Human Resources and Their Recruiting Medium

I. Introduction to Online Recruiting There are several methods used by employees to recruit job applicants. Human resource recruiters can use traditional methods such as posting a job listing in a newspaper or hire an employment agency to search for job applicants. They may also choose to communicate with career office employees at universities and colleges to attract candidates, use networking methods at professional organizations, advertise in newspapers or on television, or use more recent recruiting sources such as the internet to find potential future employees. Recruiting job seekers over the Internet is a recent trend that allows organizations to successfully hire qualified applicants to join their corporation's workforce at a low cost compared to some other recruiting procedures. In recent times, many firms advertise job opportunities by placing a job posting on the Internet for external job hires. Some companies even use the Intranet to hire employees internal to the organization. The Intranet is used for internal recruiting purposes within a company and is a system that allows employees to view job openings at the company they currently work for. Through both the Internet and Intranet, job applicants can view the available positions and submit their resumes online. Employees can review several resumes and follow up by contacting candidates for interviews. Job recruiting over the Internet allows candidates and corporations a chance to connect. Online recruiting is a fast growing, popular service of the World Wide Web that many organizations are using for recruiting purposes. The employment industry has taken a big step towards recruiting in cyberspace. Applicants can be quickly located and recruited to join a team at a corporation. â€Å"Recruiting is the process of generating a pool of qualified applicants for organizational jobs.† (Mathis and Jackson, pg. 70) Recruiting over the Internet is not a replacement for traditional methods like radio advertising, newspaper listings, networking or attending career fairs, but is becoming very popular in our society. It is a good resource when an applicant is in search of a career opportunity. Lately, many newspapers place their job ads online for job seekers to view. Electronic advertising is a method of recruiting that corporations should consider when searching for qualified applicants to fill an opening in an organization. Companies should use this tool to attract qualified people. It is very important to recruit productive, trustworthy employees that will fit in the corporation's cultural environment and help the company achieve the established goals. Employees should follow the mission of the organization and work to help the business succeed. People, our human resources, need to be trained to meet these corporate goals. It is very costly to hire an employee that steals from the business or leaves the company after several training and recruiting dollars have been spent. Human resource managers want to obtain people that can grow with the company and are motivated employees. Electronic recruiting can be used to find employees with these skills. â€Å"The net has spawned a national marketplace for professional, managerial, and technical jobs.† (â€Å"Life on the web†) In the book, Smart Strategies, the author suggests you consider five approaches if you want to recruit online. First, you should â€Å"create your own web page on which you describe your company and list your employment needs.† Many organizations use this resource for applicants already interested in the company to view. It is also important to use an online headhunter for specialized or hard-to-find positions. Make sure the headhunter has a good reputation and is experienced in this field. Next, use search engines to locate applicants. The employer can simply type in a keyword such as accounting to narrow the search. Also, post your job listing on a Usenet newsgroup. Last, communicate with applicants through listserves. This means that you can specify your job openings and users are allowed to narrow their field of search. An applicant may search by state, company name, job title, or qualifications for the position. As you can see, subscribers receive a list on a specific topic of interest through electronic mailings. â€Å"The Internet opens a whole new world to the recruiting process. Online recruiting is definitely an employment tool of the future for companies of all sizes.† (Outlaw, pg. 80) Career sites such as The Monster Board allow individuals with various interests an opportunity to place their resumes online. â€Å"About 45 percent of the 50,000 jobs on The Monster Board are for one sort of technician or another, about 20 percent of the listings involve product management and development, and roughly 35 percent are completely nontechnical, such as marketing and retailing positions.† (Maynard, pg. 2) Large employers and smaller organizations use the Internet to find a person to fill a vacancy at their company. Roberta Maynard says, â€Å"about 70% of the companies recruiting on The Monster Board have under 50 employees.† Also, â€Å"the latest statistic revealed 1 million resumes online, 1.2 million jobs offered, 3,500 employment Web sites and 5,800 recruiting companies online in 1996, according to Internet Business Network's 1997 Electronic Recruiting Index.† (Wells, pg.1) More recent data probably indicates more resumes entered online, more jobs offered through this method, and an increase in organizations specializing in this area. This method of recruiting is becoming very popular for businesses to use. III. Advantages to the Job Candidates There are several benefits to candidates who use computerized services to find a job position. Many college graduates and professionals take advantage of Electronic Search Firms such as Online Career Center, CareerPath, CareerBuilder, and JobCenter to search for employment opportunities or view the websites of corporations they are interested in. One popular online database system is Careermosaic and can be found at the web address http://www.careermosaic.com where users can enter their resume for companies to review. Web sites such as Careermosaic offer advantages to the applicant by as giving the candidate the ability to gather information on organizations and various job opportunities, send out mass quantities of resumes to be viewed by several employers, state geographic preferences, and enjoy cost savings benefits for the applicant. Job candidates also save a tremendous amount of time using this method compared to other job hunting processes, may be able to look for internal jobs, and might find a site that allows them to look for a position by area of specialty or interest. A. Information Gathering on Organizations and Various Job Opportunities Applicants can read about current positions and jobs that have been listed for awhile and find out the necessary qualifications for the career opportunity. The candidate may even have a chance to view the salary given for a particular position. This system is very easy to use to locate a job position. Also, it is fairly easy to research a company to find background information to enhance interview preparation, areas of expertise, and job postings over the internet and apply for a position that interests you. Some websites even allow you to scan your resume instead of typing it in to apply for potential future employment opportunities. B. Mass Quantities of Resumes Viewed Many recruiters can view your resume by simply placing it on one of these popular sites. It would take a lot of time to send each employer you resume through another method. The candidate can choose a resume web site to submit their resume and wait for organizations to contact them when there is a possible fit for a job position. The ideal geographic location as well as other preferences can be listed on the online resume. For example, a candidate in Michigan graduating from Michigan State University may search for a job position in California and find out the responsibilities for the job, qualifications needed for the position, and which facility is hiring. When the candidate is viewing employment opportunities he or she can look for jobs in a desired location. Placing your resume online and searching company websites is free of charge so the candidate can benefit from cost savings over traditional methods of job searching. It can be very expensive to purchase high quality paper and envelopes as well as stamps to send a company your resume and cover letter. The electronic method also is less expensive compared to fax machines for long distance calls. This automated hiring process speeds up the procedure for both the employee and employer. The submitted resumes can be processed very quickly. You don't have to wait as long as it would take a typical resume submitted by mail to get into the hands of a human resource recruiter. By placing your information on the Internet, you can save time compared to the time that would be spent on the more traditional methods of sending resumes and cover letters. For example, a computer company in Dallas could place an advertisement for a job on their website or through another service over the Internet. A candidate can view the opening and express his or her interest immediately instead of waiting a few days for a mailed resume to reach the employer. For internal employees searching for a new job in their current place of employment they may have the option of using the Intranet for internal transfers within a company. According to Samuel Greengard, for HR groups today, the most action is on corporate Intranets, which allow secure Web-based communication within a company. Employees that work for an organization and wish to look for an opening in another department or a different position in the area they are currently working in can review the job postings internal to the company on the intranet if the firm has established this service. Dave Taylor, author of â€Å"Hire the best with internet, intranet resume databases,† believes companies can keep their competitive edge by designing a job database on your intranet to help retain employees, move them into their ideal position, and lower the cost of hiring. There are Career Sites that are designed primarily for applicants with certain backgrounds. For example, an applicant interested in being a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or physician's assistant can search for a job on the Medical Economics Online site. Someone wanting a job in a field like Information Systems can locate a search company that specializes in this area. Candidates can sort through jobs by geographic area, by job type such as marketing or accounting, by company name, or other desired preferences to specify an interest. A job applicant will enjoy the benefits of searching numerous positions that fit their credentials from home or at work. There are also several advantages to the employer that recruits employees online. The recruiter will realize they have a wide audience to reach over the Internet for available job openings and save time compared to other recruiting methods. They may also enjoy the benefit of saving money in this area, can get feedback to find out how many candidates have viewed the job opportunity, and bring attention to the organization. The human resource person also has the ability to sort through resumes submitted to their department, can find a person interested in a specific location to work, and enjoys the benefit of managing the large amounts of resumes received. The Human Resource recruiter discovers the benefit of reaching a wide audience by having a good advertising distribution through electronic websites. This means that the ad for the job position reaches many applicants all over the world. It would take a lot of time to place advertisements on television, in many local papers, or on the radio in several locations to find a suitable individual for a job. Advertisements placed over the Internet tend to reach greater numbers of people. Reaching a wide volume of people is an important factor to many recruiters. A recent term used by some corporations is Just in Time Recruiting (JITR) which brings the candidates to employers at the time that the company needs to hire someone. (Electronic Recruiting News, pg.1) This is very helpful when a company needs a replacement for an employee that left the corporation suddenly or a departmental need is realized. The employer can receive many resumes within hours of a job opening rather than waiting weeks to get resumes in the mail or through fax machines. Applicants can be found in cyberspace within a short time period. One of the most important advantages to the employer looking for possible hires online is the cost savings aspect of this recruiting method. Recruiting over the Internet costs much less than the typical methods of recruiting like advertising in a newspaper. This allows companies an opportunity to slash costs that are spent on recruiting. In comparison, a typical ad placed in a newspaper has a fee of versus an average cost of to place a listing on the Internet. â€Å"Web recruitment sites are free to the searcher, and the employer typically pays $2,000 to $2,500 a month to advertise as many as 100 job openings.† (â€Å"Life of the Web†) The cost to advertise on commercial sites will vary depending on what services the company offers and how long the posting is listed. Some of these sites want to increase the size of their database and do not charge for the service. â€Å"Those that do set fees typically charge $25 to $150 per job listing, with the duration of listings averaging four weeks.† (Maynard, pg. 3) There are some companies that offer the benefit of unlimited postings but charge an annual rate. Dr. Jim Jones from Colombia/HCA, Trident Medical Center said in his round table discussion with our Human Resource Management class that his department uses the internet at times to recruit employees to the hospital and it only costs about $20 a job posting. This is a small amount for such a large hospital. He has found some successful candidates using this method of recruiting employees. In an article on the topic of online recruiting there is a good example given about a Human Resource employee's experience using this method of attracting applicants and the benefits of this procedure. It says, â€Å"West decided to pay $125 for a classified ad listing that ran for 60 days with an Internet recruiting service. She not only found the right person to fill the job but also saved her company money – a weekend ad in her local paper would have cost three times as much.† (Maynard, pg. 1) â€Å"Some sites offer feedback to the employer, such as tracking the number of resumes that a given job listing generates.† (Maynard, pg. 3) The human resource individual can simply go into the site they posted a job on and look to see how much interest the position has received. Companies can stand out by putting more detail in their listings and can even create their own website to discuss their products and services as well as other corporate characteristics. Corporations should not assume applicants know to go to their website to find a position for future employment but can use their website to advertise job postings. Companies need to bring the individuals looking for employment to their site to use these features. An organization may go through an Electronic Search Firm to attract people to their business. The organization can match an applicant with the desired qualifications to the position. They can simply type in keywords to identify applicants with the necessary skills. â€Å"Adding a section composed entirely of keywords is useful because employees often search resumes for specific skills on a keyword basis.† (Martin, pg. 1) This can be very beneficial to both the recruiter and the job candidate. The Human Resource employee can search through several resumes and choose candidates that match the description of the job. The applicants could have a technical background since they are using a computer source to find a job. Employers have realized applicants in many fields use this service. The resumes are collected and entered into a database that allows employers to search through, store, and sort for keywords or by job type. Recruiters can use sites to search through resumes such as The Monster Board, which is an established service that several job seekers use to find employment and is located at http://www.monster.com. G. Geographic Location Specification If a company chooses to interview international applicants from other countries, the recruiting online method works because it reaches people all over the world. Recruiters can look through resumes to find candidates interested in working in a specific city in a country or even overseas. Online recruiting gives employers the benefit of managing the mass quantities of resumes received. It can be very overwhelming for a human resource representative at a large company to place applicants in various areas and have to read many resumes received for a particular position that may not fit the qualifications the company is looking for in a job candidate. Global Computer News, â€Å"GCN says the office now takes between 8000 and 10,000 applications over a four-day period without being overwhelmed.† (Appleton, pg. 4) V. Things to Consider When Applying Online Although, there are many benefits to recruiting online, there are also some things you should consider when applying for an opportunity at an organization through this method. You should consider the fact that you are only a name or number in a database and do not have personal contact with a recruiter at a company. It is important to differentiate yourself from other candidates. â€Å"Industry experts indicate that job candidates must still differentiate themselves even if a resume is delivered by fax or E-mail.† (Vitello, pg. 1) Some applicants chose to follow up with a phone call to introduce themselves to a representative of the corporation they are trying to work for. Also, remember your current employer may have access to the Internet if you wish to keep your job searching to yourself. There can be a risk to submitting your resume over the net. â€Å"On those databases, resumes can be just as easily accessed by a present employer as any other.† (Bergstrom, pg. 3) â€Å"Sending highly personal resume information electronically involves security risks.† (Appleton, pg. 1) It is not always the applicants with great qualifications that search the web either. Human resource employees at some corporations may not use the Internet to recruit employees so applicants may not be able to use this source in all situations. Not everyone has technological skills. A disadvantage for the job candidate that wants to apply for employment opportunities online is that they don't always know where to go to submit their resume. Another thing to consider when putting your credentials online is that the user of a career site should make sure they have the option to make edits to the resume they submit online. Jeff Walker, Major Accounts Receivable Manager from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) discussed the topic of electronic recruiting at the Society of Human Resource Management Association meeting on June 15, 1999. He said ADP does recruit employees over the Internet and can offer this opportunity to other companies interested in using this method. Mr. Walker believes the costs of recruiting are increasing and organizations should use the electronic recruiting methods to help locate candidates that match the skills needed for the job position. The web has a wide reach of potential applicants, can offer faster access to information on candidates, and is convenient. Employers like internet recruiting because it gives â€Å"faster results via electronic medium, has access to new talent base, cost less than traditional methods, is easy to integrate existing technologies with recruiting methods, and provides quality candidates.† (Jeff Walker Presentation to SHRM, June 15, 1999) Nancy , a Human Resource recruiter from Mecosa, located on Daniels Island, says their company is starting to think about recruiting job applicants online but is focusing on other important issues currently. She does wish to recruit over the Internet but it will take some time before the company is ready to step into this area. A guest at the SHRM meeting, Deborah Coleman, a human resource employee from Berkeley – Dorchester EDC has used this process to find employees a few times. Clint and Maxine from Williams Technology in Summerville, South Carolina have used this recruiting method to find a few employees but have not used this process extensively. Many companies realize there are many benefits to recruiting employees online but most organizations using this procedure currently are large businesses or smaller companies that have available resources. For example, Allison Dennis, from Santee Cooper does use electronic recruiting to locate potential applicants and enjoys the be nefits of the process. Although there are some things to consider when using online recruiting methods for hiring or job searching purposes, many individuals and corporations enjoy the advantages of electronic recruiting to find employment opportunities or to place an individual in a job opening. Online recruiting is a way to recruit job candidates that has been growing in popularity in our society and probably will continue to be used by many organizations to find qualified applicants for job openings. It has been a successful procedure for human resource recruiters all over. I. Introduction to Employee Selection Tests When deciding on hiring a job applicant or not there are various tests we might decide to administer to the individuals to access their potential for a job opening. We may consider the accuracy and usefulness of the different options to screen employees including selection exams. Also, many question the validity of these tests when deciding on administering them or not to jobseekers. If used correctly the various selection tests can provide useful information on candidates to an organization. â€Å"Proper selection can minimize the costs of replacement and training, reduce legal challenges and result in a more productive workforce.† (Ranner, pg. 1) Many think the popularity of these exams is growing and more corporations are administering these tests to prospects of employment. Employers would like to predict which candidates would be successful if offered a position with the company so they use selection tests. â€Å"Some employers purchase prepared tests, whereas others develop there own.† (Mathis & Jackson, pg. 79) Blackbaud does use various selection tests such as There are several selection tests that employers give to potential candidates to access their potential as future employees. Employers may use skills tests such as math or computer exams, genetic screening, drug and alcohol tests, handwriting analysis, medical exams, and psychological or personality tests to select employees. They may also choose to give honesty and written integrity exams, emotional intelligence exams, and AIDS tests to determine if the individual will receive a job at a company. Many organizations give skills exams like math tests or computer examinations to determine the capabilities of a potential employee. Often times clerical exams or another type of knowledge test is given to determine the applicant's skills. The employer needs to know this information to decide if it is worth training an applicant that lacks some abilities for the job or hire an individual who can perform the given duties. If the exam relates to the job responsibilities than employers should not worry about being sued for asking job seekers to take a skills test. A recent trend in corporations is to perform genetic screening before deciding to hire an individual. These tests can explain the background of the applicant. This screening process can â€Å"identify individuals who are hypersensitive to harmful pollutants in the workplace.† (Schuler and Huber, pg. 251) These employees can be placed in other positions that are not hazardous to their health if it is determined there is a risk. There is a debate over the ethics of using this method to screen applicants for a job. â€Å"Believe it or not, some big companies are using gene testing to screen out job applicants vulnerable to expensive and debilitating diseases.† (Cronin, pg. 1) Many organizations use drug and alcohol screening to eliminate hiring employees that may not be productive because of bad habits. It is important to employ individuals that do not have problems of substance abuse. Often times, employees with drug or alcohol addictions come to work late, are not motivated, and do not perform their job responsibilities adequately. â€Å"Drug studies have been done to help indicate problems that may occur with people that have drug problems. These studies indicate that a single pre-employment drug test can differentiate groups of persons at higher risk for certain poor job behaviors.† ( ) Many applicants expect to be tested for drugs and know methods to pass these exams so organizations should be aware of this possibility. â€Å"Preplacement tests are administered after a company makes a job offer contingent upon a clean result.† (Cronin, pg.4) Candidates should fill out a questionnaire before tested for drug usage because prescription drug use can show up in the laboratory results. A sample of urine, hair, or blood can be taken from the prospective employee to identify possible drug usage. The accuracy of drug tests varies according to the type of test used, the item tested, and the quality of the laboratory where the test samples are sent.† (Mathis and Jackson, pg.82) Companies that provide care-giving services usually test for drug usage because employees need to be prepared to respond to emergencies. Several organizations administer these exams to their employees. Handwriting analysis (graphology) is useful if the expert predicting it is experience in interpreting handwriting samples. The candidate may be asked to write a one -page summary on why they would be a good fit for the job and signs it at the bottom. This procedure only takes about ten minutes but will be analyzed also to determine the analysis of the handwriting. Handwriting exams are inexpensive, simple, and can reveal a lot about the personality of an applicant. There is a fee of about $150 for a two-page evaluation of a person's handwriting. A behavioral style analysis in the shorter versions runs for a cost of around $90-$150 for a two-page evaluation. As far as handwriting analysis in business, â€Å"In the selection of personnel, handwriting analysis is an invaluable tool for helping to choose the most suitable person for the job.† â€Å"For job seekers handwriting analysis provides an added bonus in that it requires no painful or embarrassing interview which a sensitive candidate is likely to see as an invasion of privacy.† Medical exams might be given to employees during the screening process. â€Å"After you make an offer, you can, under federal law, require a complete head-to-toe physical and access to all medical records.† (Michael P. Cronin, pg.4) In the United States, eleven of the states limit the use of this medical information to job-related needs. There is a high cost to the employer to give physical exams to potential employees so this is often done after other screening procedures are completed. â€Å"According to the Uniform Guidelines, physical examinations should be used to screen out applicants when the results indicate that job performance would be adversely affected.† (Huber and Schuler, pg. 250) â€Å"The Americans with Disability Act prohibits a company from rejecting an individual because of a disability and from asking job applicants any questions relative to current or past medical history until a conditional job offer is made.† (Mathis and Jackson, pg.82) These exams are valid if the physical characteristics of the candidate are essential to the job responsibilities. The American and Disabilities Act prohibits companies with more than 15 employees to ask questions about a candidates medical conditions before a job offer is given. Employers need to have a valid reason for not hiring someone based on a medical exam. F. Psychological or Personality Examinations Psychological or personality examinations may be given during the selection of future employees process. An exam may be used as a personality tool and could give results such as showing how aggressive a future sales representative will act. Companies may screen for emotional disorders but organizations should be careful because these tests should only be used for employees that work in security positions only because you don't want an employee that is considered dangerous to have a gun. The federal government in 1988 banned lie-detector tests and psychological tests became popular. These exams can test for an applicant's propensity to steal. They are used to look for emotional disorders in job candidates.