Online Recruitment Service

Online Recruitment Service

This paper will assess Monster.ca (an online recruitment service), evaluate the pros and cons of dealing with virtual rйsumй's, identify the advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment, and develop a criterion that an organization can use for selecting an online recruitment service.

The internet offers a direct interface between organizations and it is a marketplace for a variety of services, which we use in our offices and in our homes. Online recruitment service provides a marketplace for candidates to market their skills and for employers to market their job vacancies.

Monster.ca is part of the worldwide Monster network, the Number one career portal in the world, serving job seekers and employers in 22 countries ("About monster.ca", 2004). Monster.ca has an average of 25,000 job postings available at any given time (Dessler et al., 2004, p.143). Monster.ca is easy to use, convenient, fast and user friendly online recruitment service. It allows companies to post job vacancies and the job seekers to search through the job postings ("About monster.ca", 2004).

Within a few clicks of my mouse I was able to search through jobs and get some information on employment laws in British Columbia ("About monster.ca", 2004). This site is very easy to navigate. The job seekers can search jobs, post their rйsumйs, and get career advice and employer's can post, track and screen applications ("About Monster.ca", 2004).

The organizations and job seekers using online recruitment websites have to be careful of the pros and cons of virtual rйsumйs. Pros of virtual rйsumй's are: this method of sending out rйsumй is both efficient and cost effective. Job seekers can send out hundreds of rйsumйs to employees in a fraction of time. For employers, it gives them the opportunity to choose from a larger number of applicants. Virtual rйsumйs can be managed efficiently as there are no actual rйsumйs to be filed, they can be stored and managed electronically.

Cons of virtual rйsumй's are: Job seekers do not always send out quality rйsumйs. Virtual rйsumйs may be out of date. Virtual rйsumйs may not always speak the truth; it is easier for job seekers to lie on a virtual rйsumйs. Communication skills can not be determined through a virtual rйsumй.

Advantages of Online recruitment:

Cost Effective: For employers, online recruitment significantly increases hiring speed, which in turn reduces costs of vacant positions and cost of advertising. For job seekers, online recruitment saves money as most websites offer free basic services. They do not charge anything for posting a rйsumй or putting up a profile on their site.

More Efficient: Since there is no human intervention, the information on job search websites is well categorized. The job seeker's qualifications, experiences and background is compiled and matched against suitable job postings. This process takes less time for an employer to find an employee and vice versa ("About monster.ca", 2004).

Flexible: Online recruitment can encourage job seekers to do part of the selection process for the prospective employer. Employers can offer various skill testing questions to their potential applicants, this makes the website useful for weeding out unsuitable applicants before the recruitment process even begins. Online recruitment is flexible as there are no time constraints for employers or job seekers (Harvey, 2004).

Couple other advantages of online recruitment are, broader exposure to job seekers and speed of recruitment.

Disadvantages