e-Recruitment: A New Paradigm
Author: Whizlabs Software

Human resource is no longer considered a business requirement; rather it has distinguished itself as one of the core assets of any organization. The statement by Mr. Narayan Murthy, “My Company’s assets walk out of the door every evening,” truly captures the dynamics of new economy. With such a great emphasis on human capital, it is critical for every organization to resort to means that offer quality recruitment solutions at competitive costs. This is where the realm of e-Recruitment starts. The Internet is no longer just a rage; it has now become a very powerful and effective tool at everybody’s disposal. e-Recruitment is simply using this tool To Hire Whom You Desire.

Some facts to ponder

• By 2005, expenditure on Internet-based recruiting will be $ 7 billion - Forrester Research Institute.
• 96% of all companies will use the Internet for their recruitment needs.
• In the U.S., some companies claim 30% of new hires are from the Internet and 77% of Internet users who are seeking a change, use the Net to do so.
• A recent survey conducted by Employment Management Association, U.S.A, the cost-per-hire of print Ads was estimated at 95 and Online Ads, a mere $ 377.
• Over 16 million resumes floating online.

Evolving Face Of Recruitment: E-Recruitment

Conventional recruitment has always been a time consuming and paper intensive process. They also tend to stress out your monitory resources. Online recruitment agencies are looking to remove the headaches associated with finding the right person or job. Appealing to both active and passive job seekers, recruitment web sites save companies and job hunters both time and money. Online recruitment is not just restricted to specific web sites either; many major companies are using some form of e- Recruitment, enabling candidates to e-mail their CVs to the human resources department.

e-Recruitment, though at nascent stage, is becoming a part of corporate strategy with increasing numbers of companies setting aside budgets for online recruitment. e-Recruitment practices -- using the Internet to find candidates for job openings -- have established some roots in the business world, but are far from refined. However, the primary benefit is clear and convincing: You can get your message out to more candidates, faster.

Emerging market opportunities for e-Recruiting firms include the following:

• Market demands are shifting to end-to-end services.
• Skills assessment has become a key-differentiating factor.
• Contingent workforce services are the next frontier of the e-recruiting market landscape.

Using the power of Internet to achieve your HR goals not only increases your productivity but also saves you time and money to give you a competitive advantage. The pluses are many: Posting jobs online can cost less than half as much as Sunday newspaper postings and far less than employment agency fees. Online ads can be longer, more descriptive, written any time of the day or night, and posted almost immediately. For employers, online recruiting allows far better targeting of candidates than does advertising in general newspapers, resulting in a greater percentage of qualified applicants. In addition, because 24/7 online job hunting is private and convenient, your company’s Internet presence is more likely to draw in “passive job seekers” – high-quality candidates who may be curious to know what’s out there but who have not launched all-out campaigns.

As online recruitment sites continue to multiply in numbers these ‘value-added’ services may well prove crucial to their long time survival. Although e-Recruitment addresses the initial phase of job hunting and applications the challenge is to go beyond the virtual value, and prove the value of the initial contact.
New Paradigm
One industry, which has most logically impacted by the “e” drive, is IT industry itself. e-Recruitment for IT organization has another facet to it: Use of software solutions for effective and efficient recruitment. Recruiters in an IT company, use software solutions for not only searching the best skilled candidates but in the hiring process also. Recruitment in an IT organization is different from other traditional ones in methods of selection & training. Since IT companies recruit in large numbers, recruiters in these companies always keep looking for solutions, which can save them, time and effort; while at the same time provide them with the best talent.

Resources Companies Use In Their Recruitment Processes:

Resume Scanners: Extensively used by the recruiters down the board. By pre defining the requirements, the scanner can filter out those resumes, which do not meet the criteria.

Job Sites: These are a good source for getting quality database of skilled candidates.

Consultants: They provide the professionals to the organizations based on the skills and the experience desired by the company. Recruitment consultants have also recognized the benefits of online recruitment, but maintain their core strength as a consultancy firm. Although consultants intend to extend its web services, online recruitment offers the company an additional way to find the raw material [people]. But the real value to both employer and job seeker is the additional procedures it offers.

These will get the company resource, but is that professional tested on what he claims to be an expert. Having the wrong people in the wrong job means poor productivity, lost opportunity and directly hits the bottom line – even before the cost of recruiting replacements is considered. The first wave of Internet recruitment - posting vacancies on the net in the same way as advertising them in a newspaper - did not improve the process of selecting the right person for the job. In fact, by delivering a wider range of candidates, the Internet channel added to the workload of over-stretched human relations (HR) departments. But how to manage this?

New Paradigm

The answer lies in Online Skill Assessment solutions. These Online Skill Assessment Solutions are used for screening the IT professionals and cutting down the time and effort wasted in calling the right professional for the interview. Besides e-recruitment such solutions may also help in Employee Evaluation, Training Evaluation and Certification Exam Preparation.

These Online solutions also help in initial screening of the IT professionals by way of efficient and effective delivery of the technical and aptitude tests. Now, recruitment websites are also adding tools for selecting and assessing candidates and automating the processes that in the past monopolized HR time.

One of the first processes the Internet has automated is application sifting. Ironically, the burden of sifting has been compounded by the web itself. There are millions of CVs and resumes available via the web, far more than any potential employer ever had access to before, or could possibly digest using traditional processes. Increasingly, sites are providing online testing services to allow employers to get an idea of a candidate's technical skills. Most practitioners think that, far from replacing face-to-face interviews, online technical tests will complement them - the results can be used to generate a list of questions for the live interview, for example.

Many online recruitment companies are using testing and assessment on the internet to target so called passive applicants, who have put their CVs and resumes online, but are not actively looking for a job.

The market today is flooded with solutions for e-recruitment making in difficult to decide and choose the best suitable option. Look for solution providers, who provide:

• Online test delivery with NO/minimal MANUAL EFFORTS.
• High quality assessment content for various IT technologies.
• Time simulated testing environment.
• Comprehensive organization wide reports.
• Deliver questions in different order to each candidate by creating randomized tests.
• Option to conduct on-premise tests in the controlled environment and off-premise tests over the Internet for remotely located candidates.

Lat but not the least remember “Recruitment is not hiring the best among those knocking at your door; rather it’s a quest to enroll the right candidate in your human capital, transcending all barriers with the help of latest technology.”







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Whizlabs (http://www.whizlabs.com) is an eLearning organization specializing in IT certification exam preparation and training solutions for individuals and Corporates.

Whizlabs is among the global leaders in IT skill assessment and certification preparation domain. Whizlabs' suite of offerings for Enterprises and Training institutes include "e-Recruitment, Employee Evaluation and Certification Exam Preparation Solution" for IT professionals and organizations.

In the last three years, Whizlabs has contributed to the success of over 300,000 IT professionals in more than 90 countries with over 99.7% success rate. Our clients include a number of IT companies like Infosys, Accenture, Coface, RebusIS, Bunge and Induslogic.

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