Challenges of online recruitment from a job seekers’ perspective

Online recruitment is not meant for everyone and it is not a solution for all hiring needs. It is always important to keep in mind how an online environment affects the applicant pool (Boone and Kurtz, 2010).  The greatest barrier of online recruitment lies with the type of job seekers who are attracted towards online recruitment portals.

Ethnic difference, gender and age play a major role in the usage of online recruiting portals. It has been identified that well educated young individuals with literacy towards computers are attracted more to seek job through online recruitment.  Age as criteria negatively affects the use of online recruitment portals in applying for a job. It has also been identified that the rate of usage of online recruitment portals for applying a job is same among men and women in Canada and United States, but not in other nations (Waddill and Marquardt, 2011). Further it has been estimated that employed men use online recruitment portals for searching a job.

Personality and education background of the job seekers also play a major role in determining their usage of online recruitment portals. Since application through online requires computers, individuals with no computers are less likely to use them as a medium for applying for a job. In addition to that, online recruitment is mostly meant for white collar jobs, people who look for blue collar jobs cannot make use of them. Arthur (1998) state that the internet tends attracts those with four year or graduate degrees. Conversely, those with low level of confidence on using computers do not prefer to make use of online recruitment portals in seeking job.

Thus it can be concluded that online recruitment is not always suitable for individuals who intend to find a job. Online recruitment can yield the best results when used by appropriate persons in an appropriate way and at the appropriate time.

References:

• Boone L E and Kurtz D L (2010), Contemporary Business, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
• Marquardt M and Waddil D (2011), The E-HR Advantage: The Complete Handook for Technology-Enabled, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, USA.
• Arthur D (1998), Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and orienting new employees, AMACOM, USA.