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1 Introduction 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. Today, the buzzword and the latest trend in recruitment is the "e-recruitment". Also known as "online recruitment", it is the use of technology or the web based tools to assist the recruitment process. Many big and small organizations are using Internet as a source of recruitment. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV's in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements. Online recruitment facilitates just-in-time hiring. When an organization needs a candidate it can access the database of job portals, screen resumes and send a mass mail. It can also shortlist people based on skills, location, salary and availability and move on to the interview stage. The traditional boundaries that existed between print media owners, job boards, recruitment advertising agencies, recruitment consultancy and technology companies are breaking down. Resume databases have been increasing manifold and the availability of a database (number of candidates) is much higher than what manual recruitment modes can offer. Although e-recruitment caters to jobs at all levels, it is largely useful in exploring people at entry and mid-tier levels. As the base of candidates looking for these positions is very huge, the online recruitment process comes in handy for administering standard evaluation tests for screening and evaluation. For hiring senior professionals, online recruitment process does help in seeking the required skill sets and qualification, but the screening and evaluation is not done online. Despite the rapid growth in the use of e-recruitment methods and technologies in recent years, there has been little research looking at the trends and practices of e-recruitment followed by Indian organizations. This paper focuses on the practices and experiences of Indian employers, in relation to e-recruitment, and encompasses, in particular, the perspectives of Information Technology industries in India. By gaining an understanding of the advantages and challenges associated with the different approaches that are available and being used, a better understanding can be reached on how to optimize the use of erecruitment systems in India. The main aims of this research were to: * establish the overall trends in e-recruitment use and practice in India, particularly with reference to the IT industry * identify what e-recruitment methods are being used, and what the experiences are of organizations trying to implement e-recruitment * establish how organizations are evaluating their e-recruitment initiatives, and establish the level of success being experienced.

In order to establish the extent to which e-recruitment was being used amongst the IT companies in India, a survey was conducted to gather more in-depth information on the approaches implemented and the impact of introducing e-recruitment. The research is aimed at HR practitioners or others involved in implementing e-recruitment, and are likely to be of interest to practitioners new to the area, as well as those already experienced in using e-recruitment methods. In addition to highlighting the key trends in the current use of e-recruitment in India with special reference to IT industries, a discussion of likely future developments in the area is also provided. 1.2 Forms of Recruitment Forms of recruitment can be broadly categorized into two. One is centralized and the other isdecentralized. Centralized recruitment is in action when the organization is having a centralized power structure and the departments are not involved in decision making, it is only concentrated in one central department. In government Organizations it is visible, like in State Bank of India. Advantages may be Control of the administrative costs, standardization in the process, minimizes biased choices, experts are involved. Decentralized recruitment is having authority to each department to choose their staff. The companies who are geographically spread, or very big in size will find this form convenient. But the philosophy and Organization culture determines which to follow; like Bausch & Lomb have centralized recruitment form as well as G.E Opticals have the decentralized form. Cost benefit analysis will determine the source of recruitment. As the process starts by discovering the sources for required manpower, thus the search should be rigorous. Internal sources are many times over-ruled by the Organizations. One of the reason is the search is restricted within the company and limited to the suitable existing employees. External search can be done in various ways. Some of them are- employee referrals, campus recruitment, placement agencies, and advertisements. Advertisements are considered to be most effective and common part of recruitment process. Advertisements can take place through several means, like through newspaper, through magazines/journals using specifically job advertisement newspaper, through professional publication, placing advertisements in windows, through online. On line advertisements for recruitment is a minute part of e-recruitment. 1.3 e-recruitment Using internet prospective applicants could search for positions in which they were interested. Contact with employers directly is viable. Feasibility of email overruled the use of telephone, fax or mail and the companies started accepting application through email. Today Organizations have their own sites or job postings are given in the placement sites. Again the candidates can visit the sites, post resume, contact the company directly without any delay. All these are just one 'click' away. e-recruitment is a tool for many employers to search for job candidates and for applicants to look for job. Recent trend of recruitment is erecruitment or the internet recruitment or on-line recruitment, where the process of recruitment is automated. The automation began in 1980 but was systematized in 1990 with the release of Restrac's initial product. e-recruitment simply means the recruitment process through internet. Various methods can be used for it. 1.4 e- recruitment Methods Methods of e-recruitment are many, among those the important ones are: * Job boards: These are the places where the employers post jobs and search for candidates. Candidates become aware of the vacancies. One of the disadvantages is, it is

generic in nature. Special skill candidates to be searched by certain job boards. * Employer web sites: These sites can be of the company owned sites, or a site developed by various employers. For an example, Directemployers.com is the first cooperative, employer-owned e-recruiting consortium formed by Direct Employers Association. It is a non profit organization formed by the executives from leading U.S corporations. Press release by Recruiters Network (February 20, 2003) showed the site has 98 members approximately 45 percent of which are Fortune 500 companies. * Professional websites: These are for specific professions, skills and not general in nature. For an example, for HR jobs Human Resource Management sites to be visited like www.shrm.org. The professional associations will have their own site or society. Online recruitment techniques * Giving a detailed job description and job specifications in the job postings to attract candidates with the right skill sets and qualifications at the first stage. * E-recruitment should be incorporated into the overall recruitment strategy of the organization. * A well defined and structured applicant tracking system should be integrated and the system should have a back-end support. * Along with the back-office support a comprehensive website to receive and process job applications (through direct or online advertising) should be developed. 1.5 Trends in e-recruitment Human resource management or managing "people" includes several activities. Today acquiring and retaining the employees is the biggest challenge. Thus staffing is a vital activity. Staffing facilitates the supply of employees. These employees are needed to fulfill the Organizational goals and objectives by their effective and efficient performance. And recruitment is a logical step in this staffing process. Recruitment is the process of creating huge pool of potential candidates. It attracts the prospective employees and stimulates them to apply for job. The function of it mainly concentrates on two aspects. First is discovering the sources of manpower to match the job description and job specification. Another is to pull the application of potential candidates to make the selection process successful. The process is generally carried forward by the recruiters. He can be the member or staff of the Organization or can be the employment agency like MAFOI in India. Recruitment before nineteenth century was based on the apprenticeship system. Apprentices were not the employees of the Organization, but after completion of apprenticeship they were absorbed in the company. Compared to apprentices the skilled and qualified candidates were more desirable. Thus the lack of efficient apprenticeship gave birth to the trend of recruitment process in the middle of nineteenth century. The recruitment landscape both internationally and in India has changed significantly in recent years with the internet penetration in India is increasing and showing tremendous potential. Online recruitment has now become a significant part of the recruitment strategy for a wide range of organizations world-wide, in addition to becoming an increasingly popular method for job-seekers in searching and applying for jobs.Conventional recruitment has always been a time consuming and paper intensive process. They also tend to stress out your monitory resources. The Internet can be used to facilitate any or all of the main processes of: attraction (advertising/recruiting), selection and assessment (screening and testing), and on-boarding

(offering and closing, induction). In addition, e-recruitment can be used, in parallel, to support applicant tracking and workflow systems. 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. eRecruitment 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 o f the e-recruiting market landscape. 2.1 e-recruitment in IT Industry in India The success of Indian firms and professionals in the information technology arena during the last decade has been spectacular. Entrepreneurs, bureaucrats and politicians are now advancing views about how India can ride the IT bandwagon and leapfrog into a knowledgebased economy. The development of IT in India has by and large, focused on developing and delivering IT services to support the more advanced economies of the world (E.g.: U.S.A, Japan, England, Germany). Even if the most optimistic projections of the IT-related job creation (including job associated with IT outsourcing, call centers and design centers) in the next decade come true, this industry will employ at the most a couple of million people. Therefore, one industry, which has been 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 by ways 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. The findings of the research show that online recruitment is an important part of the recruitment strategy for a number of the IT companies surveyed. A significant proportion the IT companies are using the Internet to facilitate the recruitment process in some way, but many are using e-enabled processes alongside traditional methods rather than relying solely on e-recruitment. The most significant progress has been made in using online methodologies at the front end of the recruitment process, in terms of advertising posts and receiving application forms. Increasing numbers of IT companies are also using Internet-based technology to track applications and communicate with and manage relationships with applicants.

The use of online tools for screening and assessing candidates is less prevalent among some companies, but there is evidence that this practice is set to grow in the future, and that this facility will become increasingly valuable to organizations as greater use of online advertising attracts larger numbers of applications. Table 1, below, summarizes how the survey respondents currently use or plan to use the internet for a range of recruitment activities. Table 1: Activities/processes undertaken online (n=11) Does your organization Describe and advertise vacancies online Post jobs on free internet job boards Have dedicated recruitment website/ page Post jobs on recruitment agency sites Respond to requests for further info online Track sources of online applications Build database for future vacancies Applications completed online Offer online self selection exercises Initial screen on qualifications online Initial screen competencies online Use personality tests at initial screen Use online test at assessment stage Invite candidates to interview online Notify non-selected candidates online Make job offers online Give feedback to non-selected candidates online Report on the diversity profile of candidates Seek candidate feedback online Use 91% 55% 91% 64% 91% 82% 55% 73% 18% 64% 55% 0% 27% 18% 64% 27% 36% 36% 18% Plan to implement 0% 9% 9% 0% 9% 9% 45% 0% 18% 9% 18% 27% 27% 27% 9% 18% 18% 9% 18% No plans 9% 36% 0% 36% 0% 9% 0% 27% 64% 27% 27% 73% 45% 55% 27% 55% 45% 55% 64%

2.2 Drivers and Benefits for Introducing e-recruitment IT companies in India that have implemented e-recruitment methodologies have done so for a number of reasons, most notably: * * * * * * to reduce costs increase the efficiency of the process reduce time to hire transparency Internal mobility provide access to a larger and more diverse candidate pool.

The most notable benefits reported by organizations having introduced e-recruitment are the cost savings, which have mainly been due to reduced advertising costs, a reduction in the resources required to process applications, and a reduction in recruitment agency costs.

Other substantial benefits include more efficient management of communication with candidates, and the ability to easily report on key performance metrics as a result of Internet-based tracking systems. On the basis of the survey we can therefore say that, manual recruitment process has its own limitation in terms of time, cost, technology, wider platform and ease of applications. The costs involved in manual recruiting process include advertising costs, the cost of hiring a placement agency, administrative expenses and the cost of time. Recruiting online would ideally be more focused, fast paced, effective and gives higher ROI (Return on Investment) on the administrative expense. By breaking geographical boundaries, online recruitment gives maximum reach. On the contrary, to get similar benefits through manual recruitment process one has devote more resources. Thus, online recruitment offers candidates the advantage of knowing the job profile, responsibilities expected and the nature of the organization, which are well defined at the outset. Regular communication with potential employees in the manual recruitment process is almost nil, whereas communication with job seekers and within the team is seamless in online recruitment. "It takes a while for the manual recruitment process to become operational and yield results whereas in e-recruitment, one can look at the first response to a job advertisement in just a few minutes. An illustrative figure to highlight the operative mechanism of e-recruitment

2.3 Challenges associated with e-recruitment E-recruitment is no passing fad, but it is no panacea either. It has a number of disadvantages, particularly in the Indian context. In spite of its wider accessibility and speedy delivery, applications that match your requirements are often hard to find. Since applying online is so easy, there is a glut of unsuitable candidates who apply for every post. As one recruiter puts it, `recruiting online offers cost and time-savings but requires more screening'. Another drawback of e-recruitment is the disclosure of information. The candidates profile and company details are available to public. The applicants do not want their employer to

know that they are looking for a change. Phone number, address information has lead to many security problems. Again the companies do not want their competitors always to know the current scenario. A traditional concern with e-recruitment is in relation to its acceptability to a broad range of applicants. This appears to be becoming much less of an issue, as more and more applicants are using the Internet as part of their job search process. In fact, there is significant evidence to suggest that the Internet is the preferred application method for a large majority of candidates. Nevertheless, many organizations involved in this research showed concern in relation to candidate access and perceptions, and are designing their online processes to be as candidate-friendly as possible, in addition to accepting applications, in some cases, by other methods. In spite of these drawbacks, the advantages of speed, flexibility and a user-friendly character have made e-recruitment a practical and popular hiring option. 2.4 The future of e-recruitment The research clearly shows that online recruitment has established itself as a significant part of the recruitment strategy and practices of a wide range of IT companies operating in India. In an increasingly competitive recruitment market, it is critical that organizations maximize their use of the Internet in the recruitment process, or risk losing out on quality applicants as the Internet becomes the standard job search and application medium for job seekers. The research identifies a growth in the use of online systems to track and manage candidate applications, especially for larger organizations, where there will be significant benefits in terms of efficiency, cost, and capability to monitor and report on recruitment activities. It also identifies significant potential for relevant and objective online screening and assessment tools to add value in terms of matching the competencies and skills of the job applicant with the requirements of the organization in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The findings of the research suggest that organizations need to examine and challenge their existing processes and strategy in an effort to identify the barriers to attracting and recruiting the best talent in a timely, customer-friendly and resource-efficient manner. The paper highlights a number of key areas that organizations should consider to ensure successful implementation of an e-recruitment strategy, including: * * * * building knowledge and understanding of the technology options available ensuring candidate- and user-friendly interfaces on their systems understanding Internet access and proficiency levels amongst target groups the importance of integrating online and offline systems.

This paper provides a new benchmark on practices and trends in e-recruitment in the IT companies in Indian market. It provides organizations with an indication of how advanced/developed their e-recruitment practices are in relation to other organizations, and will help identify where their e-recruitment strategy needs to be further developed to enable them to attract and recruit the best candidates in the most efficient manner possible.

Conclusion Using the power of Internet to achieve HR goals not only increases productivity but also saves time and money to give 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. In summary, people will continue to be one of the most valuable assets for every organization. The benefits mentioned in the above study will improve the accuracy of hiring and reduce hiring lead- time and cost, thereby increasing the overall competitiveness of the organization in today's marketplace. Hence , it can be said that e-recruitment is the "Evolving face of recruitment." References * Human resource management, Dessler Gary, 9th edition, Pearson Education, 2005 * Armstrong Michael, HRM practice, Kogan , 9th edition * Galanaki, E 2002, "The Decision to Recruit Online: A Descriptive Study", Career Development International, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 243-251. * E-Recruitment, the right way, The Hindu, Wed Mar09, 2005. * For IT firms, e-recruitment can save time, money 12 Aug 2001, Times of India * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480890233.cms * http://www.minfosystems.com/erecruitment-solution-india/recruitement-softwareindia.htm * E-recruitment is here to stay http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/7126.asp * "E-Recruitment: The Changing Face of Recruitment Landscape" by N R Aravamudhan, Source ICFAI University Press * "Recruiting @ Web 2.0" by Amybeth Hale, source : www.ere.net * "Job Search Engines A One Stop Shop?" source: www.onrec.com * "2005 Online Screening and Assessment Survey Results" by Charles A Handler and Mark C Healy, source www.ere.net

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