Looking for a job? Online recruitment portals could be a good place to start.

A growing number of people are turning to the Internet to search for a job. This is in tandem with the popularity of online job boards and social networking sites, and the rise of technology-driven recruiting systems.

Employers are also becoming much more skilled at managing online recruitment.

According to Eric Sito, general manager of online recruitment company JobStreet (www.jobstreet.com.my), online is the way to go as far as job hunting is concerned.

“The online mode naturally reaches a wider audience. Besides that, online recruitment is able to notify and alert job seekers directly, and it is also personal and confidential.

“Additionally, it is a convenient job-seeking process.”

Online recruitment has also evolved to suit the needs and demands of job seekers and employers alike.

By improving the job searching and job matching ability extensively, companies like JobStreet have improved on data capture for effective job hunting.

“We have modified our resume structure so that employers can hire the right person via better screening information. We have also enabled upward matching so that job seekers can find better jobs or promotions,” Sito pointed out.

Besides that, SMS job alerts are available so job seekers can be alerted about any opportunities.

Over the past few years, JobStreet’s job listings have been growing at 30 to 40 per cent annually.

“We see this trend continuing. The growth in jobs is due to a higher adoption for online recruitment among small and medium industries. As a result, the choices available to job seekers will continue to grow,” Sito said.

The trend going forward is to push employers to further innovate and improve their marketability.

“We expect improved compensation and benefit plans for talent. Employee programmes like succession planning, talent management and people development will continue to become even more important,” Sito said.

“In the long run, job recruitment will not only be a ‘replacement’ process, but a business growth and development process, too. Online recruitment will be positioned to assist companies in branding themselves

beyond the current advertising model.”

JobStreet is now already building and managing the corporate recruitment Web sites of over 150 blue-chip multinational companies worldwide. These sites are starters of a new trend – changing from the push method of today to the pull method of tomorrow.



Job hunting made simpler with Web portals

FOR job seekers, online job portals have made their task easier, more focused and cost-effective.

Content writer Abdul Halim Jusoh said the online medium has provided him with the type of jobs he is eyeing for without having to spend much on buying newspapers or registering at recruitment agencies.

“The good thing about online recruitment portals is that they can cater jobs which are of your interest, qualification and experience. This helps you narrow down your job search and eliminate those that are not relevant to you. You can post your resume online, place your photo and update it regularly, making it accessible to all potential job recruiters. Theoretically speaking, this means you have a better chance of securing job interviews, etc.”

But Abdul Halim would like to see more established companies use online job portals to advertise their openings.

“Good online recruitment portals are those that are able to attract not only small organisations, but also big companies such as multinational companies, MSC-status firms or any other reputed conglomerates such as Sime Darby and Petronas. This is one area which companies like JobStreet and JobsDB need to improve on,” he said, adding that most of the job vacancy e-mail alerts that he has received are those from small firms or those that he has never heard of.

Ezad Ezanee, a senior technical consultant of an IT company, said it is encouraging to see more multinational companies adopting online job search portals to reach out to potential employees. “If online job search companies can get more credible companies onboard, I bet more serious job seekers will jump onto the bandwagon.”

Ultimately, in looking for jobs, Ezad said job seekers should not limit themselves to just online job search. “It is one of the many tools that they can use to find suitable jobs. They should also use other methods such as job placement services or through personal friends or business contacts.”



What employers say

*Intel Malaysia. Within its ongoing tenure in Malaysia, Intel has had some successes with online recruitment, either through the company’s job board (http://www.intel.com/jobs/) or postings on external job boards.

The online recruitment process, according to Intel Malaysia’s human resource director Michael Meston, has enabled Intel to reach out to a wide spectrum of talent across geographies.

“It is a convenient, efficient and cost-effective tool for Intel’s recruitment process, especially with the new generation of job seekers who are well-connected to Internet technology,” he said.

Over the past 35 years, Intel Malaysia has grown its capabilities to include assembly and test, design and development, and local and global support services.

“The use of online recruitment can be further expanded to a wider spectrum of audience with more capabilities such as Wi-Fi or WiMax, broadband and ease of access to the Internet. Speed and stability of the network are key in encouraging candidates to deposit their resumes in job boards,” Meston said.

But he thinks online recruitment should not be a standalone tool. It needs to run concurrently with a range of marketing strategies as a total outreach for it to be effective.

“Employers will also need to understand their target audience and recognise that online recruitment will not work effectively for niche positions or passive candidates,” Meston pointed out.



*Dell Malaysia. In reaching out to the right employees, Dell has adopted a two-pronged online recruitment approach: one is through its portal at www.dell.com.my/careers/ while the other is through online job portal companies.

“At Dell, we offer a wide spectrum of job scopes for full-time positions to undergraduates as well as postgraduates and MBA holders,” said the company’s human resource generalist, site lead Cyberjaya Eh Wen Nen Di.

“Besides having our own portal, we work with external job boards such as JobStreet and JobsDB to maximise our reach to the top talent in the market.”

Using the online recruitment approach has proven effective for Dell. It has experienced significant success with 50 per cent of the employees it hires deriving from online applications.

“Online recruitment is an effective medium to connect with the multitude of talent available in the market, particularly the digital-savvy younger generation,” Eh said.

“E-recruitment is not made to replace traditional methods, but to complement them and be integrated into the company’s recruitment programme. It should never replace personal contact.”

One aspect that could be improved in online recruitment is ensuring that candidates are fully aware of the job scope that they are applying for. – By Rozana Sani