Blog Eleven: Recruitment

 Recruitment

Recruitment is a very long and complex process, involving advertising a vacancy, sometimes using a number of different mediums, including online recruitment agencies, internally within the company, and in local news papers. Once the position has been advertised successfully, the company must determine whom they wish to interview by eliminating candidates that do not fit what they are looking for.

In today’s society, the Internet is beginning to replace traditional methods, from weekly food shopping online, to searching for jobs. There are many different recruitment websites available for people to use online, including Monster. This market is becoming increasingly competitive and therefore it is important that the websites are appealing, easy to use and useful.

Monster has many different approaches to begin searching for a job, including browsing by industry, location or company. There is also a very visible search bar in which you can type in a key word, for example ‘accountancy’ and the website will then display all positions with the key word. You can then narrow the results down by selecting more information, for example choosing full-time would now only display any full time vacancies. This makes browsing for a job very effective and useful because there is no time wasting looking at vacancies that will not suit you.

If you are unable to find any jobs that suit you, there is an option to upload your CV, and Monster will then continue the search for you and will inform you if a position that matches what you are looking for becomes available.

These kinds of online recruitment sites are also full of advice, and tools that can help an individual secure a job.

Whilst browsing different job sites, I came across a number of different positions offers posted onto the recruitment site by the company British Gas, these positions range from financial and admin positions to hands – on positions. This campaign has made me realise that well established companies have seen the potential within these online companies and are using them to help recruit new people into their company. It also interested me due to the vast range and professionalism of the jobs being advertised, for example highly paid finance jobs being advertised on these recruitment sites.

After visiting SHL Direct, online, and taking some of their aptitude tests, including numerical, situational judgement and general personality tests I developed a clear understanding of how relevant these kinds of tests are and could potentially be in the recruitment process.

There are many different versions and types of these tests currently used within many different industries during recruitment. Some of these tests could successfully be used to determine who may be a good candidate for the position, however the tests used should be relevant to the job. For example numerical tests should only be used when recruiting for a position that will involve dealing with numbers regularly otherwise the test would be unfair and useless.

When the tests are created uniquely by the company who are using the tests, it is beneficial to the company and the potential employee; the company will have their specific questions and requirements answered, and the potential employee will gain a better understanding of the company and what they are about before the interview.

References: 

SHL Group Limited. (2011) Practice Tests [online.] Available from: http://www.shldirect.com/practice_tests.html {assessed: April 2012}

Monster (2012) Find Jobs [online.] Available from: http://www.monster.co.uk/ {assessed: April 2012}