Human advancement into the digital era has brought many changes and consequent adjustments or all aspects of people’s lives, including human resources management. Recruiters nowadays are more likely to use the Internet and social media to seek employees rather than publish advertisements in morning newspapers or on the local radio. Therefore, e-recruiting has become a smart way to find employees because of its effectiveness, yet there are several downsides to this recruitment method.
First of all, e-recruiting significantly changes the hiring landscape and the role of the human resource manager. According to recent studies, 74% of organizations currently use different forms of technology, such as internet-based job applications or videoconferences, in their recruiting system (Johnson & Stone, 2019, p. 888). The authors state that the use of technology in recruitment “has transformed the selection process dramatically” (Johnson & Stone, 2019, p. 888). A significant aspect of e-recruiting is social media because many practices useful for recruiting are available there, such as advertising jobs, identifying candidate pools, screening employee backgrounds, and more (McCulloh et al., 2020). Thus, most recruitment processes are based on the Internet, and the human resource manager’s job involves such functions as monitoring the Internet seeking employees and analysis of incoming applications to determine the most suitable candidates.
However, there are factual circumstances of online recruiting that can lead to an imperfect candidate-client match. As Johnson & Stone (2019) state, e-recruiting might be highly impersonal and inflexible, and there is no opportunity for the manager to interact with the applicant personally. Moreover, the research demonstrates that not all applicants react positively to online recruiting (Johnson & Stone, 2019). That is a matter of significant concern for human resources because the issues mentioned above may negatively impact the attraction of applicants, which in turn can lead to missing the most suitable and talented candidates for the job.
Therefore, it may be more effective to combine traditional and electronic recruiting methods and keep them in balance. McCulloh et al. (2020) report that e-recruiting results in faster hiring time and a wider candidate pool. Thereby, it may be wise to divide the recruitment process into two phases: first, seeking a suitable candidate on the Internet; then, organizing a personal meeting for an applicant and a human resource manager so both of them can make more definite conclusions about their suitability. That might make the manager more confident in the applicant and make the applicant more optimistic about taking the job.
As for people who apply for a job online, it is essential to protect their online footprint while seeking a vacancy on the Internet. According to Johnson & Stone (2019), “organizations and HR professionals typically value collecting as much data as possible from applicants to make valid hiring decisions” (p. 881). However, applicants should be careful about the amount of personal data they are ready to provide online. It is wise for them to give only the necessary information to the HR manager, such as education and work experience. Then, they should request a personal meeting with a manager before providing additional information if they want to protect their online footprint.
Summing up, e-recruiting is a popular and effective way of seeking a suitable applicant, yet it has its disadvantages. It changes the recruiting landscape, providing new fields for searching and new recruiting methods but also increasing the risks of finding an imperfect candidate. Therefore, it is recommendable to combine e-recruiting techniques with traditional methods for the best possible recruitment results. It would also help the applicant protect their online footprint as they do not have to upload too much of their personal information onto the Internet. According to the information gathered in this work, e-recruiting can still use specific improvements, yet it is still a promising method of seeking suitable candidates.
References
McCulloh, I., Ellis, N., Savas, O., & Rodrigues, P. (2020). Assessing e-Recruiting on social media: FBI Case Study. In 2020 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) (pp. 742-747). IEEE.
Johnson, R. D., & Stone, D. L. (2019). Advantages and unintended consequences of using electronic human resource management (eHRM) processes. In R. N. Landers (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of technology and employee behavior (pp. 879–920). Cambridge University Press. Web.