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ImpactofOnlineRecruitmentOnRecruitmentPerformance
1 2 NavdeepKumar ,PankajGarg 1MechancialEngineeringDepartment,ThaparUniversity, Patiala,Punjab,India 2ACSPvt..Ltd.,India navdeepgarg_tiet@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT Competitive organizations of the future have to attract and retain the best and outstanding employees to remain competitive in the market. The Internet allows organizations to reach a large number of candidates easily and efficiently. Although the World Wide Web is becoming the hot new recruiting tool, traditional methods, such as newspaper advertising, are not yet obsolete.Localnewspapersarethepreferredadvertisingmediumfornonmanagementpositions, and national newspapers are widely used to recruit managerial/professional candidates. This paper identifies Internet recruitment methods from relevant literature, and describes how their benefitscaninfluencetherecruitmentperformance. Keywords:Internetrecruitmentperformance,employees. 1.Introduction Recruitment,asahumanresourcemanagementfunction,isoneoftheactivitiesthatimpactmost criticallyontheperformanceofanorganization.Whileitisunderstoodandacceptedthatpoor recruitmentdecisionscontinuetoaffectorganizationalperformanceandlimitgoalachievement, it is taking a long time for public service agencies in many jurisdictions to identify and implementnew,effectivehiringstrategies. Acquiringandretaininghighqualitytalentiscritical to an organizations success. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive and the available skills grow more diverse, recruiters need to be more selective in their choices, since poorrecruitingdecisionscanproducelongtermnegativeeffects,amongthemhightrainingand development coststo minimize the incidence ofpoor performance and high turnover which, in turn,impactstaffmorale,theproductionofhighqualitygoodsandservicesandtheretentionof organizational memory. At worst, the organization can fail to achieve its objectives thereby losingitscompetitiveedgeanditsshareofthemarket. The quality of options an organization offers can influence how effective it perceives its recruiting strategies to be. Overwhelmingly, organizations use internal job postings and employeereferralstorecruitcandidateforbothmanagerialandnonmanagerialpositions.Many companies also place job postings on their company web site to attract candidates. These are relatively easy, inexpensive ways to identify candidates both inside and outside the company. Internaljobpostingprogramsarealsoanexcellentmethodofprovidingpromotionopportunities foremployeesandminimizingemployeecomplaintsofunfairtreatmentanddiscrimination.The processofrecruitinghaschangedenormouslybyusingtheInternettechnology.Itisincreasingly 327

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being used by both large and small organizations and is becoming a favored medium of both employersandjobseekers(DaftRL,2000KuhnPK,2000) 2.Recruitment Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates from within and outside an organization to begin evaluating them for future employment. Once candidates are identified,anorganizationcanbegintheselectionprocess.This includescollecting, measuring, and evaluating information about candidates qualifications for specified positions. Organizations use these processes to increase the likelihood of hiring individuals who possess therightskillsandabilitiestobesuccessfulattheirjobs. Alsorelatedtothesuccessofarecruitmentprocessarethestrategiesanorganizationisprepared to employ in order to identify and select the best candidates for its developing pool of human resources.Organizationsseekingrecruits forbaselevelentrypositionsoftenrequire minimum qualifications and experience. These applicants are usually recent high school or university/ technical college graduates many of whom have not yet made clear decisions about future careers or are contemplating engaging in advanced academic activity. At the middle levels, senior administrative, technical and junior executive positions are often filled internally. The pushforscarce,highqualitytalent,oftenrecruitedfromexternalsources,hasusuallybeenatthe seniorexecutivelevels. Mostorganizationsutilizebothmechanismstoeffectrecruitmenttoall levels. The recruitment process is the first part of the hiring process the second part of the hiring process isthe selectionprocess.(MaartenVeger,JA,2006).Therefore firstanapplicantpool is built, and out of that pool a selection is made of which applicants will be hired. Daft distinguishedfourstepsinthishiringprocess:(1)predictingtheneedfornewemployeesbased on the type of vacancies that exists, (2) using recruiting procedures to communicate with potential applicants, (3) selecting from the applicants those persons believed to be the best potential contributors to the organization, and (4) welcoming the new employee(s) into the organization.(Daft RL,2000).The first and second steps are relevant in this research: the recruitmentplanningandtherecruitmentactivitiesitself.BreaughandStarkeofferaframework of the organizational recruitment process the steps that they distinguish are listed in figure 1. (Breaugh,JA,Starke,2000) 2.1TheTraditionalRecruitmentProcess Thetraditionalstartingpointforrecruitmentisajobdescriptionandajobspecification.Thejob descriptiondescribestheworkactivitiesorjobresponsibilitiesofthesuccessful jobincumbent. The job specificationspecifies the qualifications an individual should possess in orderto carry out the work. Qualifications are usually expressed as the minimum education, experience, and other requirements necessary to do the job. Some employers also use a job requisition, which justifiesthecreationofanewpositionorthereplacementofadepartingworker.Thetraditional recruitment process requires HR practitioners to carry out four predictable steps, as shown in Figure2.(DavidD.Duboise,WilliamRothwell,2004)

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Figure1:ModeloftheorganizationalrecruitmentprocessofBreaughandStarke 2.1.1 Step1:Clarifythepositiontobefilledthroughrecruitment Employers act according to different philosophies of recruitment. One philosophy suggests recruitingcontinuouslythatis,withoutregardtothenumberofvacantpositions.Forinstance, an engineering firm may recruit engineers all the time so that an appropriate applicant pool is availablewheneveranopeningoccurs.Accordingtoanotherphilosophy,recruitmentshould be carriedoutselectivelyandonlyasnecessarytofillopeningsastheyoccur.Forinstance,afirm may identify three management trainees as due for promotion, reassignment, or turnover. Recruitmentatthisfirm isthentargetedtofillthethreeopenings. 2.1.2 Step2:Reviewandupdatejobdescriptionsandspecificationsfortheposition Job descriptions, after all, clarify the tasks successful applicants will perform on the job. Job specifications enumerate the required qualifications. Without current job descriptions and specifications,HRpractitionerscannotscreenapplicantsbycomparingindividualqualifications toworkrequirements. 2.1.3 Step3:Identifypossiblesourcesofqualifiedapplicants Recruitment is perhaps most often associated with this step. In the broadest sense, of course, applicantsmaycomefrominsideoroutsidetheorganization.Thereareanumberofadvantages associated with recruiting from within. Internal recruitment maximizes the return on the organization's investment in its employees. By seeking internal applicants, management gains increasedawarenessofindividualswhoareinterestedinfurtheringtheircareersandreducestime spentonorientationandtrainingforpersonswithwhomitisalreadyfamiliar.Applicantsmaybe found internally through job posting and bidding and by supervisory nominations. Methods of externalrecruitmentincludenewspaper,radio,andtelevisionadvertisementshelpwantedsigns database searches of previous candidates public and private employment agencies and search firmseducationalinstitutionsemployeereferralsadvertisementswithprofessionalassociations andlaborunionstemporaryhelpagenciesandWebsiteadvertisements. ASIANJOURNALOFMANAGEMENTRESEARCH 329

Posit ionClarificationt obefilledthroughrecruit ment

Review&UpdateofJobdescriptions&Specificat ions

Identifyingpossiblesourcesofqualifiedapplicant s

Selectionofmost appropriat ewayt ocommunicat e

Figure2:TraditionalRecruitmentProcess 2.1.4 Step 4: Selection of most effective means of communication & attracting qualified applicants Thisstepusuallyinvolvesmarketingtheorganizationtoprospectiveapplicants.Afterall,people oftenselfselectthemselves,which meanstheychoosetoapply basedontheperceptionthatan organization's image matches their own selfimage. HR practitioners are familiar with methods of communicating with possible applicants. These include open houses, campus visits, and presentations to groups of possible targeted job applicants, internships, and schooltowork programs 3.ProblemOverview Three critical recruitment processes have been transformed by the Internet: how organizations attract, search for and choose applicants.(Searle, RH. Opinion,2003) Using the Internet for recruitmentinsteadoftraditionalmethodscanhavemultiplebenefitsfororganizationslikelower costs, saving time, more information about applicants, and reaching a broader audience. ThereforemanyorganizationsusetheInternetfortherecruitmentprocess,butdifferentmethods areused.Therecruitmentprocessstartswithestablishingrecruitmentobjectives,andendswith comparingtherecruitmentoutcomestotheobjectives.Itis likelythattheuseofInternethasa positiveinfluenceontheperformanceoftherecruitmentprocess.Thegoalofthisresearchisto find out how Internet changed the recruitment process, and how these changes can effect the performanceoftherecruitmentprocess.Themainresearchquestionwillbe: HowistheInternetbeingusedintherecruitmentprocess,andwhatimpactdoesthishaveonthe performanceoftherecruitmentprocess?

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4.InternetRecruitment TheprocessofrecruitinghaschangedenormouslybyusingtheInternet.Itisincreasinglybeing usedbybothlargeandsmallorganizationsandisbecomingafavoredmediumofbothemployers and jobseekers (Daft RL, 2000 Kuhn, PK 2000).Table 1 shows that the Internet was responsiblefor22.3percentoftheexternalhiresinlargeUSorganizationsin2009(Crispin,G, Mehler,M,200910).ThetermInternetrecruitmentisdefinedinmanydifferentways.Hausdorf and Duncan statethatInternetrecruitment involves the use of the Internet as a channel trough which jobs are posted and information is provided with respect to the application process (Hausdorf, PA, Duncan D,2004).Kuhn defines Internet recruitment as taking advantage of Internet technology to fill vacancies of an organization.(Kuhn, PK ,2003).The definition of Internet recruitmentof Lievens and Harris best reflects the view of this research and therefore will be used in this paper: any method of attracting applicants to apply for a job that relies heavilyontheInternet.(Lievens,F,Harris,MM,2003). Table1:SourcesofExternal Hires
Sources Referrals Corp.Web JobBoards Others Dir.Sourcing College Print CareerFairs Walkins Agency T emptohire 2009 26.7 22.3 13.2 10.1 6.9 6.3 2.5 2.3 2.5 2.3 1.6 2008 27.3 20.1 12.3 10.1 7.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 0.8 2.7 3.1 2007 28.2 14 11.7 12.5 9.4 3.8 4.6 2.3 0.8 3.3 3

4.1LiteratureOverview Harris makes a distinction with respect to Internet recruitment methods between wefindyou approaches and youfindus approaches as shown in table 2. Wefindyou approaches refer to methodswheretheorganizationalrecruitersearchesforapplicants,youfindusapproachesrefer to methods where the organization placed a job ad and the initiative to apply lies with the potentialjobapplicant.(Harris,MM,2004).Thisdistinctionisusedtocategorizethemethodsthat are identified in literature. The wefindyou approaches are also referred to as e recruiting.(Lievens,F,Harris,MM,2003).

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30 Referrals 25 20 15 10 5 0 2009 2008 2006 Corp.Web JobBoards Others Dir.Sourcing College Print CareerFairs Walkins Agency Temptohire

Chart1:SourcesofExternal Hires Table2:Recruitmentapproaches

First,almostallrelevantliteraturedistinguishestheuseofjobboardstorecruit,alsoreferredto ascareerenhancementsites(HausdorfPA,DuncanD,2004Harris,MM2004Kuhn,PK2003 Yakubovich V ,Lup D,2005). Job boards are similar to job ads in newspapers: they contain a listing of job opportunities, and resumes of job applicants. Therefore job boards can be used twofoldbyrecruiters:Topostjobs,butalsotosearchforresumesthatarepostedbypotentialjob applicantssousing jobboardscan becategorizedasrespectivelya youfindusandawefind youapproach.Peoplecanposttheirresumesfromallovertheworld24hoursaday,whilesearch mechanisms are used so recruiters can search for applicants with relevant skills and experience.(Lievens F, Harris MM, 2003).Examples of some effective job boards are monster.com, career builder, and hotjobs.com these three job boards produced 22.3 percentof allInternethiresbylargeUSorganizationsin2009(Crispin,G,Mehler,M,200910).

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Second,almostall relevantliteraturealsodistinguishestheuseoforganizationalcareerwebsites, also referred to as company websites or professional organization websites. (Hausdorf PA, Duncan D,2004 Harris, MM 2004 Kuhn, PK 2003 Yakubovich V ,Lup D,2005 Rooy, DL Van,AlonsoA,Fairchild,Z2003).Usingorganizationalcareerwebsites issimilartousing job boards.Theycanbeusedtopostjobsandtosearchforresumessousingorganizationalwebsites isalsoayoufindusandawefindyouapproach.Organizationscanextendthefunctionalityof postingjobsontheircareerwebsitesbysettingupanonlineapplicationprocedure.Themethods that are identified in literature can be used next to each other in the recruitment process. The actors that are involved in all methods are the organizational recruiters and the potential job applicants.Insomemethodsathirdpartyispartoftherecruitmentprocess,forexamplethejobs boardorganizationandthenamegenerationfirms. 4.2InternetRecruitmentPerformance As the Internet makes business and communication cheaper, faster, and easier, many of these advantagesnaturallyextendtocorporaterecruiting.CompanieshavetheirownWebsiteswhere they post openings, which is cheaper than traditional ads. Applicants and employers email responses and resumes, accelerating communication. Modifying postings by a mouse click makes updating information easier. Additionally, the Internet enables wider geographic reach, roundtheclock information access, and an attractive means of projecting a good multimedia publicimage.Whileofferingsignificantadvantagestocorporaterecruiting,however,theInternet isnopanaceaforthecomplicatedprocessofhiringtherightemployees.Becauseofthewideuse ofInternetforrecruiting,itmusthavebenefitsovertraditionalmethods..Onlinerecruitmentuses the power of the internet to match people to jobs. Fundamentally, it is about advertising vacancies on either job sites or corporate websites. At this very basic level it is particularly effectiveatgettingahigh levelofresponse. Whileit maygeneratehundreds moreapplications thantraditionalprintadvertising,simplyattractingmorecandidatesisonlypartofthejob. Although many benefits of Internet recruiting may exist, they are specific for organizations becauseeachorganization has itsown strategyandgoalsrecruitmentgoals havetobealigned with the organizational strategy to create a competitive organization and so the meaning of effectiveness differs between organizations. The organizational strategy is translated into recruitmentobjectivesinthefirststepofthemodeloftheorganizationalrecruitmentprocessof Breaugh and Starke in the fifth and last step, the result of the recruitment activities is evaluated.(Breaugh, JA, Starke, 2000).To evaluate the performance of the recruitment process, therecruitmentobjectiveshavetobemeasured.Buthowcanorganizationsdeveloprecruitment performancemeasuresthatsupporttheirstrategy?Thefollowingsectionwillexplain&reviewa strategicperformancemeasurementapproachfortherecruitmentprocess. 4.3 Recruitmentprocessperformancemeasurement TheHumanResourcesscorecardisastrategicperformancemeasurementapproachthatmatches businessstrategyagainstHRdeliverablesandobjectives,toprovideastatisticalbasisbywhich HR efficiency and contribution to strategy implementation can be measured. (Summaries.com, 2001).TheHRscorecardisamanagementtoolwhichallowsabusinessto: ManageHRasastrategicassetandasourceofcompetitiveadvantage

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QuantitativelydemonstrateHRscontributiontotheorganizations financialresults andbottomlineprofitability Createandmeasurethedegreeofalignmentbetweenthestrategyofthebusinessandits HRarchitecture. The HR Scorecard makes it possible for HR to enhance its role as a strategic business asset therefore the HR Scorecard includes a sevenstep model for using HR as a strategic business asset.Thesevenstepsarelistedintable3.(Summaries.com,2001). Table3:SevenstepmodeloftheHRScorecardapproach
SevenStepsofModel 1.Clarification&art iculat ionoft heorganizat ionalstrat egy

2.Developt hebusinesscaseforHRasast rategicasset 3.Creationofstrat egymapfort heorganizat ion 4.Ident ifyHRdeliverableswit hinthestrat egymap 5.Alignt heHRarchitect urewit hHRdeliverables: HRfunction HRsystem Strat egicemployeebehaviors 6.Designt hestrat egicmeasurementsyst em: T heHRScorecard Resultsmeasurement s:T angibleandint angible 7.Execut ivemanagementbymeasurement

The measures inthebusinesscaseareuseful iftheycaptureboththeamountofsomethingand thecause,iftheyhavecontext,iftheyareunambiguous,iftheyaresimple,andiftheycontribute in meaningful ways to overall performance evaluation After finishing the business case, a strategy map has to be created which shows how the organization creates value, and details which organizational processes and capabilities drive organizational performance. This is the thirdstepinthemodel.ThestrategymapshouldoutlinehowthesixcoreHRcompetenciesare integratedandmeasured,theseare:Knowledgeoftheorganization,deliveryofhumanresource services, managementofculture,managementofchange,personalcredibility,andstrategicHR performance management. The result of this third step are leading and lagging business indicators.Withthisstrategymap,HRmanagersshouldidentifyallHRperformancedriversand HRenablersordeliverablesthatexist in it.This isthefourthstepinthe model.By identifying those drivers and enablers, HR policies that enhance those factors can then be developed. The fifth step includes aligning the HR architecture with HR deliverables. To align the HR system with theorganizational strategy implementation system, a competency model and development programwillbeneededtogeneratetherequisiteHRdeliverables.Withrespecttorecruiting,an ASIANJOURNALOFMANAGEMENTRESEARCH 334

HRdeliverablecouldbeanapplicantpooloranonlineapplicationsystem.Afteralignment,the HR strategic measurement system has to be designed which includes the HR scorecard. A HR scorecardhasfourbasicdimensions: HRdeliverables ThehighperformanceworksystemconsistingofHRPolicies,processes,andpractices ExternalHRsystemalignmentmeasures HRefficiencymeasures.

The last step comprises the implementation and use of the HR scorecard. The use of the HR scorecard is a continuous process in which HR managers monitor their input into the organizationalresultsonanongoingbasis,andwiththesemakingperiodicadjustmentstoensure theHRarchitectureremainsalignedwiththeevolvingstrategy. 5.ConclusionandDiscussions Based on quantitative research as well as findings from existing literature, we showed the increasing importance of information technology for recruitment processes. While traditional recruitment may not require any particular technology, online recruitment is reliant on a wide rangeofinformationandcommunicationtechnologiesandaccesstothembythegeneralpublic. Viewingtechnology justascontingencywill limitresearchtoestablishingeconomicrationality of automating recruitmenttasks and changes in routines, while technology in this case plays a widersocietalrole,andmayaffectlivelihoodsofindividualsandorganizations. A better understanding of the organizational concept of erecruitment might be achieved by studyinghowexternalenvironmentandasocietyingeneralaffectorganizationoferecruitment and it utilization, and an institutional perspective can be potentially beneficial. Also more studies of how different elements of organizing of erecruitment add to efficiency and effectivenessoftherecruitmentprocesscanshedlightonwhichelementsaremorecrucialthan others. Therefore research should be done on if, how, and why the Internet increases performance for organizational recruiting, and how specific Internet recruitment methods attributetothisperformance. References 1. Breaugh,JA,Starke.(2000)M.Researchonemployeerecruitment:Somanystudies,somany remainingquestions.Journalofmanagement,vol.26,no.3,pp405434. 2. Crispin, G, Mehler, M. CareerXRoads 4 annual Sources of hire 2004. 2005, http://www.careerxroads.com/news/SourcesOfHire04.pdf 3. Crispin, G, Mehler, M. CareerXRoads 4 annual Sources of hire 2010. 2009, http://www.careerxroads.com/news/SourcesOfHire10.pdf 4. Daft,RL(2000). Management,Fifth edition,TheDrydenPress.

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5. David D. Duboise, William Rothwell(2004),CompetencyBased Human Resource Management. 6. Hausdorf,PA,Duncan,D(2004).FirmsizeandInternetrecruitinginCanada:Apreliminary investigation.Journalofsmallbusinessmanagement,42(3),pp325334. 7. Harris, MM (2004). Speeding down the information highway: Navigating trough Internet basedrecruitment.UniversityofMissouri,St.Louis. 8. Kuhn, PK (2000). Policies for an internet labour market. Policy options, October 2000, pp 4247. 9. Kuhn, PK (2003), The Internet and matching in http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/~pjkuhn/Research%20Papers/Handbook.pdf labor markets.

10. Lievens, F, Harris, MM (2003). Research on Internet recruiting and testing: Current status andfuturedirections.Internationalreviewofindustrialandorganizationalpsychology,vol. 16,pp131165. 11. Maarten Veger, JA (2006), How does Internet recruitment have effect on recruitment performance? 4thTwenteStudentConferenceonIT,Enschede,UniversityofTwente 12. Rooy, DL Van, Alonso, A, Fairchild, Z (2003).In with the new, out with the old: Has the technological revolution eliminated the traditional job search process?International journal ofselectionandassessment,vol.11,no.2/3,pp170174. 13. Searle,RH.Opinion.(2003)Organizational justiceinerecruiting:issuesandcontroversies. Surveillance&society,2003,1(2),pp227231. 14. Summaries.com (2001).The HR scorecard: Linking people, strategy and performance, http://www.worldofhr.com/HR%20Scorecard.PDF 15. Yakubovich, V, Lup, D (2005). Hiring on the Internet: Do social networks matter? , University ofChicago.

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