Recruitment

The aims of recruitment are to obtain a pool of suitable candidates for vacant job posts. Employers want to be seen to use a fair process, and they need to ensure that all recruitment activities contribute to company goals in order to provide a desirable company image. Recruitment activities must be efficient, and they must be conducted in a cost effective manner. Common places that people usually find out about available jobs are the internet, shop windows, job centres, local newspapers and of course word of mouth.

After looking at the website www.monster.co.uk, I noticed straight way that the layout is very attractive. With a bold purple colour that stands out and a search section right in front of you, the layout is extremely appealing. This website also has good accessibility. On the www.prospects.ac.uk website for example, you have to sign up in order to find out the information you want to. This is not the case with the www.monster.co.uk website. There is also a horrid green colour that pops out at you, with the featured jobs from that site on it. Although the colour is disgusting it still stands out and makes it easy to read. I have noticed that this website is also very easy to use and it is not boring. It is easily comprehensible and is set out well. This is unlike the www.fish4jobs.co.uk website, which looks mundane and the text is not exactly easy on the eyes. The background is boring and the font size is small. It is an unattractive website, especially in comparison with www.monster.co.uk. If you click on one of the links on www.monster.co.uk, it comes up straight away and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Everything is easily accessible and you can even sign up and become a member. This website is layed out in a way that makes it easy for absolutely anybody to use. All the headings are in bold and they stand out even more due to the colouring of the page. All in all, I consider www.monster.co.uk to be a very well made website.

Online recruitment is the use of technology to attract and recruit candidates. The advantages of online recruitment are:

1. Online recruitment is quick. It does not take very long to put a job on your website, and saves time when recruiting possible candidates as they don’t have to come into your store to pick up an application.
2. Online recruitment is very easy (posting a job on you own site is not exactly complex). It also enables possible candidates to look for jobs from the comfort of their house, without having to travel all the way to the shop.
3. Online recruitment is cheaper (if you put a job vacancy on your own website it costs nothing!).
4. It broadens the selection pool. Online recruitment is now a standard part of most people's job hunting no matter what level or age.
5. It gives you a better chance of success. This is because a job advert that you place on you website, is going to be up there 24/7 for as long as you want it to. This means that people who are looking for a job can search at any time and will find it there for as long as you are still recruiting.

The disadvantages of online recruitment are:

1. Online recruitment provides too many candidates. Too many candidates may not sound bad, but it provides the HR department with too many bad candidates that are inappropriate.
2. Online recruitment does not always work. There will always be difficult-to-fill jobs that can only be filled by recruitment consultants, headhunters or in other ways.
3. Online recruitment does not consider specialized jobs. Some jobs require specific skills that an employer might not be able to reach qualified candidates through Internet job posts.
4. There is less face to face contact in online recruitment. The employer may not get a good read on the candidate's personality or attitude without one-on-one interaction.
5. Online recruitment can sometimes cause candidate dissatisfaction. Some candidates prefer more traditional methods of job hunting, such as networking or using employment agencies.


http://www.ehow.com/about_5384653_disadvantages-online-recruitment.html
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/onlnrcruit/onlrec.htm
http://www.whatjobsite.com/Online%20Recruitment:%20Advantages%20and%20disadvantages.htm

Interesting recruitment campaign:

Last year, when I was clothes shopping in London with a friend, we were both randomly approached by two people, and a guy and a girl. The first thing we noticed was that they were both very attractive. They came up to us and asked us how we were, how our day was, and whether we had ever heard of the brand name Abercrombie. Of course we both had and instantly I was interested. They then went on to compliment us telling us that we were very “attractive guys” and asked us if we would ever consider working for Abercrombie. We both said yes straight away and I had to put my details down on a form they carried with them. They then scheduled interviews for us and let us get on with our shopping. I considered this to be a very flattering and effective way of recruiting people. By getting a guy and a girl (that were obviously very attractive) to conduct face to face recruiting, Abercrombie ensured that they would appeal to all audiences. It was effective, because the way their employees approached us was pleasant and friendly. They did not harass us, and it was much better than having to look a recruitment advert in a newspaper for example. By situating themselves in a highly popular shopping environment they were ensuring that there were plenty of potential candidates. By recruiting face to face, Abercrombie were ensuring that they were already using shortlisting as a way of picking out specific candidates to try and recruit. It was also an effective way of recruiting, simply because the way they approached us was interesting, and we wanted to find out more.

The psychological contract:

The psychological contract is the “unspoken” contract between a manager and an employee. It is this contract which is key to the performance of every individual employee. An example would be, if a manager promises to let an employee leave early if that employee finishes the work he is doing, and then the manager goes back on his word the employee will instantly feel resentment even though his manager has not actually done anything wrong. The employee has a set time that he has to work until, so the manager has not broken any rules; however the manager has broken the “psychological contract”. This could result in the employee becoming demotivated and underperforming. The opposite of this is also true. If the psychological contract is positive, then it could result in the employee becoming more motivated to work harder, and he/she will perform better. A few examples of the types of commitments that go into the psychological contract are things like being honest, treating each other respectfully, working hard, providing interesting rather than mundane tasks and flexibility. These obligations are informal and imprecise. It won’t always be possible to avoid breach of the psychological contract but employees are more likely to be forgiving where managers explain what has gone wrong and how they intend to deal with it. By keeping to the psychological contract, managers can help maintain employee commitment and motivation.
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm