Chapter 11

Recruitment and Selection in an

Internet Context
 Recruitment
The goal of the recruitment function is to identify, attract, and hire the most qualified people (Cascio,
2013).
Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process
begins when new recruits are sought and end when their applications are submitted. The result is a
pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.
“Recruitment is a matching process of discovering potential candidates for actual or anticipated
organizational vacancies or from another perspective, it is a linking activity bringing together those
with jobs and to fill and those seeking jobs.”

Organization goes for recruitment with a view to the following objectives -----
To find and employ the best potential candidates.
To retain the innovative, energetic, and promising persons.
To provide facilities for growth and development and also career security.
To minimize the cost and reduce scope of favoritism, nepotism and malpractice.
 Factors affecting recruitment:
There are many factors affecting recruitment. These factors may be considered
into two broad groups- Internal factors, External factors.

Internal Factors: External Factors:

▪ Image of the organization
▪ Image or attractiveness of job ▪ Demographic factors
▪ Size and growth of the organization. ▪ Govt. requirements
▪ Internal policies ▪ Industrialization
▪ Trade union requirement ▪ Labor market
▪ Recruiting budgets.
 3. Different approaches of staffing
Ethnocentric Approach: An ethnocentric staffing policy is one in which all-key
positions in a multinational being filled by parent- country nationals (PCNs).

Polycentric Approach: A polycentric staffing policy is one in which HCNs are

recruited to manage subsidiaries in their own country and PCNs occupy positions at
corporate headquarters.

Regiocentric Approach: A regiocentric approach is one in which region wise HRM

policies are adopted. It involves with functional rationalization on a more than one
country basis. According to this approach HCNs and TCNs are recruited for the
organization.

Geocentric Approach: A geocentric approach is one in which the best people is

recruited for the jobs through out the organization, regardless of nationality.
 Meaning of Selection
Selection is the process of gathering information for the purposes of
evaluating and deciding who should be employed in particular jobs.
It is the technique of choosing a new member of organization from
the available candidates.
According to Dale Yoder, “Selection as a process by which
candidates are divided into class- those who will be offered
employment and those who will not”.
According to Blare, “Selection is the process of choosing from
among available applicants the individuals where are most likely to
successfully open for a job.”
 Steps of Selection (Staffing) Process
According to Decenzo and Robbins, Selection is a continuous process which
consists of the following eight steps:
1. Reception of application

2. Screening

3. Application Blank

4. Employment tests

5. Interview

6. References

7. Medical examination

8. Hiring decisions or employment

A comparison of Recruitment and Selection Process

R
Finding out Vacancies E
C
R
Job Analysis and HRP U
I
T
M
Attracting a Field E
N
T
Short-listing
S
Selection E
L
E
Offer and Acceptance C
T
I
Induction O
N
Factors need to Considered in Selection process

Cross-Cultural
Suitability
Technical Family
Ability Requirements

INDIVIDUAL
SELECTION
SITUATION
DECISION

Country-Cultural MNE
Requirements Requirements
Language
 Recruitment and Technology
The goal of the recruitment function is to identify, attract, and hire the most qualified
people (Cascio, 2013).
However, this task has become quite challenging because there is a growing
competition for talent in the labor market (Towers Watson, 2012).
Companies are increasingly being required to expand their search for applicants beyond
local and domestic borders to find qualified talent.
As a result, they have begun using the Internet as a means of attracting job applicants.
In the United States, over 90% of large companies use the Internet to recruit applicants
for job openings (Cappelli, 2001; Lee, 2005; Taleo Research, as cited in MacMillan,
2007).

With more than 46 million people looking for job openings online (Pew Internet,
2006), it is no surprise that many organizations, both large and small, are turning to
online recruitment.
Organizations are utilizing the Web as a way of attracting candidates, and they are also
using Web-based HRIS to support the recruiting process.
 E-Recruitment Process
E-Recruitment, also known as “Online -Recruitment”, is a method used by HR
professionals to assist the recruitment process by using technology or web based tools.
It is an automated process of tracking, attracting, interviewing, and hiring candidates
by utilizing online stages and HR software.
E-Recruitment Process
 Methods of E-Recruitment
1. Sourcing and Attracting Potential Candidates
Sourcing is the process of searching for qualified job candidates for a current or pending position in
the company. In order to recruit candidates efficiently, it becomes important to know where the pool
of interested candidates lies.
Which is why, using social media for sourcing and attracting potential candidates is one of the most
common methods used for online recruitment.
Social media is an effective tool for building employer brands and hiring potential candidates.
Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram have been commonly visited sites for finding,
tracking and recruiting candidates online.

2. Using Applicant Tracking System

An Applicant Tracking System is a software that uses an algorithm to sort out resumes of the
potential candidates and simplify the process of recruitment for the hiring HR managers.
When a lot of candidates apply for a job opening, this software helps to segregate under qualified
resumes and qualified resumes during the hiring process. So, this enables the recruiters to see the
resumes that are filtered and as per their criteria asked in the job profile.
Thus, an Applicant Tracking System is a useful method for E- recruitment.
 Methods of E-Recruitment: Contd. ….
3. Interviewing Candidates Online
Thanks to the internet, it is not mandatory to have job interviews in a physical space anymore. By using
free interview video tools like Skype, Google meet, Zoom etc., HR managers can recruit the qualified
candidates by interviewing them online.
Nowadays, most of the companies use an automated online interviewing system where the candidates
are asked questions and are given a certain time limit for thinking and speaking the answers. This is also
the reason why this method of E- recruitment has become very common in the corporate world.

4. Using Job Boards

Job boards are the websites used by the recruiters for advertising job offerings specifically. On the
contrary, Job seekers can use job boards to search for new job opportunities in their area and profession.
Some job boards use applicant tracking systems to help streamline the application process while in
others, individual job postings redirect interested candidates to company websites to complete the
application process.
For example, sites like Glassdoor and Indeed allow candidates to post their resumes for the recruiters to
find them.
These are the possible methods used by HR recruiters to hire potential candidates, let’s talk about the
advantages these methods serve to them.
 Objectives Associated with Online Recruitment
There are certainly a number of benefits associated with using online recruitment, it is a win-win situation for
both job applicants and organizations.
The objectives/ benefits of online recruitment can be -
enables organizations to meet their recruiting objectives;
provides applicants with the means of obtaining jobs;
Online recruitment can speed of filling the job vacancy; decrease cycle time and increase the efficiency of
the process (Breaugh & Starke, 2000).
The information gathered and disseminated during the recruitment process shapes the expectations that
lead to psychological contract fulfillment, which directly affects employee satisfaction and retention
rates.
A realistic job preview shows applicants the positive and negative attributes of a job they are applying for
to see if this job is truly what they desire or thought it was (Wanous, 1992).
Company’s employment brand can be increased through online recruitment which is a powerful tool to
attract applicants to its website.

Online recruitment is extremely convenient for applicants and is available to them 24X7 hours/days.
The quality and diversity of the applicant pool are determined by the users of online recruitment. Most
applicants who typically use online recruitment are computer-literate, well-educated, driven individuals
with a high need for achievement, seeking relatively high-level jobs (McManus & Ferguson, 2003).
The advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment

Advantages: Disadvantages:
It’s cost-effective Costs can spiral
It’s immediate It can be difficult to measure their
You can reach a bigger audience effectiveness
It’s easy It’s informal
It attracts bad candidates
You can make your job ad more
There’s a lot of competition
dynamic It could lead to lost labour hours
It’s flexible It attracts fraudulent applicants
It’s durable It can affect communication
It’s accessible It can lead to technical issues
It expedites the hiring process You may miss out on great employees
It allows confidentiality Unstructured recruitment process
Advantages of E-Recruitment
Saves Time: If we look back at the time when HR managers used to publish job vacancies and
depend on word of mouth for finding job seekers, we’d see how time consuming it used to be to
hire a single potential candidate and that too, in a small locality! With methods of E-recruitment
where resumes of under qualified candidates can be separated and a larger pool of job seekers can
be found, the recruitment process has just got simplified in case of time usage.
Minimizes Hiring Cost: Costs in recruiting are usually high in terms of advertising, travel
expenses, third-party recruiter fees etc. Which is why, the hiring process usually takes up too much
time and its cost increases subsequently. However, with the use of online recruitment methods,
labor costs like these can be minimised by implementing a software which allows both, the job
seekers and recruiters to post free job openings on multiple social platforms just by one click.
Broadens Scope of Candidates: With the use of digital tools and the web, HR recruiters can also
increase the scope of candidates. When they post about a job vacancy, it allows them to dive into
the larger pool of potential candidates which also broadens their selection decisions. As a result,
they are able to select the appropriate candidates both locally and internationally.
Filters According to Criteria: Recruitment systems have filtration tools to help recruiters to find
the ideal candidates with competencies that match the job position. Therefore, the filtration tools
provided by E-Recruitment systems speed up the process of sorting the candidates according to
experience, education, competencies, and many more criteria.
 Advantages of E-Recruitment
Enhanced candidate experience: Online recruitment enables a seamless, user-friendly, efficient, and
remote recruitment process that keeps candidates engaged and informed every step of the way.
Technology-driven recruitment is particularly important to Gen Z job seekers, who may not even apply
for a role with an organization if they believe their hiring methods are slow and outdated.
Effective onboarding: Oftentimes, employers’ onboarding processes are clunky and inefficient. A bad
first impression not only impacts retention levels but also prevents new hires from hitting the ground
running.
Builds brand awareness: Online recruitment allows employers to creatively communicate real-time
information about job openings to a large audience. This makes it possible to gather data on many
prospective candidates and build out talent pools.
Shortens the hiring process: The use of automation accelerates many recruitment processes including
pre-screening and background checking, scheduling interviews, communicating with candidates, and
processing paperwork.
Reaches a wider audience: Online recruitment enables employers to attract and recruit talent from any
geography, which is particularly beneficial nowadays given the recent shift to remote working. Not
only does this result in more applications per role (and more choice for the employer), but it increases
the likelihood of finding candidates with a highly specialized or specific skill set.
Disadvantages of E-Recruitment
Rise in Competition: One of the downsides of recruiting online is that there is also a pool
of recruiters waiting to hire the perfect candidate for their specified job role. As a result,
the job post can quickly become buried under a mountain of other job offers, forcing the
HR manager to either pay more for extra exposure or risk not being seen. When it comes
to social media, it is also the decision of the platform’s algorithms, to reach the audience
the manager wants.

Technical Issues: During online interviews on the free video platforms like Skype or
Zoom video calls, it is possible to encounter technical faults. It can be quite embarrassing
for a recruiter to be suddenly switched out of a conversation or call due to an electrical
outage, while having an unstable internet connection can be awkward. This also means if
the company isn’t good at technology, they might encounter such glitches more often.

Attraction of Bad Candidates: With the ease in the process of applying for a job online,
it also means that underqualified and fraud candidates might apply for the job role. With
hundreds of applicants, many of them will not be suitable for or serious about the role, thus
diluting the quality of your talent pool.
Disadvantages of E-Recruitment

Harder to recruit for the most senior positions: it’s much harder to recruit for
the most senior positions via online recruitment vs traditional methods. Employers
will be drawing from a smaller talent pool for these roles, which demands a more
targeted and personalized approach.

High volume of applications: Although receiving a high volume of applications

often leaves employers spoilt for choice, a significant portion of candidates will
inevitably be underqualified or unsuitable.

Finally, many online recruitment methods are clinical and impersonal, which
means hiring managers and recruiters must consider how to make their hiring
processes more human. Failure to do so will see employers losing out on their
favorite candidates to other brands that are marketing themselves and their job
openings more effectively.
Attributes/ Factors of the Recruiting Website

Content information
Media richness
Aesthetic features
Usability
Costs and quality
Web page information
Other attributes
 What makes a good Recruitment website?
The ideal recruitment website should provide you with an attractive web presence but most importantly provide you with
the tools to boost online applications facilitating an increase in the number of placements your recruitment business can
make. Below is a list of what we recommend in order to provide the highest return on Investment from your recruitment
website.
Job Search: This is the most integral part of a recruitment website. The job search needs to be easy to use and needs to
have pride of place on your home page.
Job Alerts: Ok the candidates have found you but how do you ensure they keep coming back. This is where relevant
job email alerts are an invaluable part of your recruitment website.
Ease of Application: Your candidate has found the right job but they don’t half an hour to apply. A quick and easy
application process will ensure that you capture all the rising stars.
Statistic Reporting: Any recruitment website should provide you with the tools to report on the usage and statistics in
order to provide you with a clear indication of how effective it is being for you.
Search Engine Optimization: You have the design, you have the website functionality but if no one can find you then
it is irrelevant. A site with strong SEO will ensure that the right traffic finds you for the right reasons.
Mobile Website Presence: Recruitment websites are viewed on the move, at home and in the office. They have to be
equally available on iPad and a smartphone as well as a standard office PC. Jobweb designs and technology are
optimized for each of these environments enabling you to get the best out of the site whichever way your candidates
choose to view it.
Social Media Integration: Social media is free traffic and exposure!! Have links to your pages and groups on your
website and ensure jobs posted will be fed out to Twitter, Facebook etc. Having a sharing widget on each job
description is also an excellent feature.
Online recruitment Techniques/ Sources
Internet circular/ campaigns
Third party/ recruiting agency
Arrange Virtual job fair
Social media/ online communities uses
Implement pre-screening tools and skills assessments
Video advertising and interviewing
Company website
 Online recruitment Techniques/ Sources
The following online recruitment methods are tried and tested and perhaps the best place to start if you’re
looking to refresh your hiring processes.
1. Company website: A crucial part of the online hiring process is developing a company website that
showcases your brand’s unique personality and workplace culture. According to a recent LinkedIn survey,
61% of talent acquisition leaders believe that a company career page is the best place for employer
branding.
2. Internet ad campaigns: Pay-per-click ad campaigns are a simple yet effective way to increase
awareness about your organization’s job openings and drive prospective candidates to your company
website or recruitment page.
Social media sites, like LinkedIn, and search engines, like Google, offer pay-per-click advertising
options. They can be targeted towards potential candidates from various industries or specific regions
with certain skill sets. Research has found that brand awareness can be increased by up to 80% through
Google paid ads.
3. Social media: Aside from pay-per-click ads, social media sites have a crucial role to play when it comes
to online recruitment – and many of the features are either cheap or free to use.
In 2018, Glassdoor revealed that 79% of job seekers were using social media when conducting their job
search. Meanwhile, 84% of organizations are already opting to recruit via social media, finding that it’s
a useful way of engaging with passive job seekers.
 Online recruitment Techniques
4. Online job sites:
There are many jobs sites where you can both identify and recruit candidates (via a database of resumes) and post
job openings. Take a look at sites like CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Glassdoor, Google for Jobs, Craigslist,
Dice, Nexxt, JobsRadar, and Jobvertise. These sites provide easy access to thousands of candidates and can help to
simplify or accelerate your recruitment processes.
One of the downsides of using jobs boards is that you’ll likely receive lots of applications from unsuitable
candidates. However, specialist and targeted jobs boards are increasingly common and a quick Google search will
help you to identify sites tailored to your specific industry and needs.
5. Implement pre-screening tools and skills assessments
Making a bad hire is one of the most expensive mistakes a hiring manager or recruiter can make, with the potential
to cost your organization tens of thousands of dollars. Yet, according to research from CareerBuilder, 74% of
employers admit they’ve hired the wrong person for a position.
6. Dedicated contact sourcing
Certain jobs boards, sites, and channels dominate the recruitment industry. They provide you with access to the
biggest talent pool and are typically affordable and seamless to use. As such, it can be tempting to put all your
online recruitment eggs into one basket.
But you never know when or where you might unearth your perfect candidate, which means it’s much wiser to
actively source candidates and advertise job openings across a range of different channels to maximize exposure.
By putting in the work identifying suitable candidates within your industry or targeting specialized jobs sites you’ll
build out your talent pool and, in the long run, waste less time on uninterested or irrelevant parties
 Online recruitment Techniques/ Sources
7. Online recruitment software: Online recruitment software leverages automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to take
on a range of typically time-consuming and monotonous tasks to streamline your processes and enhance the overall
candidate experience.
There are platforms available to screen résumés for keywords, send updates and status notifications to candidates,
generate reports and analyze candidate data, post openings on your company recruitment page, schedule interviews,
and keep hiring managers updated throughout the recruitment process. By automating these processes, recruiters and
hiring managers can spend their time on more demanding and value-adding tasks. Meanwhile, your candidates will
appreciate regular communication, transparency, and increased efficiencies.
8. Video advertising :You could, for example, include interviews with current employees, video tours of your workplace,
or a video of your hiring managers explaining the job role and hiring requirements.
In addition, candidates are far less likely to spend their time reading or sharing long job descriptions, blog posts, or
adverts than they are watching engaging and stimulating videos. In fact, visual content can result in 1200% more
shares than plain text and images combined.
9. Video interviews: Video interviewing is low-effort, low-cost, and highly convenient for both employer and candidate,
but it’s also one of the few online recruitment methods that will help you to build a personal connection with applicants.
It’s best to reserve the video interview stage of the recruitment process for shortlisted candidates so you can focus your
time and effort where it really matters. In addition, always opt for structured video interviews, which means asking
everyone the same questions, so you can easily compare candidates.
Another benefit of video interviews is that they can be easily recorded, allowing hiring managers or recruiters to be
present and engaged during the interview, and review a candidate’s responses more closely after the meeting.
 Online Recruitment Guidelines
Stone et al. (2005) offer the following research-based guidelines on the effective design and use of
online recruitment strategies:
Online recruiting is more suitable for well-known firms with excellent employer branding.
It should be used as one of many sources of recruitment.
It is more suitable when many candidates are needed for high-level jobs requiring high levels of
education.
Organizations should be aware of the limitations of this method, such as its limited ability to attract
lower qualified candidates and minority candidates.
It may in fact attract job hoppers. The websites should be easy to use and navigate and designed to
attract, not screen, candidates.
Online screening systems should be based on job analyses. E-recruiting systems should provide realistic
previews of jobs and of the firm.
Effectiveness should be regularly reviewed and continuously improved based on feedback from job
applicants.
Online recruiting should be culturally sensitive and suit people from diverse backgrounds, including
those with low education levels and low computer self-efficacy.
Online recruiting must incorporate privacy protection policies, including those limiting the collection of
information to only employment-specific data and those restricting access to and distribution of such
data.
 Recruitment Strategies and Social Networking
Organizations have always used social relationships and networking, including employee referrals,
to attract talent.
Increasingly, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are gaining in use
and popularity, and they now provide a unique method of allowing recruitment professionals to
source, contact, and screen both active and passive job candidates.

For example, domestically in the United States, United Parcel Service (UPS) uses Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus to post job openings and host relevant information about the
company and its culture (Zielinski, 2012).
Internationally, the Hard Rock Café solely used Facebook as a recruiting source to hire 120
employees for a new restaurant in Florence, Italy (Colao, 2012).

Although there are benefits to using social networking sites for recruitment and selection purposes,
there are also concerns regarding its proliferation, targeted applicant pool, use in selection,
saliency of more negative profile information than positive, and merit as a worthwhile recruiting
source.
 The Relationship of e-Recruiting and HRIS
The applicant’s information acquired through the company’s online recruitment can be funneled into
the company’s HRIS.
The use of the HRIS in the recruitment process can make the process more efficient and effective by
having information readily available and usable at a moment’s notice. Many of the suggestions made
in the above sections are illustrated here.
One important function the HRIS provides is applicant tracking. Applicant tracking allows for the
generation of applicants’ profiles, which are compiled through application blanks and/or resumes.
These profiles can aid the hiring manager in their employment decisions. Recruiters or the hiring
managers can perform key word searches to find qualified applicants for available jobs. Applicant
tracking also allows recruiters, hiring managers, and sometimes the applicants themselves, to see
where they are in the recruitment process.
The HRIS can provide information about the yield ratios for each recruiting source, cost-
effectiveness of the recruitment process as a whole or by recruitment source, and to support equal
employment opportunity/affirmative action analyses. Applicant data can be also stored and searched
for future vacancies.
Lastly, when applicants become new hires the HRIS provides the data to populate the core HR
system and other HR purposes, such as payroll and benefits.
 Selection and Technology
This section focuses on tests and assessments of individual employees and
candidates, which underlie the evaluation processes that enable organizations
to manage their talent.
These tools are used for selecting employees, as well as placement, training
and development, promotions, and evaluations.
Tests and assessments are important for HRIS because they provide data that
are used for making organizational decisions.
To explore the data-based decision-making process in further detail, we focus
our discussion on the use of tests and assessments to make a critical
decision—whether or not to hire a particular candidate.
 What Are Selection Tests and Assessments, and Why Are They Used?
Most organizations that seek HRIS expertise on selection will likely consider the term
test to refer to traditional multiple-choice examinations that can be used to measure
ability, personality, or knowledge, as well as to skills tests, such as typing tests.
Thank you