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Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

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Chapter 18
Digital Era and New Methods
for Employee Recruitment
Elif Baykal
İstanbul Medipol University, Turkey

ABSTRACT
The ever-increasing digitalization in today’s business processes—and incredibly fast-growing markets—
have created a more competitive business environment. And, this more competitive business environment
has led companies to be more demanding regarding the employee qualifications as well as the quality of
tasks carried out by these employees. Moreover, this change process has rendered the traditional human
resources management methods inadequate, further digitizing the field of human resources. In this study,
the 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, as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

INTRODUCTION

Amazingly, in the last few decades, and primarily as a result of developments in the digital age, significant
changes in the business environment have taken place, and been experienced both in the technologi-
cal environment and information technology. International competition and the globalization process
direct working norms, while management and human factors direct us towards new targets and policies.
The new needs created by industrialization and technological changes have necessitated enterprises to
renew themselves, to adopt new working and production techniques, and to apply modern business and
personnel principles. These changes have not merely influenced the tasks related to information manage-
ment but also caused important developments in many other unrelated areas. Among these managerial
areas that have been affected by these developments, human resource management processes have lived
through noteworthy transitions, as well, new technological trends have gained enormous importance
in human resource management processes. While companies try to adapt to changing conditions and
a new global order, the concept of human resources management, which is based on the principles of
meeting and developing the capabilities, knowledge, creativity and needs of individuals, has started to be

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-1125-1.ch018

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Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

used instead of the narrow concept of personnel management, a principle which expresses all activities
related to employees. E-human resources management has gained momentum due to the increased use
of in-house computers and communication technologies and the accumulation of knowledge in in-house
networks. In addition, rapid changes in communication technologies, new regulations, and an increas-
ingly competitive environment in our economic lives have led enterprises to seek new solutions (Güler,
2006). These developments in the business environment enabled the creation of real-time and interac-
tive business technologies that had not existed before the 1990’s when classical methods of recruitment
were prevalent. Especially, web based technologies and online business processes have become popular
among both practitioners and academicians- especially after the 1990s with the popularity of e-trade
that had increased in the markets.
Owing to the developments in IT processes, the last few decades have witnessed the intense and dynamic
development of IT and its impact in various human resource jobs (Berber, Dordević, Milanović, 2018).
Electronic Human Resource Management, namely, e-HRM have come about as a process that involves
the use of web-based technologies for providing services regarding human resource management. Gener-
ally, the concept of e-HR refers to the application of strategies, policies, and practices related to human
resources in organizations with support or full reliance on web technology (Ruel, Bondarouk & Looise,
2004:365). The application of IT technologies and its innovative solutions changed the manners that HR
professionals carry on within their different HR activities. Mostly activities such as collection, keeping,
and updating of employees’ data, employee training, and performance management underwent changes
(Berber, Dordević, & Milanović, 2018). And, activities in the field of recruitment and the selection of
candidates are among the activities that drastically changed, attracting the attention of modern companies
of the digital era. E-HR technology has begun to be used by multiple sectors including employees of
the HRM department and other employees in the organization, potential employees, and as well as the
management of the organization (Dorel & Bradić Martinović, 2011).
In fact, the term e-HR has its origin in the 1990’s, with the idea of the emergence of e-commerce
(Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003). As in the case with e-commerce, the prefix “e” was used in HRM,
which resulted in the name of e-HR or in some usages e-HRM concept (Ha, 2011: 20). Later it become
popular to use e-HR in explaining all HRM functions involving the use of internet and the latest tech-
nologies. In fact, E-HR can be explained as a way of conducting HR strategies in companies through
a willing, conscious, and direct support of full use of internet based technologies (Ruel et al.’s; 2004).
As in the case in the term e-commerce, e-HR refers to conducting human resource transactions with the
help of the Internet. The use of the Internet ensured human resources would function with the ease to
reach and use information at any time. (Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003). And as an important function
of HRM, the recruitment function has experienced many changes in this period.
Technologically speaking, the antecedent of e-HR was human resource information systems. These
systems were focused on automating the human resources management systems. Although, Human
resources information systems were not successful in creating the ideal internal virtual value chain.
Indeed, E-HR has evolved in three stages. The first stage was the most primitive and widespread one
including implementation of e-HR in publishing information, routine reports, and news related to all
kinds of human resources activities. It is both the simplest form of e-HR activities and also the most
restricted one since it includes one-way communication and a top-down information flow from human
resources management department professionals to the rest of the employees in the organization. And,
companies mostly prefer their intranets as the basic information delivery tool. In this method, generic
content information is published from HR to employees like policies, procedures, and daily company

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 Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

news etc. The second stage encompasses the automation of human resources processes that encompasses
the simultaneous use of intranets with extranets Different digital applications are combined in this human
resources mode and paperwork is replaced by mostly digital input. In the third stage,the transformation
of human resources to a fully electronic mode is seen. In addition, this fully electronic mode is largely
composed of online tools used with the help of online web applications that are useful in tracking tasks
for recruitment, performance management, wage management, and career management.
In this paper we have discussed recent trends that have become popular as a result of the changes in
working habits of the HR professional within the modern digital era. First of all, one of the latest trends,
namely outsourcing of recruitment processes, will be explained in detail since it has come about as a
new dimension- workforce management for recruitment and selection in modern era (Anthony et al.,
2013). And then, we will focus on e-recruitment, as well as its benefits and different mechanisms that
e-recruitment can be applied through. We will focus on the web-based recruitment process as one of the
most prominent novel recruitment methods of the 21st century.
We will later focus on another recruitment method that become popular using social networks and
social media. Social networks and social media represent a rich source of information that in most cases
is not available any other way (Berber, Dordević, & Milanović, 2018). In the last five years, it has not only
become quiet normal to collect information about candidates via Yahoo or Google but also through social
networks such as Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter- based on the networking of individuals.
In these social media networks, people often place information about their personal and professional
information that many Human resources managers find valuable in evaluating candidates. Mostly, this
information is the kind of information that is impossible to detect during the selection processes, such
as job interviews, examps and referance controls (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2008).
As in the examples mentioned above, in this paper, a comprehensive analysis of new employee recruit-
ment methods will be covered. In the design of this paper, the benefits of the latest technology, digital
trends, and the effects of these trends on modern employee recruitment processes have been taken into
consideration. In the study, we have adopted an approach that views recruitment as a purposeful practice
activity wherein modern scientific and technological achievements are applied in modern enterprises.
Additionally, confirming the effects of new digital habits, new technological tools, and modern methods
of attracting and selecting potential candidates has been targeted by showing both their advantages and
disadvantages for candidates and enterprises.

E-HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Benefiting from technology and digitalization is a novel area of study in management. Regarding this,
Orlikowski and Scott (2008) claim two main schools of thought regarding the technological orientations
of organizations. The first one is technology determinism which reflects a positivist perspective wherein
technology is viewed as an independent and qualitative variable resulting in positive organizational
outputs. The latter views technology as a novel concept changing over time and reflecting a rather post-
positivist approach. In the previous approach, technology can be considered a deterministic entity inter-
acting with various organizational factors (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008, p. 439) and having a considerable
effect in an organizational climate at myriad levels: an individual level, group level, enterprise level, and
inter-organizational level. Furthermore, in this approach technology is considered something effective
on several organizational results. It is an independent variable encompassing efficiency, organizational

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Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

agility, organizational resilience, and productivity (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008). This deterministic ap-
proach views technology as a causal variable creating theoretically-determined outputs such as efficiency,
productivity, competitiveness, or market orientedness. For instance, the quantity of IT projects carried
out in a certain company, the quantity and quality of technical tools utilized, and the qualifications of
IT professional in an organization can be regarded as independent variables in research existing in the
first stream of thought. The latter stream of thought in management literature concentrates on dynamic
relationships between people and technological variables. This stream of thought is less deterministic
in comparison to the first one. It considers technology as an element of “complex process in which
organizational structure is created.” But in relation to this point, technology should not be approached
with a bounded framework. Technology is no longer a discrete entity affecting some organizational
outputs in a certain direction, thus it should not be understood as a quantifiable variable as it is much
more complex and confusing. In fact, it is an emergent organizational factor which cannot be completely
understood with certain basic formulazations. Several factors and complicated interrelations can be use-
ful in understanding the impacts of technology on organizations.
By embracing e-HR, companies direct their HR function to a more systematized, mode-digitalized,
and more convenient state. In e-human resources management, most of the human resources management
functions performed by the human resources departments within the enterprise have been transferred to
the web environment. In companies using e-HR, transactions are held with a higher speed, lower levels
of information errors are seen, and the tracking and control of human resource functions are handled
more professionally. Thus, with the help of e-HR companies, organizations can improve their human
resources management service delivery (Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003). Also, they can more efficiently
and satisfyingly serve their interior and exterior customers. Priorities, such as saving time, reducing
bureaucracy and reducing costs, are prioritized. First of all, e-HR is a cost saving way of conducting hu-
man resource functions. In organizations wherein e-HR is used, fewer human resource professionals and
lower working hours are required due to the fact that e-HR eliminates the need for the HR middleman. In
companies using E-HR mechanisms, most functions are computerized and automatized, thus most HR
departments need fewer people working in their services after embracing e-HR. A quite significant part
of the activities are held by computers, and tasks are carried out much more conveniently. In companies
using e-HR, transactions are held with a higher speed, lower levels of information errors are seen, and
the tracking and control of human resource functions are handled more professionally improving the
speed and quality of HRM service delivery (Lengnick-Hall, & Moritz, 2003).Moreover, embracing e-HR
may also create alternative revenue sources for organizations. Through e-HR, HR professionals gain the
ability to direct their energy to new realms in doing their business more effectively and professionally.
For example, with the help of e-HR, companies can increase productivity, employee motivation, and
adopt more developed decision-making processes (Lengnick-Hall, & Moritz, 2003). On the one hand,
different e-HR activities can contribute to different organizational capabilities, such as automated HR
processes, easy data processing and analyzing, communication with stakeholders, and easy access to
external sources (Marler & Parry, 2015), thus allowing companies to gain a competitive advantage in the
long run. In fact, the use of e- HR is a planned strategic activity regarding the provision of HR activities
through modern technologies (Marler & Parry, 2015). Moreover, e-HR tools help companies keep up with
the newest developments in the area, and urge HRM departments to detect and absorb the most updated
know-how and technologies. Companies feel compelled to adapt new trends, trends which can lead to the
adoption of the latest technologies in various functional areas, including human resources management.

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 Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

In fact, e- HR is found to be more pervasive in those kind of companies wherein a more sophisticated
and complex HR functioning is prominent. As Voermans and van Veldhoven (2007) suggest, in the
kind of organizations wherein there is a system of HR strategic partnerships, there is more likely to be
an inclination towards e- HR since they need to have close relationships with them. In these companies
e-HR makes HR functioning more effective for multiple stakeholders, such as potential candidates, ex-
isting employees, middle and top managers and line managers. Strategic partnerships necessitate closer
contacts and relationships with the related business units. E-HRM ensures this close contact and creates
a continuous communication link between the HR and related business units. E-HR can confer many
advantages for organizations, such as a more efficient and strategically oriented HR functions and an
increased competitive advantage (Lazaaara & Galanaki, 2018). That is why E-HR often results in an
improvement in HR’s strategic orientation, and namely with the help of e-HR, human resources function-
ing can better accommodate itself. Using these systems, e-HR systems increase efficiency and ensure a
change in HR that creates a shift to a more strategic level (Parry & Tyson, 2011). With the help of e-HR
mechanisms, companies can attain five possible goals: efficiency, high quality human resources service
delivery, long term strategic orientation of the company and more empowered and satisfied employees,
and the standardisation of human resources work flows (Parry & Tyson, 2011).
In fact, the task characteristic in the human resources department is,the inclination to have more
paper-based or less stationary tasks predict the level of technological adoption, and the extent to which
the company prefers to adopt e-HR mechanisms. Excessive paperwork, having various business units in
different locations, high turnover rates, and crowded and complicated organizations give way to higher
levels of technology use in HR departments. It is much easier for huge multilayered and hierarchical
organizational structures to ensure inner communication among stakeholders with the help of these ap-
plications. And similarly, organizations too frequently recruiting and having complicated HRM processes
often benefit from technological applications and mechanisms in carrying out their daily activities since
it is a factor easing their daily jobs. An organization’s scale is also significant to the extent the com-
pany resorts to e-HR. That is to say, personnel number, number of different hierarchical levels in the
organization, and the extent to which the organization is structured in different strategic business units
effect the use of e-HRM adoption. Furthermore, organizations with highly qualified employees tend to
be more successful in e-HRM adoption (Lazazzara & Galanaki 2018). As well, isomorphic pressures
at the market, namely pressures applied by rivals, also make players resemble each other that can effect
the use of e-HR. That is to say, if in an industry embraces e-HR tools, the rest will also engage in e- HR.
To sum up, it is more advantageous to carry on human resources functions through online portals
and technological communication tools. It makes HR functioning more effective in the relationship
among multiple stakeholders such as potential candidates, existing employees, middle and top manag-
ers and line managers. Namely, e-HR contributes to higher efficiency, high quality HR service delivery,
long term HRM strategic orientation, more empowered HR professionals, and standardisation in HR
processes (Parry & Tyson, 2011).

RECRUITMENT

In an increasingly globally competitive environment, enterprises recognize that employees are a major
source of sustainable competition. Significant changes in terms of form, quality, and quantity of work
seen as a result of technological and scientific developments, has resulted in the emergence of new

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fields of work and the need for different types of personnel in these areas. No matter how satisfactory
the financial resources of an organization are, companies cannot realize its purpose if it does not have
the human resources to operate these structure and effectively use financial resources. It is critical for
enterprises to have unique resources in order to maintain their competitive advantage In other words, they
must have a well-equipped workforce, be able to retain them, and use them in line with their business
objectives (Gözen, 2016). In this challenging and demanding atmosphere, finding the right employees
is very important. And, in order to find the right kind of employees, HR must use the proper methods in
order to attract and select job seekers. In fact the recruitment process serves an important function since
it encompases looking for and attracting a pool of qualified job seekers using various complementary
methods. As conventional recruitment tools, companies use referrals, headhunting, written media, ads,
etc. to attract candidates.
Generally, recruitment can be explained as the process of attracting, selecting, and hiring the most
suitable applicants for vacant positions based on a candidate’s individual properties and their person-
organizational fit (Melanthiou, Pavlou & Constantinou, 2015). It is a unique process wherein a con-
siderable number of job seekers are evaluated according to the their suitability as an employeer for the
company. Most frequently, in large corporations, recruitment processes with more formal and structured
procedures are embraced; whereas, in small companies rather informal, unstructured and ad-hoc meth-
ods are adopted in recruiting new employees (Jameson, 2000). Turnover rates and the number of new
personnel recruited each year affects the quality and methods used in the recruitment process. In larger
companies, since the frequency of recruitment and selection is higher, companies tend to engage in more
structured and more convenient ways of recruitment- as in the example of e-HR. In fact, recruitment
can be considered the first step of effective competence and talent management. Attracting applicants
with high qualifications and suitable competencies is mostly possible through carrying out a successful
recruitment process, andhrough a successful recruitment process, companies can get access to success-
ful, eager, ambitious, and competent new employees.
In the recruitment process, ending up with the right candidate at the lowest cost possible is important
in creating effective and efficient employees and earning competitive advantage in the market. Without
a doubt, finding the right candidate is easier if the candidate pool of the company is larger, and namely,
if the company can come across higher number of job seekers. Traditional recruitment methods involve
applying personality tests, talent tests, technical capability tests, one to one interviews, panel interviews,
and reference checks. And, correct planning is significant in carrying out a successful recruitment process.
Namely, the planning process is the antecedent of the recruitment process. In the planning process the
HR department plans the required number of employees that should be hired in a certain time period.
In planning this number, previous numbers of employees hired, the work load of existing departments,
newly emerging tasks, business units, and yearly HR budgets are taken into consideration. When the
planning process is completed, the recruitment process, which is defined as a process of creating a
group of qualified candidates for the vacancies within the organizations, starts. In both professional and
non-professional areas, recruitment will include an attempt to locate a diverse applicant pool with the
necessary qualifications and potential, and communicating to them the available employment opportuni-
ties (Raghavi & Gopinathan 2013).
Selection is also a widely confused process in recruitment. In fact, selection is a more complicated
process compared to recruitment. In the recruitment process we are talking about an activity that is
targeting establishing a written contract between the employer and a new employee ; however, selection
refers to a set of complicated and integrated activities that aim to attract more competent and congru-

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ent applicants for the company. On the other hand, the main objective of recruitment is encouraging a
large quantity of candidates for a certain vacant position; whereas, selection targets rejecting unsuitable
ones and selecting the most proper and most competent job seekers. Namely, recruitment is a positive
approach wherein the candidates do not have to strive past many hurdles, but selection is a negative
approach wherein the job seeker should go through a difficult set of processes in order to be selected
for the vacant position. In fact, recruitment is the step preceding the selection process. In the selection
process, the most qualified applicants are chosen to fill the vacant positions. In fact, the company cannot
be successful if it fails to select the right candidates since the main target of the hiring process is finding
the most congruent applicant. On the one hand, it is also significant to carry out the selection process
in an ethical and transparent manner since poor selection would result in poor performance and organi-
zational commitment. That is why, before the selection and recruitment process, each company should
previously designate its selection criteria and make them known to the candidates. In selection, there are
a lot of criterion that the candidate should be compatible with, and the features that the job seekers should
possess is predetermined. Therefore, a good selection criteria often includes multiple factors: ability,
motivation, intelligence, diligence, appropriate risk, and reliability. On the other hand, the time interval
that the human resources professionals spend for the selection process vary between weeks and months.
It can be quick but mostly takes at least 2-3 months. In principle, the longer period is reasonable since
there are a lot of sequential steps in carrying out this process. First of all, the company should attract
the attention of candidates. Furthermore, the interests of the candidates should be compatible with the
features of the vacant position. In order to understand this compatibility, the applicants should review
the job characteristics from the job ad. Later, if the job seeker finds the job suitable, he should fill the
job application forms. After that, the recruiter of the intermediary recruiter company or the recruitment
professional of the related company should filter the most proper CVs. Next, some specific tests regard-
ing the related position are applied to the applicants. And then, the applicants that are most successful
in their competency and talent t interview with the recruiter (and sometimes panel interviews with all
related parts including the human resources professional and line manager) are conducted. Following
that is testing and the final interview, checking the accuracy of the information, the feedback and job
offer, a medical examination, and deployment and implementation at the workplace. election is a more
time and money consuming process compared to the recruitment process. In the selection process, the
recruiter should work effectively so that no one wastes time, money, and energy during the process.
In the recruitment process, the recruitment tools, mechanisms, and workflows can change in complex-
ity from company to company; in addition, the degree of difficulty according to the goals and sources
of the process can be chosen by the related company. The most commonly used sources for external
recruitment are newspaper ads, private and public employment agencies, Internet job boards, career
websites, corporate websites, employee referrals, career centers of universities, intermediary consultant
firms, and job fairs, etc. (Ployhart, Schneider, & Schmitt, 2006, p. 280). Interior recruitment is another
method of filling the vacant positions in a company. Sometimes firms prefer to fill their vacant positions
with people that are already working for the company but try to change their departments or positions.
Interior recruitment is an effective tool for motivating existing employees. Employees feel empowered
when interior recruitment is preferred in filling vacant positions. However, e-recruitment, the kind of
recruitment we will elaborate in the next section, is mostly preferred when carrying on external recruit-
ment process- namely attracting and evaluating candidates that are not working in the related company.

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Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

E-RECRUITMENT

In addition to radically changing our social and economic life, the Internet has significantly influenced
the governance of institutions (Stone et al., 2006: 229). According to Tong and Sivanand (2005), due
to the increase in global competition, business life has become more skill intensive, and recruiting and
attracting the right applicants at the right time has also become more important and tougher than ever.
In fact, the conventional recruitment processes cannot meet the needs of timely and effectively attracting
qualified candidates (Yoon Kin Tong, 2009). Thanks to the integration of the developments in com-
munication technologies and computer architectures, data transfer and sharing studies have revealed the
structures, called networks by computer networks or working networks, are widespread use in business
applications. With the development of information technologies, great changes have occurred in business
and technology, and job applications and human resources recruitment processes are affected by these
changes. An important human resources function that institutions use effectively from communication
technologies is recruitment.
As mentioned before, e-recruitment mechanisms started to become more and more popular owing to
their advantages in allowing human resources professionals to target a great number of candidates at a
small cost (Faliagka, Tsakalidis, & Tzimas, 2012). The use of technology has taken an important place in
the recruitment and selection of personnel. The development of the number of users on the internet has
been reflected in the number of companies that provide parallel personnel selection services. The increase
in the number of CVs in the candidate database is one of the important reasons for this development
(Peters, 2001). Nowadays, many corporations are using online platforms such as job-boards, corporate
recruitment sites, and social media websites in their recruitment practices (Allen, Mahto, and Otondo,
2007). Online recruitment is preferred since it is both cheap and flexible (Capelli, 2001) but also can
be utilized as a tool for image management (Girard & Fallery, 2011). Without a doubt, organizational
websites help form first impressions for applicants (Braddy, Meade, & Kroustalis, 2008), and the informa-
tion provided on these websites are effective for candidates’ attitudes regarding the firms (Allen, Mahto,
and Otondo, 2007). If the job seekers come across as neat, transparent, and appealing they tend to react
more positively towards the employers and their demands. The first contact with the company for many
employees is the recruitment process and the interview process. Moreover, recruitment portals used for
many companies (as intermediaries for catching new CVs) are also helpful in saving time and money for
the applicants. They can get in touch with the employers without spending much money, compared to
the cases wherein classical methods of job search are preferred by the applicants. Moreover, they do not
spend money for transportation, they are often user-friendly, and they give enough information which
is convenient for reaching a bigger pool of candidates.
In fact, e-recruitment refers to an umbrella term involving all kinds of recruitment activities carried
out by using various electronic means and the Internet (Holm et al., 2014). It implies publishing job posts
(namely open positions online), having an online fill-in form available for applicants, and a web-based
database existing to store the resumes of applicants (Brandão, Silva, & dos Santos, 2019). E-recruitment
encompasses three main stages: attracting, sorting, and contacting applicants. The first stage covers all
the processes regarding the suitable design of online portals and tracking potential candidates. The next
stage encompasses screening candidate profiles through sophisticated on-line mechanisms and tests.
In the last stage, in getting in touch with applicants, e-recruitment tools are quite successful, owing to
the fact that they provide efficient communication mechanisms to be automated (Holm et al., 2014). In
fact, e-recruitment allows candidates to have contact with more job opportunities and reach a greater

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 Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

flow of information (Sylva & Mol, 2009). They can learn more details about the vacant position and
the job characteristics of that position through job ads. With the help of e-HR systems, organizations
can be seen in myriad career portals and can attract astronomical quantities of applicants with a myriad
number of qualifications. In most e-recruitment processes, companies use an automated system wherein
candidates are ranked according to the scores they get after being evaluated by a set of objective and
credible criteria (Faliagka, Tsakalidis, & Tzimas, 2012).
Moreover, in the e-recruitment process, specialized selection tests, such as knowledge tests and
personality tests that can be applied through internet, provide online feedback to the recruitment profes-
sionals about the qualifications of the candidates. That is to say, in e-recruitment, myriad preliminary
online procedures can be utilized ensuring the elimination of candidates that do not fit the demands
of the vacant position (Brandão, Silva, & dos Santos, 2019). For example, computer-based tests, the
design of technology-based assessments, multivariable feedback with computers, design of descriptive
interviews for the Internet, use of technology for supplying and eliminating candidates, are all important
applications. In the development of tests and evaluations, interpersonal correct decision-making scale,
situational decision-making inventory, personality assessments and measurement of their validity are
included. In fact, for many organizations, utilizing the internet in administering job applications is very
beneficial in comparison to traditional methods, owing to lower costs, reduced hiring cycle period, and
non-stop access for job seekers to the related job advertisements- despite their physical location (Sylva
and Mol, 2009). In companies using e-recruitment, the location of applicants and the company become
irrelevant in the recruitment process.
Most businesses incorporate e-recruitment technologies into their bodies through recruitment sites
or human resources pages on corporate websites. However, as recruitment sites attract more attention
from the candidates, many enterprises prefer to use the candidate pool of these sites. They can easily
reach members of career websites, online job seekers, and people from different locations.
Although the internet is a good source of choice for those who are just starting out, it brings with
it a number of problems in finding executive candidates. Since the number of applicants is too high in
e-recruitment, sometimes it becomes more difficult for a unique job seeker to be chosen for a face- to-
face interview after they surpass filters. The people who are in managerial positions use their friends,
consultants or private recruitment agencies such as headhunters instead of online recruitment portals
when they are looking for work (Mornell, 2000: 262). It is regarded as an unprestigious way of looking
for jobs in upper-hierarchical positions, and it becomes a matter of ego to be compelled to apply for a
job as a newly graduated or unexperienced candidate.

CORPORATE WEBSITES

Corporate websites are important arenas for self-expression of companies and useful in reaching the
exterior and interior customers of a company. Corporate websites have become an important source of
information in the job application process (Cober et al., 2003: 158). And, they are significant communica-
tion channels between companies and job seekers (Araújo & Ramos, 2002). Sometimes companies prefer
using merely their corporate websites to attract new applications. Corporate websites are important tools
in E-recruitment applications in both reaching a large area of workforce and informing candidates about
the institution. In the job advertisements published on websites, institutions give many messages about
themselves, as well as the job, and the characteristics of the candidates to be placed in this position. All

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Digital Era and New Methods for Employee Recruitment

information in the advertisements gives important clues about what kind of employee can be employed.
These clues can significantly affect the candidates’ application to a institution.
On the one hand, corporate websites have the function of representing the organization. Therefore,
the content of the web site should be prepared in accordance with the values, norms, and goals of the
company and should be constantly updated so that possible problems can be easily resolved. Corporate
websites have the potential to provide applicants with real-time feedback about person-organization
fit (Pfieffelmann et al., 2010). Namely, job seekers can effectually compare their own properties, job
characteristics, and demands of the employer company through the information given in online job ad
and through their examinations of the related corporate websites.

Private Employment Agencies

Private employment agencies are also important vehicles for online recruitment. They attract millions of
candidate resumes through their websites and online employment platforms. And, through these portals
and their own websites, thousands of employers are announced for vacant positions. Special employment
bureaus use all the HR services: telephone and face-to-face interview techniques (which are traditional
methods), collecting the resumes of the candidate, sending emails to the candidate for email applications,
and applying to the employer. Candidates earn many advantages in job searches with the help of private
employment agencies. Through these agencies, it is possible for vacancies to be offered automatically
by the site;in addition, the vacancies can be searched according to various criteria, the job application
and evaluation process can be taken continuously, and candidates can get consultancy services. Private
employment agencies function in almost all sectors in employee recruitment, they have a mediating
role in the recruitment staff in many sectors. And, these offices are involved in recruitment at all levels
and positions by submitting ads through the online employment platform- or through their websites in
lower and mid-level recruitment. Finally, they use headhunting methods for recruiting candidates for
upper-level positions.
This “third-party” e-recruitment companies have become the second most popular online traders in
both the United States and Europe (Tong, 2008). They act as intermediaries between job seekers and
employee seekers. These third-party recruiter companies give services to organizations that prefer to
utilize online job advertisements for attracting and screening potential candidates’ CV’s at lower costs
compared to more conventional recruitment techniques. In fact, in most countries e-recruiter companies
serve the job seekers free of charge in posting their CVs online (Galanaki, 2002). Owing to free CV
sending opportunities, it is inevitable that job seekers freely send their CVs to different intermediary
e-recruiters; thus, creating bigger and bigger candidate pools for organizations, and making it more
advantageous to work with these intermediary e-recruitment firms. Therefore, the rapid growth of the
third-party e-recruitment web sites has altered the way jobseekers are looking for jobs.

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

In human resources management, social media, its structure based on advanced internet technology,
and its many different and new features have had an ever increasing effect. In the recruitment processes,
social media has become an important alternative for attracting applicants. Social media can be consid-
ered an important tool for recruiting new employees. It is a proper baseline for presenting the newest

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job opportunities, information regarding companies, vacant positions, and challenging alternatives for
candidates. With the help of social media, companies can adopt more speedy, efficient, and strategic
recruitment processes. Social media increases the ability of companies to target the most meaningful
and congruent candidates from a wide range of job seekers.
For example, in the United States, 98% of companies control the social media profiles of their ap-
plicants in their personnel selection processes. According to this research data, Twitter ranked third with
49%, while Facebook ranked second with 51%, and LinkedIn had the highest rank at 98% (Cülcüoğlu,
2013). This is why companies also look at social media profiles as well as normal resumes. Social media
acts a supplementary tool in the recruitment process. For instance, LinkedIn is also an alternative chan-
nel for professionals who are not actively looking for work but are open to new opportunities. Seeing
social media as just a resume repository means insufficiently using this channel. Most businesses can
also use social media to check their CVs with candidates. This is considered a more effortless method of
reference control but is sometimes considered to be more reliable. On the one hand, search robots such
as Google, Yahoo, and Yandex also provide the opportunity to get extra information about candidates
that can be added to the information already given by the candidate in his/her CV. The increasing use
of social media in a person’s life has reached a level where human resources units must deal with this
reality. First of all, merging the career pages of the institutions with social media pages should be listed
as the first steps towards socialization. The fact that corporate career videos are given to Youtube is
one of these examples. In social media and networks, organizations not only use the brand identity as a
user, but also actively use and follow these sites. At this stage, organizations have started to manage new
communication platforms by creating a new team or using external sources (Bora, 2011).
At this point, there are also scholars studying different methods to evaluate candidates according to
their social media data. For example, Faliagka et al., (2012) developed a method of ranking candidates
by utilizing machine-learning algorithms for evaluating applicants that makes linguistic analysis of
candidates’ blogs and creates objective criteria that draw data from a candidates’ LinkedIn account.
For example, in Caers and Castelyn’s (2011) study, the recruitment and selection habits of Belgian hu-
man resources professionals have been examined with an aim of understanding whether LinkedIn and
Facebook are important tools in making selections, regarding candidates. In the study, about 393 human
resources professionals were examined from various sectors and organizations and an online questionnaire
concerning the use of Facebook and LinkedIn in recruitment processes has been applied. The results
of the study showed that both facebook and Linkedin act as supplementary tools in understanding ap-
plicants and are used for finding additional information about applicants in order to to decide whether
it is meaningful to invite them for the interview.
However, sometimes the data received from social media may not be so clear or may not realistically
reflect the the candidate. When creating these data, users of the social networking site mostly do not have
an initial intention of preparing knowledge about themselves for recruiters, so this data may not ensure
necessary information has been productively portrayed for the recruitment process. And sometimes, it
may cause unlawful discrimination since the recruiter can find out information about the applicant’s race,
ethnic identity, age, political identity, sexual orientation, religion, and disabilities (Pate, 2012). Since this
type of searching occurs without the knowledge of the job seeker, the recruiter can freely discriminate
without the applicant’s knowledge, thus deteriorating the fairness of the process and relevance of the
search with the recruitment process.

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ADVANTAGES OF E-RECRUITMENT

Doherty (2010) claims that as an indirect effect of e-recruitment for companies we should take into account
the positive perception created by the company as a modern and technology-friendly organization. With
the help of adoption of e-recruitment, the company can create an image wherein e-recruitment creates
an image that the company is innovative and open minded. That perception helps the organization to at-
tract young talent, high potential, successful candidates with high expectations from their organizations.
Namely, companies gain prestige through the use of the latest technology. With the help of e-recruitment
systems, companies may utilize their job ads to create a favorable brand and company image in the eyes
of their potential candidates. Typically during job searches, job seekers are often curious about who
they can work for and what are the properties of these potential employers. That is why an elaborate job
advertisement will positively shape the candidates’ decisions (Kaur, 2015).
In companies, mostly applicant tracking systems are used by companies in order to manage the re-
cruiting process. Through these systems, job seekers’ job applications and companies’ vacant position
openings are held electronically. And, these systems are often provided by web-based applications. Job
openings from companies’ applicant tracking systems are often aggregated by “job board” services
tracking millions of job advertisements, and these services let candidates perform simple keyword
searches for finding vacant positions. Job seekers typically apply for vacant positions by uploading CVs
that are mostly manually examined and evaluated by expert human resources professionals (Faliagka
et al., 2012). And unfortunately, only a small fraction of all candidates receive an offer for a one-on-
one job interview. Sector leaders, such as JobVite and Monster, have added a degree of automation in
their candidate screening process that is integrated with the widely known applicant tracking functions
(Faliagka et al., 2012). This automation makes it a bit easier for human resources professionals to track
the applicants and to filter the most suitable candidates. The automated version also makes it easier for
candidates to come across the kind of job advertisements that are most suitable to their qualifications.
Applicant personality traits are crucial for applicant selection in many job positions but are gener-
ally overlooked in existing e-recruitment systems. Normally, applicant’ personality and individual
characteristics are evaluated during the face-to-face interview, which is only applied to the applicants
that can pass the online pre-screening stage (Faliagka et al., 2012). But, in the automated version of e-
recruitment, clues from all applicants’ personality can be obtained through their online applications. By
using web mining techniques, these automated systems gather preliminary data regarding an applicants’
personality that can be important in the pre-screening stage. Previously, this task has been undertaken
by human resources professionals manually, which is both time and effort consuming. Recruiters, which
are widely acclaimed to perform background checks on prospective employees, take advantage of their
web presence. However, in the automated e-recruitment processes, it is much quicker and easier. For
instance, in these systems the candidate can be asked to share a link to his personal blog, owing to the
fact that personal blogs encompasses a wide range of information and linguistic characteristics reflecting
the realities of the blogger’s personal characteristics (Oberlander & Nowson, 2006).
JobVite (2012) claims that social media can also be considered a very significant tool for employee
referrals, reducing time spent in this process and an important part of costs incurred during hiring. Since
potential applicants of a certain company can reach the related job post without, we can talk about a
greater number of applicants. And, the applicants can access the related job post via many different
kinds of electronic devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers- enabling them to
apply for the job.

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Moreover, e-recruitment processes serve as an enhanced user experience allowing an entire recruit-
ment process which can be managed from one central point, allowing recruiters to post vacant positions,
accept CVs, search and screen applicants, filter CVs, and contact applicants when necessary (Kaur, 2015).
In the same way, applicants can track their applications’ progress at each step of the recruitment process
from their own personal account. They can manage their own account and they can update it whenever
it is necessary. Thus, this enhanced user experience creates satisfaction for both the employer and job
seeker, encouraging quicker and more satisfying recruitment process. Furthermore, the the employer
or the recruiter full control during e-recruitment. He/she can contact job seekers directly, does not need
a middleman for searching, filtering, assessing or selecting the most suitable applicant (Kaur, 2015).
And, the recruiter can give instant feedback regarding the updates made by the job seeker. For example,
when an update is made on a job seeker’s CV, the recruiter can easily get the newest version of the CV
and can reevaluate the CV instantly.

DISADVANTAGES OF E-RECRUITMENT

During the e-recruitment process, job seekers generally upload their CVs in a loose format to the related
e-recruitment portal, making it necessary to be considered by an experienced and qualified recruiter;
thus, creating a great asymmetry of resources needed by job seekers and e-recruiters and mostly in-
creasing the quantity of unqualified job applicants (Faliagka et al., 2012). It is so easy to apply for a job
via this online system that many people apply to several jobs without much considering the details of
the job advertisement. Sometimes, they even apply to jobs without even reading the details of the job
advertisement, or even worse, people sometimes apply to the ads they even would not prefer to go to
its if they were invited. The fact that most of the career sites do not request membership fees from the
candidates, the applicants do not pay any fees for the application, and there is no sanction for the ap-
plications made with a serious intent can lead candidates to apply for jobs that they do not really want.
This means unnecessary confusion for the recruiter, as many CVs are incongruent with the position and
a lot of candidates are eliminated after they are filtered. Thus, less serious applicants are also a problem
in the e-recruitment system. Owing to easy and free access to job ads, many job seekers apply to a lot
of irrelevant job ads in order to learn their own market value since it is nearly impossible to test whether
the job seeker is serious or not. That is why, only if the job seeker is invited to the interview can the
recruiter understand whether he really wants the position or not. But, if it turns out that the job seeker
is not serious; unfortunately, it means some serious ones have been missed and have not been invited to
the interview (Kaur, 2015). And, this is something very difficult to prevent due to the general working
principles of e-recruitment sites. However, people, especially elderly employees who are not accustomed
to using technological tools may avoid providing applications via internet due to their technology bias.
That is to say, an e-recruitment applicants’ reactions to the online system and job advertisements in this
systems are affected by the perceived efficiency and perceived user-friendliness of the e-recruitment
system. Namely, it is affected by whether or not the applicant views the job advertisement as easy to
conceive and apply for (Sylva & Mol, 2009).
On the other hand, related research indicates that use of social media, internet, and web based infor-
mation search techniques that are generally preferred in e-recruitment may sometimes create bias in the
recruitment and selection process. Unfortunately, drawing conclusions based on web-based information,
social media comments, or photos- making deductions from unrelated data- may mislead possible job

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performance or person-organization fit expectations (Purkiss et al., 2006; Caers & Castelyns, 2011). On
the other hand, in today’s technology, corporate information is served to job seekers at lower costs that
can cause misleading or negative information from company-independent information sources that are
impossible to control (Caers & Castelyns, 2011). Furthermore, the candidate might come to the interview
with all inaccurate knowledge about the company that may result in a negative impression on both sides.
Furthermore, since the user-friendliness of the recruitment portal creates a positive or negative im-
pression about the professionalism of the company and the importance of the job in the related ad (Cap-
pelli, 2001), it is important to build a positive image through corporate web sites and online recruitment
pages. A sloppy corporate web page, a job posting with erroneous information, or oversimplification can
lead the candidate to underestimate the job and decide whether the company is a very attractive place
to work. Similarly, problems such as continuous errors in the online recruitment portal, or corrupted
data can hinder the progress of the user, and may cause the job seeker to stop applying from this portal.
When the related websites are designed properly, candidates can perceive the company as a much more
attractive one (Turban et al., 2001).
Possible outdated job ads are another possible disadvantage of e-recruitment. Sometimes, recruiters
forget to remove old job posts that have already been filled by a candidate- sometimes by mistake or
miscommunications between the human resources manager and the recruiter. And, job seekers continue to
apply for this position and the company gets flooded with unnecessary CVs (Kaur, 2015) making things
unnecessarily complicated and problematic. The job seekers applying to this nonexistent vacant posi-
tion become more anxious in time and start to embrace negative emotions regarding the company. This
makes it risky for the company to attract CVs of these applicants for real vacant positions in the future.

CONCLUSION

E-recruitment is defined as the actions and practices of the institution by using various electronic tools
to fill open positions effectively and efficiently (Lee, 2005). It is a technology-based process wherein
many recruitment applications such as online job vacancies, online interviews, and online tests (Öksüz,
2011) are utilized. 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. For example, online
business interviews and online tests are some of the applications that can be included in this process.
Despite all the positive results achieved through e-recruitment, some companies are still 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. However,
beyond the above, the fact that many organizations have prevented e-path tracking (Melanthiou, Pav-
lou and Constantinou, 2015) and prefer to continue manual candidate tracking results in e-recruitment
system avoidance.
Of course, there are some points that cause both applicants and recruiters pause about e-recruitment.
First of all, social profile screening used by most companies during e recruitment process, is a debated
issue. Some experts claim that it should be illegal to pursue information this way. And, it can result
in problems that end up in lawsuits (Melanthiou, Pavlou and Constantinou, 2015). Applicants can feel
disturbed and they may be uncomfortable if they find out that their social media accounts are secretly
followed. This can be perceived as a violation of privacy. For example, if a recruiter figures out some
private aspects of an individual, like his ideological preferences, and during the interview if he implies

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that he knows something about his ideological preferences, the candidate could be disturbed and choose
to sue the company as a result. On the other hand, it is also possible that the information derived from
social media is false or outdated. In fact analyzing and reviewing applicants’ social network profiles, their
posts, comments, and photographs on the internet can both help to understand the persona attributes of
applicants and figure out if they fit the company culture or not (Kluemper & Rosen, 2009). But, these
attempts may also mislead the recruiter as Slovensky and Ross (2012) suggest, as social network activities
may sometimes distort reality. Individuals may behave differently in social media and they may behave
differently in the work environment. They may willingly comply with the values, norms and regulations
of the company they are working for, despite their own personal realities.
In spite of its disadvantages, e-recruitment has positively affected the job search process and the
recruitment process and revolutionized the modern business life. Thanks to the time, space, and money
saved it has become a preferred recruitment method for many companies and has made the recruitment
processes of companies more modern. And it has made things easier for many job seekers to reach their
potential employers more cogently.

SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The modern era necessitates more technologically friendly and more proactive players in the market.
As a result, demanding employers and employees created new ways for dealing with job searches and
the recruitment process. In order 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 technological applications and portals in their job searches. And similarly, in order to reach a
greater number of employers with higher prestige and recognition.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

In this study, we aimed to make a comprehensive conceptual examination of the novel recruitment style,
namely, e-recruitment. In further research, the advantages and disadvantages of the e-recruitment process
can be examined with the help of an empirical study. And in the research model, the effects of the e-
recruitment process can be analyzed for the efficiency and effectiveness of the recruitment process. As
well candidate satisfaction or employer satisfaction can be analyzed with the help of this model. And,
the extent of technology adoption in the e-recruitment process should be analyzed regarding its effects
on positive organizational outcomes.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

E-Application: The act of applying to jobs through computer based and web-based technologies.
E-Recruitment: It is the activity of using internet and web based technologies in order to attract job
seekers and find the right kind of new employees for companies and organizations.
Employee Selection: It is the process of interviewing and evaluating the candidates for a specific job
and selecting the most suitable one for employment based on specific criteria including his qualifica-
tions, skills, experience, and expertise.
Recruitment: It is the process of the process of employing new people to work for a company or
organization.

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