The study focuses on investigating the use of online platforms in recruiting employees. Understanding the impact of digital transformation on the process of interviewing candidates is one of the critical objectives. The phenomenon of digital transformation represents the integration of technology into human resource work. As a theoretical framework, the one proposed by Mahmood and Ling (2017, p. 479) can be utilized, which “consists of three independent variables (IVs) such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust towards dependent variables (DV) intention to use”. While taking into account these variables, some hypotheses about the role of online platforms in the recruiting process can be identified:
- H1: Online platforms are valuable in the recruiting process.
- H2: Online platforms are not useful in the recruiting process.
- H3: Online platforms are easy to use.
- H4: Online platforms are difficult to operate.
- H5: Trust in online platforms is high.
- H6: Trusting online platforms comprehensively is not reasonable.
A five-point Likert scale will be involved as a tool for evaluating the proposed technologies in the context of the identified hypotheses. Stakeholder intentions regarding these tools will be identified, and personal perceptions regarding these technologies will be assessed. Relevant academic sources can help highlight credible findings on the topic at hand and outline the key facts to build on to bring online platforms into the real work environment. Musker et al. (2020) propose to use the behavior change theory as a concept that can help determine attitudes towards online recruiting based on individual factors and personal experiences rather than general information. This method of assessment is valid; therefore, by identifying relevant behaviors described by the participants, the issue under consideration will be examined.
Individuals searching for a job need something that can make them feel like it is the right organization. People nowadays think much when choosing the work environment, which, in some cases, can slow down the recruiting process (Kusuma et al., 2020; Team, Bugeja, and Weller, 2018). Thus, managers need to advertise their brands in the online space (Newman et al., 2021). Similar to strategic positioning, creating awareness by reminding who someone is and what they do guarantees reaching new candidates and retaining those already employed. Therefore, with regard to the chosen theoretical framework, the more qualified candidates are applied, the more valid the use of online platforms is.
Individual criteria are to be discussed as relevant factors explaining attitudes towards recruitment policies. A company that does not state that they encourage diversity in their hiring receives fewer submissions. People fear that they will be mistreated or paid less than others who are not from the same community (Wahba and Elmanadily, 2018). Thus, this is important that an organization shares a statement showing that a certain number of positions are assigned for only minority members.
Promoting a job opportunity in the online space can result in many people applying. Bejtkovský (2020) states that succeeding on social media requires consistency in terms of engaging with other users. In case a company is in search of youthful recruits, this is crucial that they use such applications as Twitter or Instagram (Villeda et al., 2019; Wahba and Elmanadily, 2018). Following the trending topics and tweeting by using the top hashtags guarantees that more people view the post. Moreover, there is also a functionality that enables an account to promote their posts to a certain amount of reach. This can be helpful to attain a number of applications or submissions they desire.
Creating awareness is a key aspect in determining not only how much a business can sell but also how many people get to know a work environment and even desire to work there. As Muduli and Trivedi (2020) argue, this is particularly true for startups that have not yet created a well-recognized brand. Sometimes, people have not yet applied, not due to the failure of a company having particular values, but as a result of not being known. Therefore, due to a large number of online users, virtual platforms may be utilized as recruitment tools.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the sudden economic slowdown has led to a global recession that changed business approaches as well as the labor market. According to Archer-Kuhn et al. (2021), companies have had to adopt an agile workflow approach to sustain their operations. Entrepreneurs need to change their priorities based on the needs of the customers. Digital transformation is a phenomenon whereby individuals utilize technological solutions to make their work more efficient while reducing the workload. In employee recruitment, handling the many job submissions becomes easier (Spychała et al., 2019). Additionally, it can be said to be the main factor behind a low employee turnover rate in some organizations (Barreto and Alturas, 2018). Before the use of technical assistance to recruit individuals to work for a particular company, the process was tedious (Van Esch and Mente, 2018). Handling many people at the same time took a toll on recruiters, which often led to the selection of wrong candidates.
Recruiting new employees online allows a business to utilize internet-based solutions, such as job listings, advertising, company websites, and social media, to source and employ the top candidates. Using the internet to search for new employees has made it easier to get candidates and do interviews and the necessary paperwork to hire and train them (Moraes et al., 2021). This is a way of providing an organization with an inexpensive and efficient way to fill positions. Some benefits offered by this approach include helping a brand gain a competitive edge, a better applicant pool, and fewer resources being consumed. Additionally, as Moraes et al. (2021) note, automation can be utilized to interact with a great number of applicants at the same time. Therefore, researching the benefits and potential drawbacks of utilizing online platforms in the recruitment process is a relevant task.
There are platforms that a manager or a business owner can use that have proven to be helpful in getting top talent in the candidate pool. As Laroche et al. (2012) remark, the most notable is LinkedIn, whereby employers meet their future employees. Such a platform helps internal recruiting teams attract as well as source candidates to transform into applicants (Laroche et al., 2012). They provide a range of features to facilitate marketing efforts, including job distribution, social recruiting tools, and candidate relationship capabilities (Koch, Gerber, and De Klerk, 2018; Newman et al., 2021). Most of these are similar to those supporting inbound promotion within the concerned departments. Companies use them to promote openings, nurture interest, engagement, and encourage submission. Many of such platforms offer tools for identifying candidates at an event, such as the campus recruiting function.
The effectiveness of recruitment platforms is usually analyzed in human resource departments. Their specialists assess user activity, the number of requests for online advertising, and other significant parameters (Brandão, Silva, and dos Santos, 2019). This is also possible to incorporate an applicant-tracking system and an onboarding computer program to form a talent acquisition suite. Such an outcome is a significant prospect to accomplish to ensure a stable influx of highly qualified applicants.
Various features present in the platforms are the same in contrast to those in customer relationship management and email marketing. López García et al. (2019) also mention organic search marketing techniques and compare them with relevant recruitment algorithms. To be included, a product has to offer tools that aid in the optimization of employer branding on job portals, career sites, and employee testimonial pages. It also needs to streamline the distribution and promotion of job vacancies, provide means of tracking and organizing candidates, and facilitate referrals and social recruiting efforts. Lastly, they also ought to enable a built-in tracking functionality.
Some studies fail to identify whether online recruitment platforms are effective or not, which is a gap that is explored in this research. For instance, Hangartner, Kopp, and Siegenthaler (2021) assess discrimination that this process may be associated with, but little information is presented regarding the value of such tools. An effective platform is one that helps people achieve a certain goal with less effort, and so far, online platforms have proven to accomplish that. Carrying out recruitment in a digital manner ensures that one is able to handle numerous applications with ease (Saad et al., 2021). Six years ago, the number of applications per opportunity was about sixty on average, a figure which continued to reduce in the next few years (D’Silva, 2020). This was due to a growing economy and a drop in the rate of unemployment (Brandão, Silva, and dos Santos, 2019). As a result, the position that the tools in question are useless is highly controversial.
At the same time, with regard to the potential challenges associated with this form of employment, problems can arise with the great excitement of job seekers. A recruiter must prepare to handle a large number of submissions (Newman et al., 2021). With the help of technology, this process could become easier, and within a short time, they would discover the right candidates (Lopez-Nichols, 2019). This may allow one to sustain high standards of hiring regardless of the number of applications (Brandão, Silva, and dos Santos, 2019). As the strategies to aid in managing numerous applicants, interview scheduling and pre-employment testing can be utilized.
Finally, another factor that makes online recruiting effective is that analytics are easier to find. Recruitment technology offers one exclusive access to real-time and updated information overview. It allows an individual to locate any areas of growth, which aids in executing the best strategy (Newman et al., 2021). Moreover, it will offer instant updates, as well as data on unwanted issues, which guarantees adjustment in accordance with requirements (Brandão, Silva, and dos Santos, 2019). For HR specialists, this is easy to comprehend dashboards that permit one to view critical metrics and reach quicker conclusions. This, in turn, may help employers to make required changes in the recruiting tactics faster. With the assistance of the information from related technologies, for instance, assessment scores, it is possible to automate interview schedules. As a result, future research may be aimed at analyzing the use of online recruitment platforms in narrow areas to identify specific tools and technologies needed to optimize this process.
Reference List
Archer-Kuhn, B. et al. (2021) ‘Recruitment in response to a pandemic: pivoting a community-based recruitment strategy to Facebook for hard-to-reach populations during COVID-19’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, pp. 1-12.
Barreto, D. M. and Alturas, B. (2018) ‘Quality-in-use app evaluation: the case of a recruitment app for Portuguese SMEs. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management, 3(1), pp. 1-9.
Brandão, C., Silva, R. and dos Santos, J. V. (2019) ‘Online recruitment in Portugal: theories and candidate profiles’, Journal of Business Research, 94, pp. 273-279.
Bejtkovský, J. (2020) ‘Social media platforms as an HR marketing tool in selected healthcare service providers’, Marketing and Management of Innovations, (1), pp. 294-302.
D’Silva, C. (2020) ‘A study on the increase in e-recruitment and selection process’, International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 3(8), pp. 205-213.
Hangartner, D., Kopp, D. and Siegenthaler, M. (2021) ‘Monitoring hiring discrimination through online recruitment platforms’, Nature, 589(7843), pp. 572-576.
Koch, T., Gerber, C. and De Klerk, J. J. (2018) ‘The impact of social media on recruitment: are you LinkedIn?’, SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(1), pp. 1-14.
Kusuma, A. et al. (2020) ‘Is online media more popular than traditional media to advertise a brand in the digital age?’, Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 3(1), pp. 16-24.
Laroche, M. et al. (2012) ‘The effects of social media based brand communities on brand community markers, value creation practices, brand trust and brand loyalty’, Computers in Human Behavior, 28(5), pp. 1755-1767.
López García, J. J. et al. (2019) ‘Digital marketing actions that achieve a better attraction and loyalty of users: an analytical study’, Future Internet, 11(6), p. 130.
Lopez-Nichols, K. (2019) What is online recruitment, and what are its advantages?
Mahmood, N. A. and Ling, N. F. (2017) ‘Theoretical framework for factors influencing jobseekers’ intention to use online recruitment websites’, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(11), pp. 479-489.
Moraes, R. R. et al. (2021) ‘Email vs. Instagram recruitment strategies for online survey research’, Brazilian Dental Journal, 32, pp. 67-77.
Muduli, A. and Trivedi, J. J. (2020) ‘Recruitment methods, recruitment outcomes and information credibility and sufficiency’, Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(4), pp. 1615-1631.
Musker, M. et al. (2020) ‘Using behaviour change theory to inform an innovative digital recruitment strategy in a mental health research setting’, Journal of Psychiatric Research, 120, pp. 1-13.
Newman, A. et al. (2021) ‘Data collection via online platforms: challenges and recommendations for future research’, Applied Psychology, 70(3), pp. 1380-1402.
Saad, M. F. M. et al. (2021) ‘A review of the artificial intelligence-based platform in the human resource recruitment process’, 2021 6th IEEE International Conference on Recent Advances and Innovations in Engineering (INCREASE), 6, pp. 1-5.
Spychała, M. et al. (2019) ‘Competency models as modern tools in the recruitment process of employees’, European Conference on Intangibles and Intellectual Capital, pp. 282-291.
Team, V., Bugeja, L. and Weller, C. D. (2018) ‘Barriers and facilitators to participant recruitment to randomised controlled trials: a qualitative perspective’, International Wound Journal, 15(6), pp. 929-942.
Van Esch, P. and Mente, M. (2018) ‘Marketing video-enabled social media as part of your e-recruitment strategy: stop trying to be trendy’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 44, pp. 266-273.
Villeda, M. et al. (2019) ‘Use of social networking sites for recruiting and selecting in the hiring process’, International Business Research, 12(3), pp. 66-78.
Wahba, M. and Elmanadily, D. (2018) ‘Social media usage in recruitment practices in Egypt’, International Journal of Business Administration and Management Research, 4(3), pp. 1-12.