Double-Edged of the recruiter’s the most significant tool: Online Platforms
The digital age, as we know, has changed the recruiters’ perspectives, as it allows them to reach the potential employees farther, than ever before. Thus, traditional methods as walk-in or fill-out paperwork are dying, since the computers and smartphones have become commonplace since the 2000s.
That led to companies employed the new methods for searching potential employees: Online platforms (Indeed, Linkedin, Glassdoor, etc.). Any new recruiters or even experienced recruiters should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to using online platforms.
There are several advantages of using online platforms:
Cost-Effective — It depends on subscribes as specific features could be paid for exposures and tailored it to the preferred / target audience. That would lead to money-saving, yet it allows potential employees to fit for vacancies to reach the company.
Immediate/flexible — the advantages of digital formats is it’s real-time and flexible. Recruiters can do changing job postings without delaying time, editing the assignments, and letting other candidates know if the right person has already hired for the job. Thus, this method would prevent not just overwhelming applications from reaching human resources, but sifting through a large pool of candidates.
Diversity — increasing the chances of attracting different candidates with specific skills/temperament in a larger audience as a huge potential pool of candidates would exposure to your postings. Plus, it would help to reduce early turnovers by placing satisfied employees in vacancies.
Reducing Bias Behaviors — this would prevent possible discrimination as most of the recruitment processes done online. Thus, this action would be reducing the chances of missing out best-fit candidates.
Saving-Time — as the old saying: “Time is Money”; the recruiters can expedite the hiring process with candidates faster, as they can shortlisted candidates in a day than traditional methods allow.
Awareness — As long as internet-enabled devices and connections are available, the job postings would be open to candidates. It allows interviewers to assess them via the candidates’ resume, and sometimes contact them through IM or phone.
However, there are downsides of online platforms, which recruiters should aware of:
A lot of unqualified applications — Large pools of candidates come with a downside as unqualified candidates would mix in since it’s easy to apply for jobs online. This issue could potential diluting the quality of the talent pool.
Distances — It depends on distances between employees and their workplace. The ERE study found that even best-fit candidates would not apply for job postings if they are 30–45 mins commute, as they would quitting by more than 92%.
Lack of Human Elements — some candidates prefer human contact, and lack of social elements may turn off some candidates. Thus, the best opportunities could be lost before even connections established. Plus, it led to lacking the ensure on candidates’ ethics and appearances to fit the culture.
Costs — The costs can be spiral easily if the right conditions didn’t fill. For example, the right candidate doesn’t hire in a short time and have to pay subscription fees or expenses to keep posting the vacancies.
Technologies — the two of the drawbacks for shifting to the digital system: online access requires a stable internet connection and the possibility of data-stealing. First, a stable internet connection is dependent on locations, as a poor internet connection would prevent you from editing or posting job positions.
Secondary, data-stealing is one of the most significant risks when it comes to a digital system. The system is only useful as long as data security is intact and fully functional. If hacked, then it would be very costly to repair the disaster situation in terms of expenses and reputation.
Informal — For some companies, the image is necessary. When the job postings have posted on social media, the misunderstood image of their company will be projecting toward candidates. Plus, that could lure wrong candidates for the job positions.
Potentially seen as allegations of discrimination — it depends on the designed website or technical difficulties. This issue can cause problems as wrongly use of CV keyword searches can create implicated biases, thus damage the brand.
Former employees’ bias — some disgruntled former employees could post fraudulent information on board reviews on the employers. That could damage the talent pools and employers’ reputation in the short and long run.
Hopefully, this knowledge would help you to be more aware when it comes to using online platforms, and find success with your employees/candidates for your vacancies.
Sources/Credited to:
- Phillpott, Sion. “The Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Recruitment.” CareerAddict, 14 Jun 2019, https://www.careeraddict.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-recruitment Accessed 1 Oct 2019
- Blakely-Gray, Rachel. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Recruitment.” Top Echelon, 29 Mar 2017, https://www.topechelon.com/blog/advantages-disadvantages-online-recruitment-methods/ Accessed 1 Oct 2019
- Sullivan, John. “You Might Be Surprised How Much Commute Issues Hurt Hiring and Retention.” ERE, 20 April 2015 https://www.ere.net/you-might-be-surprised-how-much-commute-issues-hurt-hiring-and-retention/ Accessed 1 Oct 2019
- “different recruitment methods: advantages & disadvantages.” Randstad, 25 April 2019, https://www.randstad.co.uk/workforce360/archives/different-recruitment-methods-advantages-disadvantages_1453/
- Manalo, Shiela. “Pros and Cons of Online Recruitment in the Digital Age.” Medium, 1 Jun 2018, JC Looking Glass, https://medium.com/the-looking-glass/pros-and-cons-of-online-recruitment-in-the-digital-age-4a899b0e3299 Accessed 1 Oct 2019
