. Verhoeven and Williams’ study found that only one of four UK employers interviewed agreed that on-line recruiting is an effective tool in finding suitable candidates. On the other hand, majority indicated that low costs and cost savings are potential advantages of recruiting through the net.

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The pros . . . .
From the disadvantages of on-line recruitment mentioned above, one might wonder why Internet continued to remain a popular employment medium, and why many organisations adopted the Internet as a selection and recruitment method. To answer these questions, we outline here the advantages of on-line recruitment.

Coming and going

• On-line recruiting is cost-effective. You can actually post job vacancies on your web site, so you do not have to pay a job site for vacancy posting. However, a job site can connect you to a larger Internet audience, especially if it has an established reputation and is known.
• On-line recruiting is fast.
• The recruitment process is streamlined and the communication process was made easy.
• Convenient. On the side of job seeker, applying on-line is fast and convenient for one can pass applications at home, office or Internet shop. While, from employers’ point of view, posting a vacancy advertisement on-line is easy for most job sites are user friendly.