The phenomenal growth of the Indian
economy in the recent past has intensified the war for
talent, putting pressure on the recruitment processes.
However, Internet is bringing radical changes in the recruitment
arena, as companies are expanding their use of the Internet
as a recruitment tool to attract competent people, and
thus, have competitive advantage. In order to reap the
maximum possible benefits of e-recruitment, employers must
know how the job seekers perceive online recruitment processes,
and what their information needs are. The present study
examines the perceptions of job seekers about e-recruitments
and their behavior towards them. It has been found that
monster.com and naukri.com are the two most popular job
boards, and chat groups are the leading source of information
about job openings. A large percentage of the respondents
frequently visit job boards or corporate websites, use
certain facilities offered by them, and check the status
of their applications submitted online. A majority of our
survey participants hold positive perceptions about various
aspects of web recruitment. However, they are more inclined
towards using corporate websites, rather than job boards,
for sending job applications.
The Indian economy has become the 12th
largest economy in the world with a GDP of $1.0 tn, the
third largest in Asia, after Japan and China. It is also
the second fastest growing economy in the world with a
GDP growth rate of 9.4% for the fiscal year 2006-07, from
9% in 2005-06. This phenomenal growth made India Inc. to
continue with its hiring spree. 1.47 lakh vacancies were
listed on various job portals and in newspapers during
April-July, 2006-07. IT jobs constituted nearly 24% of
the listed jobs, followed by financial services with 14.5%,
and sales and business development with 13.5% (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com).
Also, the sustained economic growth since 2003-04 has tightened
the labor market, and employers across industries are facing
a shortage of talented workforce and finding it difficult
to attract and retain the best talent. It has intensified
the war for talent, thus putting a lot of pressure on the
recruitment processes of the companies.
Employee referrals, campus placements,
employment advertisements in print media, etc. have been
the common ways of recruiting employees. However, online
recruitment is becoming very popular for recruiting employees
these days. For instance, a survey of 50 talent acquisition
and management practitioners working in the US, who represent
leading companies across several industries, reveals that
55% of the new hires were sourced from the Internet in
2006. 20.6% of the total hires were through organizations'
websites, 19.9% through general job boards, 8% through
niche job boards, 2.2% through social networking technology,
4.3% through commercial resume databases, 4.5% through
newspapers, 21.3% through employee referrals, 7.2% through
search firms, 4.4% through campus recruitments, 2.4% through
career fairs, and 5% through other sources (www.directemployer.org). |
