Jobs online: The Future of Recruiting

Abstract

Modern technology has changed the way a lot of things are done in the world of business; one of these changes is the way people are able to apply for jobs.  This paper will attempt to show how Internet recruiting even though beneficial to both the employer and the employee has both pros and cons.  Today, the Internet helps businesses to grow through the use of a company web site.  Web sites have been a way for businesses to give important information about who they are and what they do.  The shift from in office interviews to internet applications has removed the opportunity for the perspective employer or employee to make eye-to-eye contact with each other.  Internet recruiting is great as a tool but should not be the only avenue for possible employment.  The paper will also attempt to show  how HR departments must learn to use the internet in order to have a competitive edge.

Introduction

When a person goes on line to find employment opportunities and when employers go online to retrieve potential employee information this is called online recruiting (Borstoff, Marker, Bennett, 2005).  

When the first recruiting office opened about 100 years ago in the UK there was no idea of how far the recruiting business would go and grow (Revell, 2014). Over the years, organizations have expanded their search for employees far beyond their local boundaries, which caused a need for more forceful methods that allowed organizations to keep up with the growing market.    

When people began to recognize internet recruiting, it started many web sites that served as a storehouse for resumes and job listings.  The internet has completely changed the make-up of job recruiting from face-to-face communication to fill in the blanks.  The widespread use of the Internet along with other technologies has made a difference in determining the status of the recruiting industry.  

While Internet Recruiting has its benefits, there are disadvantages to online recruitment because of the absence of visible first impressions.  The benefit of eye to eye contact is important to both employer and employee because it allows instinct to work its magic in the hiring process.  This paper will take the reader from the very first recruiting office to the world of global recruiting through use of the internet.  This paper will also mention how strategic HR plays a role in the use of internet recruiting.

In The Beginning

        In 1940 during WWII with many soldiers going to war, there was a need to get workers to fill the positions that these soldiers left empty.  The employment agency was started as the solution to the problem of filling job openings made by the absence of the soldiers.  After the war ended, the agencies remained and helped to find jobs for the returning soldiers.  In the 1950’s, job seekers listed their information about themselves, their skills and personality traits, on paper in the form of resumes.  This allowed employers to choose those best suited for the job. Recruitment continued over the years and was very successful. In early years, recruiting methods used by organizations were slow and did not use much technology.  The major means of reaching candidates was newspapers, radio, personal referrals, and the ever-popular employment agencies (Borstoff, Marker, Bennett, 2005).   When the focus of recruiting agencies began to change, it put the customer at the top of the priority list.