Capstone Project

On
“EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF ONLINE DIGITAL
PLATFORM IN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS OF
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY (E-RECRUITMENT)”

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 EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF ONLINE DIGITAL
PLATFORM IN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (E-
RECRUITMENT)
Vishal Kashyap (MBA student), Apex Institute Of Technology
Chandigarh University, Gharuan-140413, Punjab, India

ABSTRACT

Online recruitment, Social recruitment, and Digital recruitment are primarily interrelated. But Digital
recruitment is not just posting vacancies on any job portal or website. It covers a recruitment funnel
that revolves around candidate experience and an efficient recruitment process, goes for the long term.
A recruiter must take a big picture into account of every part and which part can be automated and
needed to be manual before executing the digital recruitment strategy. This paper aims to know how
effective and efficient the online digital platform is in the recruitment process. An online digital
platform is facilitating and improving the functions of recruitment in HR. Through online digital
recruitment, recruiters can engage the candidates-pool out there and recruit best based on companies
recruiting objectives and provide a competitive edge. This paper will also cover some of the most
popular online digital platforms like career websites, social and mobile recruitment, etc. This paper
will also highlight and understand how recruitment is evolving with time, effectiveness & efficiency
of this online digital platform compared to the traditional recruitment process and the ramifications

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that digital recruitment has on the recruitment process. It will also cover the advantages and
limitations of online digital recruitment for both employers and applicants.

Keywords: E-Recruitment, Cost-effectiveness, Efficiency, Reliability, Digital platforms

INTRODUCTION

Placing job advertisements on the Internet is cheaper than putting them in newspapers, magazines,
and other media. That is why it is cost-effective. Press insertions have word and space limits that can
lead to unclear messages. On the Internet, there is no word limit, and all relevant details can be
expressed unambiguously. The information provided by candidates is obtained in a standard, uniform
format, which facilitates easy comparison. E-Recruitment allows for more objective adjudication of
candidates to compile shortlists and provides an auditable data trail, which assists with regulatory
compliance. Automating recruitment administration, like posting a job opening complete with all the
Internet specifications, takes only a few minutes. Delivery time and response time are immediate. The
prospective candidates can visit the company site, post their CVs and expect responses through e‐
mails. As mentioned above, e‐recruitment can also cut out all non ‐appropriate candidates
automatically, producing a shortlist within minutes, rather than days of reading through 200 CVs. E-
Recruitment improves the effectiveness of the business process.

If we talk about the difference between conventional recruiting and e-recruiting, applicant
management processes are managed digitally rather than offline. With the help of E-Recruitment, job
openings are no longer published in print media, Candidates no longer submit their applications by
mail, and HR managers no longer work with cumbersome Excel spreadsheets to manage applicants.
In most cases, managers instead use HR software to support their recruitment processes.

Various processes which are covered under E-Recruitment are:

 Publishing job openings: A separate career page and an online form are the basis for digital
job ads. These can be customized. Do this by defining (required) fields that applicants are
asked to complete. The system displays these at a glance, making it easy to screen and
compare applicants' qualifications in an initial analysis.

 Multiposting: Have your job openings published in several job portals simultaneously. It
increases your reach among the desired target group and saves a lot of time and effort.

 Active sourcing: Applicants can find you, or you look for applicants yourself, e.g., on social
business platforms such as XING or LinkedIn. Numerous filtering and searching functions

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 help you find suitable candidates for your job openings and contact them directly, for
example.

 Structured selection of applicants: Using HR software to select applicants helps ensure that
the position's requirements, the competent manager, and the team are met in full. HR software
allows you to define specialist and personal criteria for each job, then queried via the online
form. It automatically analyzes this information and rates each applicant accordingly. A study
on "Why Hires Fail," conducted by Personio in collaboration with Bitkom Research, shows
why a structured application funnel is essential. Companies with a structured, software-based
process hire more employees on average.

 Digital personnel file: Entering applicant data manually into Excel spreadsheets or systems
is cumbersome and costs a lot of time. With electronic applications, this data is automatically
transferred to a digital employee file. You can then continue to use this digital file throughout
the employee's life cycle, e.g., for planning absences and employee development.

 Communication with other departments: Which stage of the application funnel is a

candidate are in currently? Which colleague has interviewed the candidate already, and what
feedback has been received from colleagues? HR software can cover all communication
processes involved in the application funnel, increasing efficiency, and transparency.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Many studies and researches are being done and going on an online digital platform for the
Recruitment Process. Many investigations are still going on for the new challenges/issues and the
already investigated old challenges/issues. V.Indira, S.Rathika, 2020, studies on Recruitment and its
Present Condition towards Job Seekers which aims to know this condition of seeking a job through
the Internet and research the expenses and trustworthiness of Internet to the work seekers and to
supply suitable suggestion to boost E-Recruitment. The costs and reliability of the E-Recruitment
were at a satisfactory level. The present condition of electronic recruitment was too good, and the job
seekers are utilizing it to take them to the desired level. The company can give more job offers to the
employees to take them to the desired level, and the recruiter can increase the information about the
job vacancy and position. That may create sufficiency for the job seekers. According to the author, the
job sites have to give assurance and trustworthiness for the job seekers' personal information and
assure that the applications and data uploaded on the job sites are accessible only by the recruiters and
applicants; it should not be shown to others. The company can give internet services to reduce the

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expenses and cost of internet connection to the employees. These things can take the recruitment
process of the company to the next level. Nadine Munro, 2018, explored the Role of Social Media
Platforms in the Employee Recruitment Process. The author utilized an exploratory interpretive
methodology. The research analyses those individuals/organizations directly involved with social
media use in recruitment attach to their experiences. The research findings show that employers' dual
use of social media, linked with the belief that strengthened bonds with potential applicants, is
possible, alongside the original intended use as an attraction tool. This research uncovered an
unsystematic approach by employers in controlling employees' use of corporate social media accounts
and a blurring of the boundary between public and private. The thesis concludes by stating a need for
further research and recommendations for HRM practice. More research on this topic is required. This
thesis had unfolded many issues for organizations to consider in their day-to-day social media
utilization. The findings connected with strategy have lightened the need for a further in-depth review
of critical senior decision-makers within organizations because they are likely to offer a different view
and interpret their organizations' requirement to use social media to the extent that is currently
perceived. Nuran Ally Mwasha, 2013, over-views the Online Recruitment: The Case of Public and
Private Sectors in Tanzania in which the author analyzed the general ICT situation, the current online
recruitment methods, the challenges for the effective operation on online recruitment, the steps taken
by the government to ensure the favorable environment on the ICT sector and the recommendations
for future research. The research generated some key issues to be researched. The institutions,
communities, and companies increase internet recruitment as the best solution for the present and the
coming generation. It also stated that more research with a large sample needs to be done to examine
why most Tanzania companies prefer non-online recruitment methods in acquiring candidates.
Mohammad Mainul Islam, 2016, analyzes Analysis of E-recruitment Trend and Effectiveness: A case
study on some companies in Bangladesh, which is more appropriate for hiring candidates in today's
competitive world. One of the critical findings that he stated was that E-Recruitment leads to lower
cost for the organization, reduced time to fill, increased efficiency, and valuable data regarding
compensations in the market. It highlights the limitations of the authenticity of millions of resumes
and low internet penetration due to lack of internet awareness in many locations within Bangladesh.
Research reveals that companies should develop an online job recruitment system through their web
portal as this will be cost-effective and will also increase brand awareness. It will also help streamline
the communication between employer and candidate. Lasso Silva, Esteban Antonio, 2018, done an
analysis of the Recruitment Process by Digital Media and Social Networking in International
companies in Latin America and the effects on their Financial Performance, which demonstrates the
impact of e-recruitment on international companies and consumers through a descriptive and
exploratory methodology, considering theoretical and empiric elements. Some of the research findings
were that technological tools and online resources greatly impact international companies in Latin
America regarding online recruitment processes, directly influencing organizational performance and

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representing an advantage concerning financial results and candidates' consumer behavior. And to
define the most influential factors determining the hypothesis, six main conclusions have been stated
in this Research paper, each involving specific elements that support and prove them and one
conclusion integrating all the previous ones. It's important to develop deeper academic research
regarding e-recruitment in Latin America since there is not enough information on its development,
implementation, and results. It also determines the degree of competitiveness in the region or specific
countries, taking into account the level of internet penetration and social and cultural influential
factors. Companies must involve their Human Resource managers, especially recruiters, in the overall
business acquaintance. Nafia Sultana, Nahida Sultana, 2017, analyzes the Effectiveness of Online
Recruitment: A Case Study on Recruiters of Bangladesh, which addresses online recruitment
effectiveness and generates solutions for overcoming online recruitment's current difficulties. Both
primary and secondary are data have been considered for the study. The study identified the efficacy
of online recruitment and discovered the recruitment stage in which organizations get more benefits
through using the Internet. Through this research, a very insignificant number of recruiters prefer
traditional media, word of mouth, and referrals for employee recruitment. The perceived advantage
analysis showed that online recruitment is effective regarding speed, cost, time, and accessibility
reducing workload, reaching a large pool of candidates, meeting specified requirements, attracting
passive job seekers, and increasing organizational performance. E-recruitment has been improved
most in the screening stage. In the future, researchers can further work on proposing a system to
accelerate the online recruitment effectiveness in other recruitment stages and to investigate whether
online recruitment is filling the gap between recruiters and job seekers. The organizations should be
concerned about how they can utilize the benefits of online recruitment in other recruitment processes
to make the recruitment process easy, flexible, and convenient. Associate Professor Ph.D. Anișoara
DUICĂ, Assistant Professor Ph.D. Nicoleta - Valentina FLOREA, 2018, finds challenges for
Business- E-Recruitment and Modelling, which presents the evolution of this process, the benefits for
organizations and the candidates, and the disadvantages and factors influenced the use of e-
recruitment. This research analyses e-recruitment at the Romanian level, using simulation and
modeling. It determines if there is a relationship between e-recruitment as a dependent variable and
some independent variables as Internet skills, computer skills, the penetration rate of the Internet, and
other factors which they consider to have an important influence on using e-recruitment. This article
stated that companies can increase the recruitment process's efficiency if they integrate an e‐
recruitment system in their human resources management infrastructure that automates the candidate
pre-screening process. The results of using simulation and modeling techniques identify few
important factors which may influence the technology adoption. E-recruitment can offer equal
chances for all the employees based on non-discrimination, equity, social responsibility, and
sustainable development. It provides the opportunity to find quickly talented employees, to screen out
the employee marketplace. It accesses many programs Internet-based for recruitment, to develop a

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database using information about interested candidates and their skills, abilities, behavior, training
programs, experience, to attract the talented employees, to lower costs of the recruitment process, to
attract the best employees by their brand, culture and internal values, to improve the relationships with
future employees, having a strategic impact on the direction of the organization and creating
challenges for the business. Roberto Racano, Johan brink-GU, Tommaso Federici-LUISS, Luca
Giustiniano-LUISS, 2020, writes the master thesis on the companies Approach for Digitization in
Recruitment Process, which aims to understand how HR managers in Swedish companies approach
themselves to this digital change and the reasons for this approach, investigating the
advantages/disadvantages and opportunities/challenges involved. Research data for this thesis is
collected in 2020 by interviewing HR managers from four Swedish companies. The data were
processed using a comparative case study methodology so that results could be generalized. This
research paper shows that the possibility that AI systems could conduct interviews independently and
do so better than humans, acting rationally and without bias, is also perceived. Despite this, it is not
generally perceived, except for Company Y, that the possibility that the progressive introduction of
these digital systems could completely replace humans in managing the recruitment process. It's
important because it shows Swedish companies that, despite living in an ultra-digital environment and
having always been among the pioneers of technological development, do not currently recognize the
possibility that technology can get to such a point where they can manage HR departments. This
research is intended to be a tool for all companies and those who work better to understand the
concept of digitization in the recruitment field. It also reveals some discrepancies between the theory
and the facts of the case research shows that two companies are very different in size and number of
employees, may have similar or different approaches. It also highlights facts that a company is public
rather than private can lead to different limitations due to the additional regulations to which
companies are subject. Elif Baykal, 2020, researches Digital Era and New Methods for Employee
Recruitment; in this research, authors examine the handling of recruitment functions within human
resources management and the digitization process. Furthermore, they discuss both the basic
dynamics of the e-recruitment processes, the tools of e-recruitment, and its advantages and
disadvantages. As per findings, E-recruitment provides speed and cost advantages for organizations to
design their websites, not only to receive job applications but also to make evaluations online. But
still, some companies are hesitant to adapt to these new practices. Lack of expertise, the high costs of
adoption, lack of knowledge of the system, and reluctance to leave traditional approaches are among
the reasons for hesitation. Many organizations have prevented e-path tracking and prefer to continue
manual candidate tracking results in e-recruitment system avoidance. In this Modern Era, companies
needed to be more technologically friendly and more proactive players. As a result, demanding
employers and employees created new ways for dealing with job searches and the recruitment
process. To keep up with their rivals, companies should engage in e-recruitment processes to attract
more demanding, younger, proactive, and qualified candidates who are more prone to use

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technological applications and portals in their job searches. And similarly, to reach a greater number
of employers with higher prestige and recognition. Stefan Lang, Sven Laumer, Christian Maier,
Andreas Eckhardt, 2011, do a Literature Review on Drivers, Challenges, and Consequences of E-
Recruiting; in this research paper, literature reviews of 80 journals are used, and proceedings they
identified 23 research papers discussing driver, challenges and consequences of e-recruiting. And
Based on these results, the paper introduces a model of drivers, challenges, and consequences of e-
recruiting and discusses implications for research and practice. Besides the discussed implications for
e-recruiting research, our literature review results also have some implications for practitioners. The
identified drivers, consequences, and challenges of prior e-recruiting projects are indicators of future
projects. The proposed model shows what the consequences are when an organization uses e-
recruiting. The research shows e-recruiting will enable many positive effects, but there are also
negative consequences organizations have to deal with. Another important implication for practice is
the summary of challenges of e-recruiting. The list of 15 challenges gives organizations an overview
of possible pitfalls while implementing and using e-recruiting. Organizations might address these
challenges when setting up the project and implementing measures to address these challenges to
enable more positive effects of e-recruiting. Hella Sylva and Stefan T. Mol, 2009, studies applicant
perceptions of an online application system in E-Recruitment, which examines applicant perceptions
of web-based procedures, based on a field study among 1360 applicants to a multinational financial
services organization applying for jobs in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium. As per
findings, the personal characteristics it was found that external (as opposed to internal), Belgian (as
opposed to Dutch), and Internet savvy (as opposed to less savvy) candidates were more satisfied with
the online application procedure and its features. However, it was found that the website's features,
perceived efficiency, and user-friendliness were by far the most important determinants of applicant
satisfaction. Results reported in the present paper address a notably under-researched but practically
important aspect of E-recruitment procedures within organizations. While more traditional forms of
paper-based recruitment have received considerable research attention over the years, these findings
thus add to the limited body of research in selection psychology to date. Ramkumar A, 2018, studies
E-Recruitment through Job Portals and Social Media Network: Challenges & Opportunities; aims
were to understand the trends and practices of e-Recruitment in the recruitment process of a company,
to compare the traditional recruitment process with e-Recruitment and also discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of e-Recruitment, to analyze the potential of e-Recruitment and the challenges faced by
it, to analyze the recent trends of Recruitment practices and to analyze the merits and demerits of
using the HR portals and Social Media Network for recruiting the suitable candidates. Key findings
were that the recruitment system being able to attract the right candidate, the selection process is
based on sound and credible criteria, and the tracking process can integrate with existing systems
perhaps most significantly, e-recruitment is about cultural and behavioral change, both within HR and
at line management level. This research paper also suggests that for e-recruitment to deliver, it is

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about developing the capability of HR to facilitate the system and to view the staffing process as an
end-to-end process, similar to that of a supply-chain. Through this research, companies will be aware
of the pros and cons, trends, challenges of E-recruitment which will also speed up the recruitment
processes, effective communication, and faster recruitment process. Adele Ladkin and Dimitrios
Buhalis, 2016, study Online and social media recruitment, which reflect on issues concerning online
and social media recruitment in hospitality organizations. It considers the implications for employers
and prospective employees, discussing areas of mutual relevance. This paper argues that online and
social media for recruitment purposes and the wider implications of the activity, including its benefits
and challenges, are just beginning to be understood. The labor markets of the hospitality sector give
the issue a specific relevance. The paper advocates the importance of considering a dual perspective
of the issues due to the erosion of traditional boundaries in online and social media recruitment. The
consequences of online and social media recruitment will be most keenly felt by human resource
managers, who will need to be at the forefront of responding to the issues raised by these emerging
practices. There are possibilities and challenges for recruitment afforded by online and social media
have implications for both hospitality employers and prospective employees in five main ways, first is
the changing nature of the relationship between employers and potential employees, the second
implication for employers and potential employees afforded by online and social media is the digital
divide, the third implication is ethical, caused by a blurring of boundaries which resonates with both
employers and employees, the fourth implication is legal issues, and fifth implication points towards
the critical role of the human resources function in hotel organizations. Varun Shenoy, P. S. Aithal,
and Ramesh Pai A., 2018, studies the Online E-Campus Recruitment Process of Berger Paints India
Ltd., which attempted to understand their recruitment process flow and know the fact to understand
what the process means to our students, stakeholders, the online or e-recruitment domain, and the
whole industry. Over 90 critical constituent elements derived above from Berger Paints, Online
Recruitment Process as per ABCD framework bought out certain key quantifiable criteria for
determining the efficiency and success of the model. These 90 elements are derivative out of the
various factors affecting determinant issues about the focus group's key attributes endorsed. The
company could carefully consider the extracted critical constituent elements above and their recruiting
partner www.freshersworld.com to take ideal decisions further on future implementation and
performance flow of the actual process. The proposed suggestion would be to have the group
discussion GD online through group video conferencing to make it fully automated. An appeal is also
forwarded here to include a pre-placement lecture video by company HR or consulting partner to
guide and motivate the placement-seeking students at the initial stage. It is also suggested to allow the
upload of a video resume for student job applicants' better identity. Recorded videos of an earlier
interview with job nature and type, currently working employee feedback on the offered role on
organizational atmosphere to motivate the job applicants. Impa .B.J, 2018, studies Recruitment
Through Digital Platforms, which aims to understand the recruitment process through various social

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networking sites and explore the factors that enhance the popularity of recruitment through social
networking sites, and know the difference between social media recruitment and other recruitment
options. Social Networking Sites' role in recruitment is becoming much more significant and is an
upcoming topic in India. The site's networking scope is the strongest predicting factor for effective
recruitment, particularly for the target group orientation.Indian recruiters have only recently started to
use social networking and cannot observe the long-term effects- and costs reduction is a long-term
focused topic. Many topics have already been discussed, but there are still several topics that are still
needed to be identified. Ethics in social media recruitment should be investigated further because it
could be a valuable way forward in identifying the relevant problems and ethical questions for each
research project and finding a path that upholds ethical principles of justice, benevolence, and respect.
Deepti Sinha, Sachin Sinha, 2019, studies the Role of Social Media in Recruitment and Selection,
mainly deals with identifying the role of social media in employee selection and the problems faced
while using social media as a selection tool. An important objective of this paper is to identify the
existence of gaps when considering this tool. Key findings are that social media reach is more than
traditional recruitment and cost-effective for companies. Adoption of this practice can help keep
organizations abreast with the rapidly changing psycho-graphics of the workforce. It is still an
emerging tool, which is fraught with several potential pitfalls. HR practitioners can be expected to be
a bit more enthusiastic than HR academicians as far as proceeding with social media use in
recruitment and selection is concerned. Dalvia Rodrigues and Luis F. Martinez, 2020, did a
qualitative study on digital marketing's influence on recruitment effectiveness, which unfolds how
different digital marketing tools and strategies influence recruitment effectiveness. More specifically,
it focuses on understanding if and how information sources' credibility, content marketing, and
organizational reputation influence candidates' decision to apply for a job in the Portuguese market.
The results show that candidates consider information from owned media tools to be more credible
and relevant for their decision. They look for more reliable and specialized tools, such as LinkedIn or
the company's website. And content marketing seems to positively impact the decision to apply for a
job, as it provides applicants with more insights about the company, its culture, and the industry itself.
Reputation still represents a major part of the decision process, which is a challenge for companies in
this information-driven age. The adaption to the digital era and the new consumer's mindset is still a
challenge for most companies; however, those who are willing to dare and take risks first will be
those who succeed. Implications include that it is essential that managers, especially those responsible
for recruitment and marketing, implement the necessary strategies to tackle emerging challenges. The
biggest challenge is the need to strike a balance between the control of the company's information and
the involvement and engagement of third parties, which is especially relevant in the current digital
era, where individuals expect to be part of the conversation. Md Sajjad Hosain and Ping Liu, 2020,
study the Role of Social Media on Talent Search and Acquisition: Evidence from Contemporary
Literature, which explore/investigate the role of social media in searching and acquiring talented

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employees and the appropriate rationales behind and ways of using the social media for such purposes
with due advantages and risks involved. The key findings are that social media can only function
effectively and efficiently if both the employers and employees know the basic legal and ethical
foundations regarding this recent utilization in organizations and business purposes. Even utilizing
social media instead of the traditional methods can be as well problematic. using social media as a
searching and hiring tool is a rapidly burgeoning practice, though it is severely under-researched. The
research will be expected to help the organizations and policy makers implement the suggestions
made earlier. Social media is a tool that can be utilized for saving time and money, provided that it
should be used with extreme caution and with proper guidelines to avoid any complicacies. The paper
might also help formulate and implement a proper social media policy (SMP) to make timely and
efficient utilization of social media for hiring purposes. Andrea Broughton, Beth Foley, Stefanie
Ledermaier, Annette Cox, 2013, study the use of social media in the recruitment process, which
identify how and why do employers use social media tools for recruitment, and at what points in the
recruitment and selection process and which tools do they choose and why & What do they perceive
as the costs and benefits of using social media in the recruitment process & What are the risks and
opportunities that employers associate with using social media for recruitment, particularly
concerning violation of privacy and employment legislation relating to discrimination in recruitment
& what policies and strategies do employers put in place to manage legal and reputational risks &
what are the implications of this research for provision of advice to managers, individual workers, and
employer and employee representative bodies on using social media for recruitment purposes? An
increasing amount of social media traffic will go through mobile devices such as smartphones and
tablets. For this reason, the recruitment team at Pets at Home is looking at making sure that its careers
page is mobile-friendly, including the use of Quick Response (QR) codes1, to make access easier.
Given the growth of this type of mobile technology, organizations should consider ensuring that their
SNSs are accessible on these platforms. Because social media tools encourage fast and direct
communication between individuals, one might reasonably question whether their use signals a step-
change for organizations' recruitment practices. Specifically, if job applications are being advertised
via social media sites and potential applicants have the opportunity to communicate directly with an
organization, rather than to go through more usual HR channels, might the traditional functions of the
HR department risk become superfluous? Ayesha Javed, Juthika Kabir Brishti, 2020, write a thesis to
study the Viability of AI-Based Recruitment Process, which synthesize a systematic literature review
of the past five years of available literature on AI in recruitment and thus, provides insight into the
usage of AI in recruitment. Moreover, this thesis studies the recruiters' and candidates' opportunities
and finds the core challenges and how they can be addressed. The finding shows the opportunities and
challenges of using AI in the recruitment process and its impact on hiring. It also allows readers to
judge the usability and viability of AI in the recruitment process. This research helps to judge the
usability and viability of using AI in their recruitment process and can be sure about what to expect

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from AI and what needs to be taken care of before implementing this technology. Also, this thesis will
encourage other scholars to look more deeply into this topic and even find new possible research
opportunities.

NEED/PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

The Need/Purpose of E‐Recruitment is to make the processes involved more efficient and effective, as
well as less expensive. Online digital recruitment can reach a larger pool of potential employees and
facilitate the selection process.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY

The main objectives of this paper is to understand how recruitment is evolving with time,
effectiveness & efficiency of this online digital platform compared to the traditional recruitment
process and the ramifications that digital recruitment has on the recruitment process.

E-RECRUITMENT

Today, human resources departments use many digital tools for recruitment and this made way for the
term “E-Recruitment”. Just like career management or talent management, e-recruitment is a key
lever for HR managers. If companies recruit candidates frequently, online recruitment software can
save company a lot of time and it promotes collective decisions.

E-recruitment, also known as online recruitment refers to using cloud-based recruitment software,
web-based resources and other technology to find, attract, interview and hire new personnel. The
purpose of e-recruitment is to make recruiting processes more efficient and less expensive. And, by
using e-recruitment, HR managers can reach a larger pool of potential employees and speed up the
hiring process.

Various Types of E-Recruitment methods are:

 sourcing potential candidates on professional social media platforms

 using an applicant tracking system

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  interviewing candidates online via video conferencing software
 using online testing via surveys and questionnaires
 creating job boards to advertise job offerings

STEPS OF THE E-RECRUITMENT SYSTEM

E‐recruitment starts with online advertisement of vacancy notice and then ends with the selection of
particular for the applied position. From common sense we can understand every recruitment process
should undergo sequentially. So, we can divided e‐recruitment system in simple 10 steps, which are
briefly discussed below:

1. Identify the Recruitment Need: Sounds simple enough, but it is really important to make
sure you have a concise job description, person specification and that this is agreed by all
parties involved.
2. Write an Effective Job Advert: There are many Recruitment Process Outsourcing and
Marketing companies around to help you with this. You can also take a look at the members’
area in this blog for an instant template to help you. But please do not just copy and paste
your job description.
3. Research the Online Recruitment Advertising Space: It is necessary to think like a job
seeker. What can happen when one search for different companies current vacancy on
Google, where are the company’s competition advertising, what statistics are needed to be
confident about chosen medium. Need to look for the Job boards & Social Media sites that
common people plan to use.
4. Document the Application Process: W/H questions are necessary to find out the exact path
we need to follow. Like‐ Who is going to be involved and responsible for what? What stages
need to be implemented and what happens at these stages? What communication or
documents do you need to implement internally and externally?
5. Get Help when Placing the Advertisement: If one is going direct to a job board, need to use
their expertise to make sure that you get your advert posted right. Each Job Board has its own
nuances. Attempt to understand the process that how one is going to successfully complete
the search fields such as; salary, location, job titles. It may seem a small thing, but it has a
huge impact to how the vacancy is listed and whether the applicants find it or not.
6. Consider how Applicants are to Apply: If one had an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
then look at a “direct apply” method from the job sites. If one is relying on emails from
applications, how as a company the response is manageable and how the details can be
pursued, these sort of things are needed to keep in mind.

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 7. Acknowledge all Applications: The most frustrating part about job hunting is not hearing
back from applications. If one does not respond to applicants, one can run the risk of
damaging own employer and even the corporate brand. It is necessary to make sure that one
has a process to deal with suitable and unsuccessful candidates.
8. Keep your Process Consistent: If a company wants to improve the employer brand then
promote a consistent message to all applicants. Make sure everyone involved in the
recruitment process understands what the company’s recruitment strategy and processes are.
9. Devise an Efficient Feedback System: If applicants have given their time and energy to
attending interviews or assessment centers, then it is only fair that you invest a little bit of
time helping them understand why they have not been successful. This will not only help
them in the next interviews they attend, but it will also help improve how the brand is
perceived.
10. Measure ROI: After all the effort in attracting, managing and recruiting the new member of
staff, pause for reflection and critique the process. It is also equally important to review the
Return on Investment from the company’s advertising campaign either.

SOME POPULAR ONLINE DIGITAL PLATFORMS

1. Naukri:
Naukri.com, India’s No. 1 job site and the flagship brand of Info Edge introduced the concept
of e-recruitment in India. Since its inception in 1997, Naukri.com has seen continuous growth
while outperforming its competitors in every sphere.
Naukri.com is a recruitment platform that provides hiring-related services to
corporates/recruiters, placement agencies and to job seekers in India and overseas. It offers
multiple products like Resume Database Access, listings and Response Management Tools.
With more than 4, 75,000 jobs live at any point and over 60 million CVs, Naukri.com
serviced over 76,000 corporate clients in 2017-2018. The company operates 56 offices in 42
cities in India and overseas offices in Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
2. Indeed:
Indeed was founded in 2004 with a simple mission: to help people find jobs. It’s now the
largest job website in the world, boasting 250 million monthly users with 10 new job listings
added every second. Biggest doesn’t always mean best, but we chose Indeed as the best
overall job website due to its size, the number of industries, lifestyles catered to, and its
unmatched update frequency.
Indeed posts listings for job seekers in every industry, every level from entry to executive,
and every lifestyle (freelance, part-time, internship, full-time). Candidates can search by job
title and location, salary range, date posted, and experience level.

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 Indeed is 100% free for job seekers and no account is necessary. However, signing up for an
account will allow you to receive email alerts when new jobs are posted, upload your resume
to complete applications more quickly, and receive messages from recruiters and prospective
employers. Indeed also provides a salary comparison tool and a company reviews section, so
you can read candid opinions on prospective employers before applying to a role or accepting
an offer. Indeed’s interface is highly intuitive and designed to make your job search move
faster.

3. Monster:
A true pioneer in digital recruiting, Monster was founded in 1994 to bring talent and
companies together. Now, 29 resumes are uploaded and 7,900 job search queries are entered
on Monster every minute, every single day. We picked Monster as the runner-up because,
although it’s comparable in quality and usability to Indeed, it has fewer job search filters and
not as many opportunities.
Like Indeed, Monster caters to job seekers from all experience levels and work styles
(freelance, temp, part-time, full-time, etc.) and its job search tools are free to use. You need to
create an account using your email address in order to apply to any job listing on Monster, but
doing so takes less than 30 seconds.
Once you have an account, you’ll be able to save job positions and search queries as well as
sign up for email alerts when new jobs are added in the fields you’re interested in. Candidates
can search jobs by location, company, title, date posted, and position length, but there is no
option to search by salary or experience level. In addition to its job search function, Monster
also provides salary research and comparison tools and offers makeovers for premium
resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters also.

4. Glassdoor:
Glassdoor was created in 2008 to bring salary transparency and honest company reviews to
millions of current and prospective employees. Today, Glassdoor boasts 1.3 million
employers in their database, 70 million company reviews and insights, and nine million job
listings. Job seekers can simultaneously search for open jobs and read detailed information on
each company’s culture, CEO, benefits, and salary data, making Glassdoor the clear winner
for employer research and insights.
To start your search on Glassdoor, you can create a profile, upload your resume, and sign up
for email alerts to receive curated lists of job opportunities. You can also browse active
listings using the site’s search bar. On each job listing, you’ll see information about the
position and how to apply, an overview of the company, anonymous ratings, and reviews of
the company and its CEO, as well as salary and benefits information.

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 Job seekers can also visit each company’s Glassdoor profile to read detailed reviews on
employee and interviewee experiences, which can be a game-changer for interview
preparation. Each job listing links to an external page (most likely on the company’s website)
where you can upload and submit your materials. Glassdoor is free for job candidates.

5. LinkedIn:
LinkedIn launched in 2003 and is now the world’s largest professional networking platform,
with over 740 million registered users from around the world and across all industries.
LinkedIn serves as a database for open opportunities, a digital resume platform, and a social
networking tool all in one. Unlike most other job websites, LinkedIn allows you to add
recruiters and other people of interest to your virtual network, making it the best website for
connecting directly with recruiters.
Your LinkedIn profile serves as a public digital resume and portfolio and gets sent to
recruiters once you’ve applied for a role, so it’s important to invest the time and effort to
make sure it’s detailed, accurate, and optimized for search. It’s free to create a LinkedIn
profile and browse opportunities, but LinkedIn offers a premium membership option that
allows you to see who viewed your profile, detailed insights on the other applicants who
applied for the listings you’re interested in, and the ability to send messages to people you’ve
not yet connected with.
Once you’ve filled out your LinkedIn profile, you can use it to apply to open positions and
send connection requests (similar to Facebook friend requests) to grow your professional
network. If your profile is well-optimized for search, recruiters may message you directly
about applying for specific opportunities.

6. Facebook:
While Facebook might seemingly have a reputation as a site where long lost friends connect,
businesses are using it for recruiting purposes, particularly to promote their employment
brand and excite people about possibly working at their companies. Facebook offers a variety
of mediums for companies to communicate their message and corporate culture—from simple
text and mini blogs, to photos, and video and audio clips, to polls and surveys. Facebook is
optimal for engaging people. Aside from promoting corporate culture, companies are also
posting jobs on their Facebook pages, or at least linking users back to their corporate Web site
for career opportunities and applications. A fairly high conversion rate exists from
expressions of interest in a position posted on Facebook, to clicking on the job, to filling out
an application, to moving into an interview. To be effective though. It is said companies need
to actively attract “friends” by keeping their content fresh and engaging. Facebook offers
advice on building a presence on the site on the “resources” section of its “about” page.

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 “Facebook is the largest social media site in the world. If candidates are ‘friends,’ then we
have access to the largest pool of candidates possible.”

7. Twitter:
Twitter might be overrun with celebrities’ and prominent individuals’, but businesses are
using it in a variety of ways, including recruiting talent. Many companies simply post open
jobs to their Twitter account with a compressed URL for the corporate Web site, which
followers can link to for more information. Businesses may also search for talent on Twitter,
just not to the level they can on LinkedIn. It is said that still, companies are able to identify
candidates by querying for competencies, companies, activities or key words; as well as
sending direct messages to potential candidates. Twitter offers a special guide called Twitter
101 for businesses on bow to use the site to their advantage, along with best practices and
case studies. The information is available on the Twitter Web site.

There are many different platforms for social media today. So, how these social media are helping in
recruitment:

 LinkedIn: Tells others who you are.

 Facebook: Tells others who you know.
 Twitter: Tells others what you are doing.

EVOLUTION OF RECRUITMENT PROCESS

From the time that humans first began creating organizations, groups have been working on ways to
be more effective at recruitment. In the 21st century, of course, most of an organization’s recruiting
efforts take place online. Obviously, this hasn’t always been the case. In fact, the history of
recruitment is almost as old as the history of civilization itself. For example, in ancient Egypt and
China, workers were handpicked to complete massive undertakings for the Great Pyramids and Great
Wall.

The evolution of recruiting is such that job recruitment as we know it today didn’t really start to take
shape until after World War II. To help those returning home from the war, new businesses sprouted
that worked with job-seekers to find new opportunities. In time, organizations also contracted
recruiting companies to help them find the perfect applicants for open positions. With the rise of the
internet, these efforts have moved online, creating the job recruitment landscape we see every day.

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  In the pre-computer era, jobs were found via bulletin boards and newspapers, whereas passive
candidates were found via resume archives and phone sourcing.
 In the pre-web era, job markets were difficult to get into, so candidates had to be specialised.
E-mails emerged as the main communication method, with computers and applicant tracking
systems being used to find passive candidates.
 In 1995 (the ‘Early Web’), online job boards and classifieds expanded the distribution of job
postings and also created resume databases which became available to recruiters, on sites
such as Monster.
 In 2005 (the ‘Late Web’), job aggregators were making finding jobs easier, whilst LinkedIn
compiled over 161 million online professional profiles.
 In 2012, the social web has made it easier for job distributions to reach new channels (with
over 175 million tweets a day), and for passive candidates to be discovered.

ONLINE DIGITAL PLATFORM VS TRADITIONAL WAYS OF RECRUITMENT

Online recruitment, unlike conventional recruitment is fast acting, efficient and cost effective. Online
recruitment varies from traditional recruitment in many ways. According to Coronas TT and Oliva M
A (2005, p 88) the process of traditional recruitment consists of iterative concepts such as:

 Submission of job request and its approval.

 Recognition of recruitment needs.
 Applications or resume screening.
 Job posting.
 Job applications submission.
 Pre-employment screening.
 Interviewing and employment contract and job offers.
 Both recruiters and hiring managers depend on conventional delivery mechanisms and hard
copy documents to finish the process of recruiting.

EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF ONLINE DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Conversely, online requirement is purely based on computers and make use of documents in the form
of soft copies. The online recruitment system is a web enabled anyplace anytime ubiquitous system
for both recruiters and job seekers (Foster, 2005). In online recruitment all the recruitment activities
and practices are carried out by acquiring different electronic means to fill open positions efficiently
and effectively. The process of online recruitment consists of several steps such as:

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  Submission of applications by applicants directly into the database.
 Online self assessment or online pre-screening.
 Submission of job requisition.
 Online job posting.
 Approval of the requisitions of jobs through a database.
 Online search of database by job seekers.
 Online evaluation of applications or resumes.
 Online search of the applicant database for selection of candidates.
 Interviewing by recruiters or hiring managers.
 Online evaluation of applications or resumes.
 Online pre-employment screening and offer of employment contract or job offer online.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE TRADITIONAL RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Conventional recruitment process adapted a step by step consequent process in which one phase
initiates a set of activities only after the previous phase is completed (Lee, 2005). Labor intensive
components of hiring like pencil and paper tests, job previews and interviews were used vastly in
traditional recruiting. The traditional process has been fraught with delays of mis-communications and
activities which resulted in high cost of hiring. Conversely, online recruitment is a continuous
process. In online recruitment, all process takes place concurrently.

ONLINE RECRUITMENT SAVES TIME

Hence, traditional recruiting is still known as consequent batch process (Martin and Hetrick, 2006).
On the other hand, online recruitment is described as an online and continuous process in which all
tasks of recruitment are performed concurrently. Online recruitment is accomplished with the wide
usage of centralized databases of job and an array of web enabled software applications. Online
recruitment, when compared with traditional recruitment, saves time and cost for an organization,
thereby improving its productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF E-RECRUITMENT

ADVANTAGES OF E-RECRUITMENT FOR EMPLOYERS

1. Source the best candidates

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Sourcing candidates covers all of the steps prior to a job interview, this includes:

 profiling the ideal candidate,

 writing the job description and job offer,

 sharing job boards,

 identifying the best candidates.

2. Improve the employer brand

The candidate's experience begins as soon as he or she starts looking for a job. The latter will try to
evaluate, through information found on the web, the values of company and its HR management
during recruitment, working contexts, and leave management. This is why it is important to have a
good employer brand across social media platforms and with the employees, who are ambassadors of
companies brand.

By highlighting employer brand (corporate culture, strategy, values, etc.), company attract candidates
who are not only interested in the position but also tempted to join the collective adventure offered by
company. Similar to inbound marketing, inbound recruiting will allow company to attract more
qualified job candidates and make them come to their company rather than go looking for them. To
stand out from the competition, it’s recommend for companies to personalize exchanges with
candidates at each stage of the recruitment process (making contact, test phase, follow-up, etc.). And
do not forget that they are also potential customers: a bad candidate experience impacts their
consumption and their overall relationship with the company.

3. Share job boards

By sharing job boards on social networks, job sites, recruitment agencies, and alumni networks,
company will be able to attract as many candidates as possible. That being said, this operation can be
time-consuming. However, with recruitment systems, company can do this within a few clicks. All
companies have to do is create their job board, and publish it once and the software takes care of
sharing the ad to the sites they have chosen.

4. Manage recruitment processes

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Process and sort all of the resumes and cover letters you receive, whether they come from job boards,
the recruitment page of company website or even unsolicited applications. With e-recruitment,
everything is centralized to help company follow-up applications in record time.

Companies will also find a history of exchanges with candidates and with the other employees in
charge of recruitment to make sure that company don't lose any information. Moreover, if company
decide to reject candidates, company will still leave a positive image of their company because
company took the time and consideration to answer the candidate.

DISADVANTAGES/CHALLENGES OF E-RECRUITMENT FOR EMPLOYERS

1. Difficult to measure its efficiency

Not all e-recruitment systems offer an in-depth analysis of company job postings therefore, it can be
hard to figure out what is and isn’t working and what company can improve.

2. Attracts fraudulent applications

Some competitors may use fraudulent applications to get information about other company or the HR
manager. And, these companies can receive spam messages from people who want to promote a
service or product to their company.

3. Too informal

For executive roles, some companies believe that online job postings, especially on social media, can
give off a negative image. Therefore, if companies are looking for someone to find a qualified person
to fill in this position, we would recommend advertising the job board in a reputable recruiting
company and not on social media.

These advantages and disdvantages makes clear that of course, online recruitment is a valuable tool to
be used when looking for new hires, but the most effective strategy would be to conduct multiple
simultaneous campaigns, including the use of traditional media, headhunters and external recruiting
agencies.

ADVANTAGES OF E-RECRUITMENT FOR APPLICANTS

1. A social media is a low costs mean to search for jobs.

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 2. Jobseekers can join the social media platforms of companies and then easily have access to
the vacancies companies post.

3. Jobseekers can easily access influential referees and important information about the
company.

4. Both jobseekers and recruiter can maintain, mobilize, and develop their social network more
efficiently because of social media. They can both filter out relevant information and use
them to create new collaboration opportunities.

DISADVANTAGES/CHALLENGES OF E-RECRUITMENT FOR APPLICANTS

1. Jobseekers do not always realize what information about themselves might leak out into the
public or how an ordinary posts or comments might be misunderstood by a possible future
employer.

2. Online information can also be inaccurate, it might even damage them as an individual.

3. It is important that jobseekers realize the seriousness of this. A study by Kluemper showed
that employers reject jobseekers based on what they find about them on social media.
Kluemper (2013) found that 35% of employers said that they would reject a jobseeker
because of information they found on social media.

4. The top reasons that were given for rejecting applicants included the presence of provocative
or inappropriate photos or information, content about drinking or using drugs, bad-mouthing a
previous employer, poor communications skills, and discriminatory comments, lying about
qualifications, and sharing confidential information from a previous employer.

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