ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

(A Case Study of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission)

BY MUSA ABUBAKAR KPT/CBMS/10/3709

BEING A PROJECT SUBMISTTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES KADUNA POLYTECHNIC KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA.

SPETEMBER, 2013

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Today, the internet as well as other information and communication technologies has changed many business and private life and continues to do so. For the young generation of developing countries like Nigeria, these changes are taken for granted. It is already known that computer and internet are being used to automate most of the related tasks of Human Resource department of many organizations. Electronic recruitment is a concept that has gained enormous popularity in recent times. It is one of such tasks in the field of Human Resource Management that has been transformed greatly by ICT. According to Gill (2001), electronic recruitment is a way of recruiting that provides organizations with an exceptionally cost-effective way to manage and monitor their entire recruitment process, from categorizing and tracking candidate applications to ensuring security in all candidate communications and keeping logs on all correspondences for future references. The concept is synonymous and can sometimes be used interchangeably with online recruitment, cyber-recruitment or internet recruitment (Ben, 2010). The growth of electronic recruitment has being fuelled by the adoption of the new technology. It forms one of the central pillars of a smart staffing for organization in almost every economic sector. It provides current information to a broad audience and improved communication in an efficient and timely manner. It bridges the gap between the

employers and job seekers. It also provides a wider scope, choice and opportunity for both parties (Lee, 2005). In spites of all these advantages, electronic recruitment appears to be unpopular in Nigeria and other developing countries.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM It is undeniable that changing from manual to electronic recruitment of many recruitment functions and job search resources has vastly expanded the scope, accessibility, ease and efficiency of the recruitment process. However, the long ever implications of this trend remain shrouded in ambiguity (Gill, 2001). Regardless of the widespread growth and inherent advantages of this new technology, there exist significant shortcomings from both demographic and technological perspectives in Nigeria which include; limited access, usage problems and flawed infrastructure (Ben, 2008). Even when it is abundantly clear that electronic recruitment has inexorably altered the hiring process its impact upon the practices and principles of Human Resource Management are not yet fully defined. It seems the primary change at this time has been a technological one, in which the newspaper help-wanted ads and snail-mailed paper resumes of the past have been neatly replaced with their electronic successors (Lee, 2005). In other words, although the tools we use have changed, most of the underlying principles that govern the recruitment process have remained basically unchanged. Today in Nigeria, the Human Resource profession stands at a critical junction. We have been presented with the unique and formidable opportunity to help usher in a new paradigm that combines the best world- the efficiency and unparalleled reach of

the internet with the high- touch, intuitive and exceedingly human focus of traditional recruitment.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY This study sets out to assess the Nigerian recruitment situation, its constraints, challenges and its prospects. It intends to suggest a possible way of recruiting electronically or otherwise that would bye pass those constraints and challenges in order to make it suitable and more accessible to the prospective applicants in particular and organizations and recruitment agencies in general.

1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS According to Osuola (2010), hypothesis can be defined as a conjectural statement of relationship between two or more variables. In this research, hypothesis will be formulated as follows:

Ho= Electronic recruitment is not a favourable means of recruitment. Hi=Electronic recruitment is a favourable means of recruitment Where Ho = Null hypothesis Hi =Alternative hypothesis

1.5 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This research work will be of great importance to the following sections of the people: To students, the study will serve as their reference or guide in pursuing a great career particularly in Human Resource Management; To teachers, the study will help them to have a deeper understanding of the subject matter and will be an aid for teaching students. To future researchers, the study will benefit and help them as guide to develop and expand the subject matter. Lastly, the study will also provide organizations and recruiting agencies with relevant information that will help them to select and design effective and efficient ways of reaching prospective employees.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This research is focused on the problems and prospects of electronic recruitment system using Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) as a case study. The study covers all staff of the Commission irrespective of their hierarchical position.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY There is no achievement without hurdles and same goes with this research. In the course of this research work, a number of unavoidable constraints and obstacles were encountered and these are as follows;

Limited or very few numbers of organizations that use electronic recruitment and same goes with recruiting agencies particularly in Kaduna. Non-availability of certain information regarded as sensitive information in the Commission. Also, the time limit was very short due to the fact that the time of writing this project coincides with the time of examination. Lastly and most importantly is the financial constraint. Writing a genuine and comprehensive project need a lot of money and as a student, the researcher found it very difficult to be able to do what he dreamt to do. Nevertheless, the aim and objective of the study has been achieved.

1.8 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission was established pursuant to the provisions of section 197(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Before 1999, what existed was the State Electoral Commission which was established under the State Electoral Commission Law cap.50, Laws of Kaduna State 1991; which eventually metamophorsized into SIECOM with the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution. The constitution vested in the Governor of a State to nominate the Chairman and Members of the State Independent Electoral Commission subject to the confirmation of the Sate House Assembly. In pursuance of the power, the Chairman and Members were nominated by the Executive Governor of Kaduna State Dr. Ahmed Mohammed

Makarfi and confirmed by the House of Assembly in September 2000. The Chairman and members of the commission were sworn in on the 11th October, 2000.

The same 1999 Constitution clearly spells out the functions of the Commission which are: (a) To organize, undertake and supervise all elections to local government councils within the state; and

(b) To render such advice as it may consider necessary to the Independent National Electoral Commission on the compilation of and the register of voters in so far as that register is applicable to local government elections in the State.

The Commission comprise of the Chairman and six other members, who not only formulate policies, but perform assigned duties. One of such duties is supervisory in nature. In this regard each member is performing supervisory functions over a Zone (group of Local Government Areas). The Chairman presides over the meetings of the Commission provided that one third of the total membership is in attendance. Each member shall be entitled to one vote, the Chairman shall have casting as well as deliberative vote.

In order to facilitate action and or decision, the Commission has appointed the following committees: i. Finance Committee

ii. iii. iv. iv.

Establishment Matters Committee Logistics Committee Public Affairs Committee Legal Affairs Committee

Each of this Committee is being headed by a Commissioner, and memberships include some Commissioners. The Commission has staff strength of 165 although it has authority to build a staff strength of 236.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS These are terms that are conceptually and operationally defined for better understanding of the readers.

Internet: It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies.

ICT:

Information and Communication Technology - This is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.

Recruitment: This refers to the process of attracting, screening, selecting, and on boarding a qualified person for a job in an organization.

Job Seeker: Is a person who is looking for employment, due to unemployment or discontent with a current position.

Human Resource: It is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector or an economy.

Recruitment Agency: It is an organization which matches employers to employees.

SIECOM: State Independent Electoral Commission

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW Human resources are the key components of every organization. It represents total knowledge, talent and attitude, creative ability, aptitude and belief of an individual involved in the affair of an organization which is an integral part for every concerned (Armstrong, 2009). It is associated with the people at work and their relationships within and outside the enterprise. Recruitment of efficient staff is one of the activities perform by Human Resource Management department since it performs the essential function of drawing an important resource in to the organization. It has a strategic aim as it focuses on the need to attract high quality people in order to gain a competitive advantage (Parry & Tyson 2008). They further stress that a new development in this domain is the use of the internet to attract potential employees to an organization, and is referred to as electronic recruitment. Internet has made an impact on the overall functioning of human resource department. Also human resource processes and procedures have been supported by everything from complicated file folder system to automation, going from usage multiple systems and databases to a single version of the whole system (Dhamijia, 2010)

2.1 THE CONCEPT OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT The concept of electronic recruitment was brought about as a result of the rapid advance in technology which dramatically changed the way business is conducted (Erica, 2007). This increasing use of technology is clearly demonstrated by the

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number of organizations and individuals who utilize the internet and electronic mail. According to Dhamija (2010), in terms of Human Resource Management, the internet has changed the way of recruitment from both perspective i.e. organization and job seekers. Electronic recruitment has been defined as a way of recruiting that provides organizations with an exceptionally cost effective way to manage and monitor their entire recruitment process, from categorizing and tracking candidate applications to ensuring security in all candidate communications and keeping logs on all correspondences for future uses (Gill, 2001). This definition provides much wider scope of what electronic recruitment is all about. Gill further said that two trends which make it compulsory for small and medium sized business to invest in the tools for a successful electronic recruitment strategy are demographic trend and financial scarcity. On one hand, better technology and easier access to information produced between workers and firms is increasing the probability of finding the best match for a given opening. On the other hand, reduced application cost also encourages increased application from under qualified job seekers, triggering increased effort by firms to improve screening mechanism. The internet according to Dhamijia (2010 ), first emerge as a recruiting tool in the mid 1995 and was hailed by the popular media as the drive behind a recruiting revolution due to the benefits it could bring to recruiters . According to Breagh and Stark (2000), the breakthrough and the lasted trends in recruitment is the electronic recruitment which is also known as online recruitment. They affirmed that e-recruitment or electronic recruitment makes the process of

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finding candidates and new business opportunities quicker, cheaper, and more efficient. It has also caused the largest change to the recruitment process in the past decade acting as a link between employers and job seekers.

2.2 THE FORMS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT (a) Commercial job boards Commercial job boards are the most common form of electronic recruitment. Job boards work like classified ads in the newspaper. These are global and allow a wide reach to pool of candidate. The job boards greatest strength is the sheer numbers of job applicants listing resumes. It has been estimated that they contain five million unique resumes (Gutmacher, 2006). In addition they enable recruiters to operate 24 hours a day, examine candidates from around the world, and are generally quite inexpensive (Boehle, 2000). A major advantage of the job board approach for an organization is that many people post resumes and that job boards provide a search for applicants with the relevant skills and experience. A second advantage is that an organization can provide extensive information as well as a link to the companys web site for further information on both i.e. the job as well as the organizations. The dedicated recruitment websites can take a form of job listing websites that are very similar to printed classified advertisements, work wanted sites, which emphasize the prospective employees side and finally online recruiters who makes use of other websites as a resource for finding clients and customers (Rudich, 2000, Tailor, 2001)

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(b) Corporate websites Companies websites represent one of the first web based modes or form to recruitment. Many of these websites also provide the useful information about an organization as well as the mechanism to apply for available jobs. It is a very common practice to add recruitment pages to the existing organization site. Its major advantage is the minimal cost associated with the developing a page on the corporate sites and put it forward as the smartest way to recruit on the internet (Scheyer & Mecarter, 1998). Most applicants would consider a medium to large size company without a recruitment websites to be somewhat strange. One report indicated that of 62,000 hires at nine large companies in the United State, 16% were imitated at the companys corporate websites (Maher and Silverman, 2002). With a good list of benefits, it would result foolish for any organization that does not have a companys corporate websites

2.3 THE PROCESS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT The recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy where after the recruiter receives authorization to fill in this vacancy (Chapman & Webstars, 2003). In order to do so, the vacant job needs to be carefully analyzed. Analyzing the job might include determining the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience required to perform the job appropriately and defining the required specifications. After identifying and analyzing a vacancy, it can be placed in, for example, newspapers or other media sources

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Electronic recruitment process differs from the traditional recruitment in that it uses the internet and technology to support the process. In the case of electronic recruitment, vacancy can be published on corporate websites or job boards (Cappelli, 2001). Applicants can apply for vacancies by using the internet. Likewise, further future correspondence between organization and applicant depends on the internet to a large extent. Cappelli (2001) further describes the electronic recruitment process in three steps. First, candidates need to be attracted. This is concerns with using the organization reputation, product image, online technology and other methods to draw as many potential applicants as possible to the organizations websites. Thus, organization can reinforce their human resources brand and provide information about jobs and working conditions. The second step in this process is sorting applicants. This relates for example to employing sophisticated candidates, online test to screen candidates, and winnowing the applicant pool to a manageable number. Third, the contract needs to be managed quickly. Due to the use of the internet, organizations are able to respond more quickly to desirable candidates. Organization need to work aggressively and use automated hiring management system to contact the most desirable candidates very quickly before they are snapped up by another company.

Chapman and Webstars (2003), describe a similar electronic recruitment process. In this way, electronic recruitment differs from manual recruitment by making use of eenable sources. These steps can also be applied to the traditional recruitment process as well, yet the distinction lies in the use of e-enabled technologies.

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An electronic recruitment process follows ideally from systematic human resources planning process, whereby an organization analyses and plans for the flow of people into, through, and out of the organization (Cappelli, 2001) Yet there is a forth steps, which does not belong necessarily to electronic recruitment but to every recruitment process. This is concerns with closing the deal. According to Chapman and Webstsar (2003), it refers to making the phone call, setting up the meeting and shaking the hand. From this description one can notice the e-element is absent. In this way Cappelli(2001), highlights the importance of the human touch at the end of the recruitment process but remain very crucial.

ELECTRIC RECRUITMENT PROCESS 1. Attracting candidates using the organizations online technology to draw potential applicants to the organizations website

2. Sorting Applicants

employing sophisticated online test to Screen candidates and winnow the Applicants pool to a manageable number

3. Making Contact

using automated hiring management

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System to contact the most desirable Candidates very quickly, before they are snapped up by another company.

4. Closing the Deal

Making the phone call, setting up the meeting and shaking hands .

The above diagram presents steps taken during electronic recruitment process (Chapman and Webstar, 2003.)

2.3 THE BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT Gone are the days when electronic recruitment was the exclusive domain of the technologically savvy, the curious and the ultra-sophisticated. Today, with this medium tried, tested and proven to be true and more importantly dispensable, professional recruiters and employers alike rely on job portals as a primary source of professional talents both on a stand-alone basis and in some cases to complement traditional hiring methods (Gill, 2001). So the question is what are the benefits of electronic recruitment that have led to such meteoric rise in its use and revolutionized the way companys hire and candidates search for jobs in such a short time span?

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According to Galanaki (2002), there are ten (10) basic benefits of electronic recruitment which are listed below. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. Reduced time to hire Reduced cost to hire Wider reach for employers Wider reach for candidates (job seeker) Branding opportunity for employers Sophisticated management tools Allows for confidentially Allows for productivity Allows for database build up

(i) Reduced time-to-hire According to Galanaki (2002), a firm that uses electronic recruitment allows real time interaction and 24 x 7 hiring search activities. Employers can post a job in as little to add 20 minutes size and starts receiving CVs in response immediately. The posting typically remain active for as long as 30 days and continues to receive applicant CVs immediately as job seekers come across it. He later conclude that electronic recruitment hiring is typically on average 70% faster than traditional hiring method and the recruitment cycle is specked up at every stage from posting to receiving CVs, to filtering to managing the contact and workflow.

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(ii) Reduce cost of hire According to Lee (2005), electronic recruitments have reduced hiring costs by about 87% as compared to traditional recruiting through newspapers and magazines. Also prominent employers for example Dow Chemical were able to reduce their hiring cycle from 90 to 34 days while cutting its cost per hire by 26% (Gill 2001).

(iii) Wider reach for employers Unlike traditional methods which are usually restricted by career level, geography, industry or other parameters online requirement portals typically have current and active talent database that cover all career levels, industries and regions. Spraining business development reams also endure that affiliations are established whereby the portals are always prominent and top of mind with the relevant candidates and are visited by the target job seekers regularly (Galanaki 2002).

(iv) Wider reach for candidates Candidates or job seekers benefits immensely from the wider scope they gain through electronic job sites (Gill 2001). They are able to access jobs in companies, industries and locations they may not otherwise have learned of and can apply immediately with the click of a mouse. This is made possible by posting their CVs online which they can be contacted by employers directly for opportunities that may not even be advertised (Galanaki, 2002).

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(v) Branding opportunities for employers Employers can use their job ads to project a consistent brand and company image/values to prospective job seekers. With this, top talent candidates can be conversant about who they work for and these companies descriptions often serve as a basis for their application decisions (Galanaki, 2002)

(vi) Sophisticated Management Tools. The entire recruitment process is managed from one location which allows the employers to post vacancies, receive VCs, screen, prioritize and contact candidates individually or collectively and track all activities from the confines of a private and highly functional employers workspace (Lee, 2005). E-recruitment manages and monitor the entire recruitments process from categorizing and tracking candidate application to ensuring security in all candidate communication and keeping logs on all correspondence for future references (Gill, 2001). Job seekers similarly can track the progress of their application at every stage of the hiring process from their own functional workplace. This allows for an enhanced user experience for both employers and job seeker.

(vii) Allows for Confidentiality Both employers and job seekers can elect to maintain their confidentiality. Employers can elect to search the database without posting a job if the vacancy is sensitive in nature, or they can post a vacancy while keeping their names and present employers name confidential.

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(viii) Allows for Database Build Up Employers can save high profile or particularly attractive CVs, from an existing online search to build a priority database of pre-screened star talent for future use.

2.5 THE CHALLENGES OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT Adopting online recruitment can be beneficial to organization to a great extent. However, there are certainly few challenges associated with their successful implementation. According to Khosrowpour (2007), there are four major challenges by named: managerial, organizational, technological and legal challenges that have to overcome by organizations for making the best use electronic recruitment process.

Managerial challenges Any technology would remain unused without user acceptance. It is important that hiring and recruitment managers alike are knowledgeable and comfortable about the use of electronic recruitment methods (Taylor, 2005). Organizations must hence conduct a comprehensive training program for HR managers to help them use the online recruitment tools without any difficulty. The usage online requirement method has not put an end to the use of other recruitment methods such as employee referrals, newspaper ads etc. Given the limited financial resources, finding the optimal mix of various recruitment methods is a challenge for human resources managers. The success of online recruitment neither does nor relies purely upon the technical

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sophistication of the career website, but upon balanced combination of management skills and technology. With several available choices, recruitment must imitate to learn the ways to combine technology into the recruitment practices to prove strategies and increase their efficiencies. Finally, electronic requirement has helped companies to retrieve and store talented applicant faster, but always failed to screen the applicant sufficiently. Therefore hiring and recruiting mangers have to review each of the applicants manually before interviewing a candidate and performing assessment (Khosrowpour, 2007)

Organizational Challenges Most qualified applicants are often passive job seekers, who are presently employed but strategy to recognized passive job seekers and motivate them to apply must be developed. Business process redesign is needed across the whole process of Human Resources Management to realize the online recruitment benefit (Taylor, 2005). Inefficient and bottle neck tastes must be identified and reconfigured, so that the whole recruitment moves quickly with an exchange of standardized data and it is critical to benchmark the best management practice and develop a set of metrics that measure the effectiveness of various methods of recruitment. There are no important statistics available at present on the effectiveness of different management practices of online recruitment tools because of a limited experience with electronic recruitment.

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Technical Challenges Lack of confidentiality and security of information discourages the posting of job applications by job seekers. While security is one of the biggest challenges with job applications, topmost companies do not specify it explicitly on their career websites. Combining the process of online recruitment with process of conventional recruitment is critical due to limited availability of software resources. Paper based resumes must be converted into a digitized form and stored in the database and designing a career database is a complex tax. The database of job must be designed to minimize redundant data and optimize the performance of job search by a candidate. This can be done by understanding the recruiters and applicants search behaviours.

Legal Challenges There is need for employers liability for not violating employment discrimination laws and the laws are similar to applicants background checks and laws restricting false advertising. Various reporting needs for government would be for global companies for centralized recruiting (Flyn, 2002). Electronic recruitment is likely to affect the diversity of an organization if proper efforts are not made. Biased demographic characteristics can create a serious impact on diversity thereby giving candidates belonging to minority group less chance to be hired than others.

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2.6 THE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT SITUATION Nigeria has a high level of unemployment as few employment opportunities exist for a large amount of qualified citizens who seek jobs daily (Ikechukwu, 2010). And the government pays little or no attention to combating the problem as no efforts are made to create employment opportunities for jobless Nigerians (Okecha, 2008). The Nigerian recruitment practice is characterized by irregularities and malpractices ranging from corruption to nepotism. Many cases of illegal recruitment of staff are on the rise in the federal government agencies, subverting a system that is designed to enhance the unity of the country (sundaytrust.com) According to investigation by Sunday Trust (2013), illegal recruitment practices are so wide spread they affect almost all federal ministries, departments and agencies. The Nigerian senate on Thursday, 17 January 2013 resolved to investigate all the recruitment exercises conducted by all Federal Government agencies in the last two years, with a vow to punish perpetrators of employment scam in the country (Wakili, 2013). As a result of the high employment rate and nepotistic recruitment, exploiters are now taking advantage of desperation of job seekers thereby further worsening the recruitment process. According to Okechuku (2010), the followings are examples of such exploitations. There are workersengagement centers that scout for firm in need of employees and advertise their existing vacancies. They demand registration fees from job-seekers, promising them employment with their clients. When a job is secured , it is usually agreed between the centre and the employer for the fresh employee to forfeit one or

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two months salary to the centre as payment for its service, and in so doing transfer the cost of hiring from the hirer to the hired which should not be the case. Then there are consultants hired by several companies to carry out aptitude tests and interviews for prospective employees. These consultancies outfits usually have standby candidates who pay huge registration fees and await notice of vacancies anywhere. These candidates are promptly, notified of any aptitude test or interview the consultancy would conduct. After such aptitude tests and interviews, these candidates are mostly among the successful applicants short listed and forwarded to the prospective employer for recruitment. In the third group are persons who extort money from job seekers promising to secure jobs for them. This especially happens when government agencies are recruiting. These extortionists are either insiders, i.e. employees of the recruiting agency, or outsiders who have or claim connection to the top management of the government agency and seldom do they deliver on their promises (Ikechukwu, 2010). This happens to many federal agencies, particularly those seen to be lucrative such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Custom Service, the armed forces and financial institutions. Most time they fail and also hardly refund the money so collected, leaving the applicants disappointed and frustrated. In some state, people pay up to One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100, 000) to secure a teaching job in public primary schools. For job in federal bodies, a job seeker may be required to part with N 150,000. In successful cases, the victims do not complain for, in their reckoning, the job is worth the price (Ikechukwu, 2010).

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Contributing to a debate, Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno) confessed that out of compassion, he once paid an amount sum of money for a job offer in a government agency for one of his constituents.

There was a boy from my constituency who graduated with second class upper and could not get a job for four years. He had been driving a taxi for someone in Abuja here before he came to tell me that one government agency was collecting N200, 000 from each job applicant. I did not want to give him the money because I couldnt imagine that kind of thing could be happening, but he was begging me and in the end, I gave him the money. (Sen. Ndume).

Giving his own personal account, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba said; For me, it is not a mere hearsay because I was directly approached severally by my constituents for N500, 000 for job offer in government agencies, but I declined because I couldnt imagine something like that happening in our country.(Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba).

Furthermore, one may liken these three above instance of exploitation of job seekers to a scenario put forward by the two senators quotes above, to a politician who spends his money to secure votes during election; of course, the first thing he does after

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assuming office is to recoup his investment and definitely make a profit. The dangerous dimension is that, a graduate who secures a job however qualified must first recoup investment setting in motion a vicious cycle of exploitations and corruption. And before you know it, looting of public treasure becomes a celebrated evil (Haruna, 2013). There are also cases where applicants were required to buy internet scratch cards, apply online, buy sport kits, undergo medical tests and fitness exercise, etc. Not only did applicants spend much money in the process, some of them reportedly lost their lives as a result of the fitness exercise. Also applicants incur a lot of costs by buying air times at cyber caf to access the employers website and apply online. Some travel from their villages to distant towns to access the internet. For private organizations, applicants at times discover that their websites are empty of any online application form. An applicant spends between N500 to N1000 to do this, considering the erratic nature of internet services in Nigeria. (Gill, 2001) According to Ben UJ (2010), Nigerias internet market remain extremely underserved with 70 percent of the internet subscriber base reported by local Internet Services Providers (ISPs) to account for corporate subscribers while the rest are home, small office and cyber caf users. Available data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reveals that out of the about 150 million Nigerians only 11million have access to the internet. But more basically the slow and exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of the death of the fixed line infrastructure and poor service quality on the part of ISPs is further

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exacerbated by the fact that only a meager 30 SPMS of bandwidth is available to the 11 million internet users in the country. Between 2000 to 2006, the percentage of internet users increased from about 0.1% to about 3%. Then in the three (3) years that followed, 2006 to 2009, the percentage increased from 3% to 16%. This indicates a somewhat exponential growth rate which is good for electronic recruitment in not so long run in Nigeria (Ben, 2009).

2.7 APPLICATION OF POSSIBLE ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT SYSTEM TO SOLVE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES So how do we electronically recruit the best people putting into consideration the Nigerian situation that is mentioned above? In the Nigerian recruitment system there are limited amount of avenues through which undergraduates can be seen by organizations. This is especially wrong since it is in the best interest of the organizations that they are able to recruit the best to do industrial training, which is free labour, with them so as to nurture them into graduate employees made for that specific company. So in other words these organizations would have employees that are suitable to them and experienced at the time they graduate and join that company (Gill, 2010). It is suggested that companies endeavour to find a way, may be through job boards, to access students that are doing well in their area of business so as to be able to attract them when it comes time for industrial training. As the vacancy arises, sometimes due to the creation of new job, or may be because an existing member of staff has been promoted or is retiring, a job description and

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employee specification is written or updated, whichever is the case. The job description lists the duties of the job while the employee specification gives detail of qualifications, the experience, skills and abilities necessary, to carry out those duties listed in the job description. This should be carried out by the department seeking to fill the position (Lee, 2005) Once this is done it is imperative to send the job description and employee specification to an outside Human Resource firm that would then search out others that are doing that kind of job; as detailed in the job description, very well in other companies so as to have a discussion with them to find out if they might be interested in working in the company which is currently hiring. It is important to note that it would be difficult to move this people from their old jobs without a package that is more than the package they were formerly receiving (Gill, 2001). While this is going on, a vacancy advertisement should be written that corresponds to the job description and employee specification and circulated via at least three different medium, i.e. the internet, TV, radio, newspapers and magazine. This is done so as to reach both the electronically savvy and the not so electronically savvy (Gill, 2001). It should be noted that this is a marketing endeavour; as brands and reputations are crucial in large, open and competitive product and services markets. They are also crucial in the labour market so much so that all the companys promotions, advertising and other marketing efforts influence the perspective employees. So companies should always make sure that they are viewed in the best possible light by

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the public. When this is advertised it is imperative to also states where the interested applicants would be able to apply. Even thought internet has not proliferated in Nigeria it should be noted that most blue collar and white colour jobs require the applicants to be computer literate. So it would be wise to post that applicant should apply electronically. This do not mean by sending a CV to an email box but by filling out electronic application forms online (Cappelli, 2001). Once these applications flood in to the database through the electronic forms, each application would be given a number (Number 1), indicating that they actually applied for the job. Then the database screens the applicants, pick the best prospects which would then be given a second number (Number 2). Electronic screening drastically reduces the amount of time that is spent when screening manually. After the initial screening, a further screening is done by testing the applicants, this would be done by either the company hiring or a consultant. Without number 1 and 2, it would be impossible to sit for the test or get graded electronically, implying that the test could be either an electronic paper test or a computer test. Furthermore, it is imperative that each applicant that was successful screened through the database system would be given a number (Number 3) that is generated by the database. After the above, a shortlist would be compiled by the database of applicants, with number 1, 2 and 3, who are going to be invited to attend for interview, and without these numbers an interview would not be administered. The interviewers would comprise of sound professionals in the hiring field both from inside and outside the

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organization. These professionals would generate the questions in a meeting prior to the interview, and these questions would be used for each of the interviewees. Feedback can be provided (upon request) and unsuccessful applicants have the right to complain if they feel that they have been unfairly treated. Thereafter, the successful candidates would be appointed and then inducted (Gill, 2001).

Applicant Acquires Apply by filling electronic application form.

Number 1

Applicant Acquires Screening of application through database.

Number 2
A diagram of Electronic Testing and Screening. Applicant Acquires Recruitment System. By Gill J. (2001)

Number 3

Interview of those with number 1, 2, and 3.

Applicant Acquires

Number 4

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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN The success of every research work depends largely on how well the entire process is defined and planned bearing in mind the terrain the researcher would be operating in. The researcher has carefully and logically designed and planed every aspect and stage of the research including the timing to facilitate and articulate the gathering of data from the field.

Apart from obtaining all the necessary and relevant information concerning the problem at hand there was the need to clarify the problem. This was done to ensure that survey did not prove a failure. All the information needed was obtained from Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, in order to reveal the problems and prospects of electronic recruitment.

3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION All the employees of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission constituted the research population. The organization had total staff strength of One Hundred and Sixty Five (165) staff according to the boards payroll.

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3.3 SAMPLING SIZE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES Out of the total population of One Hundred and Six Five (165) in the case study, the researcher determined the sample size using Roscoe (1975) formulae. The formula is computed as follows: 10% Rule of thumb Using the total population of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to compute for the sample size. 10/100 X 165 1650 / 100 16.5 : Sample size is 17 approximately.

3.4 METHOD OF GATHERING DATA Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used in gathering data. The sources however, which include materials got from the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission was used for the background of the study as well as materials from text books, magazines and newspapers were used for the literature review. For the instrument used in the gathering of raw facts(data) for the research proper, the questionnaire was strictly used throughout the entire process of the research.

3.5 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE METHOD USED The reason which prompted the used of questionnaire as the instrument for gathering data for the research proper include the following:

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i.

The questionnaire allows for much time for thought by respondents before answering the questions i.e. not impromptu.

ii. iii.

It promotes wider coverage of the research population at relatively blow cost Virtually all potential respondents are literate and so, could respond to the questions in writing through the questionnaire.

iv.

Because anonymity was ensured, respondents could be most likely willing and ready to express their opinion on the issues rose.

v.

The questionnaire can be easily kept for reference purpose.

The secondary source of data was also used because it enabled the researcher to choose relevant materials among several authors whose works were considered relevant to the research work. Secondary sources enabled the research to compare different authors past work. They specifically i. ii. provides diagrams for the researcher. told how far researches have been conducted on that particular project or research topic iii. helped the researcher to view the research topic from the universal point of view, and iv. it is based on some certain tested hypothesis.

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3.6 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS The data collected from the respondents in the field through the use of questionnaire would be presented in tables and figures and analyzed using simple percentages. In a similar vein, the researcher deemed it fit due to the nature of the hypothesis to use the Chi-Square to test the hypothesis. The formula is presented below:

X2 = (O - E) E

Where = Summation O=Frequency observed from the table value E=Frequency expected

3.7 JUSTIFICATION OF INSTRUMENT USED The choice of Chi-Square for the analysis of the data gathered among other reasons is that: i. ii. Most importantly is that it shows relationships between variables. It helps to present complex quantitative information in a neater and simplified form for easy comprehension. iii. iv. Interpretation can be easily done without necessarily needing a guide. It covers all aspect of data gathered for the research.

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