Recruitment online: methods and benefits

Online recruitment processes are nothing new. Human Resources departments have established the use of the Internet for candidate search and selection for almost two decades. 

Although until recently, it was not an industry standard.

Until 2020, HR teams mainly used online recruiting for searching, interviewing, and training candidates who wanted to move geographically or who, for personal reasons, could not travel to where the job interviews for a specific position would be conducted.

In 2020, with the advent of the pandemic, this all changed, and today there is no selection process that is not conducted remotely, at least in its early stages. 

In this post, we will break down how recruitment online is made and its primary methods and benefits. 

What is online recruitment?

Online recruitment is the initial stage of a personnel selection process, where candidates interested in working in the organization are attracted. Then online personnel selection techniques are applied to hire the ideal candidate finally.

These techniques are based on the use of new technologies such as social networks, employment portals, or specialized platforms and websites, among other resources.

Recruitment and personnel selection are not the same thing.

There is often a logical confusion between the concepts of recruitment and personnel selection, which, although they are not the same thing, are complementary, also in their online aspects. 

In recruitment, there is a definition of the professional profile that the company is looking for, diffusion, evaluation of potential candidates, and recruitment.

Techniques and tactics are used to choose the best talent for your company. A choice is made, and a decision is made, ending the hiring process. 

Online recruitment methods: knowing the talent acquisition channels

Online recruitment methods are a set of processes to attract potentially qualified candidates capable of occupying a position.

Job descriptions are an essential tool for recruiters since they provide basic information on the functions and responsibilities of each vacancy.

---

---

In online recruitment, candidates search and are also sought by companies through various interactive tools available on the Internet, such as social networks, Twitter, or forums.

What online recruitment methods are available? We can distinguish between internal and external.

Internal recruitment

Recruitment is internal when a company tries to fill a vacancy by rearranging its employees, who can be removed (vertical movement), transferred (horizontal movement), or promoted (diagonal movement). 

Thus, a company can apply internal recruitment by: 

• Transfer of personnel.
• Promotion of personnel.
• Staff training course.
• Staff career plans. 

Online External recruitment

Online External recruitment works with candidates coming from outside. When there is a vacancy, the organization tries to fill it with external candidates attracted through recruitment techniques. 

External recruitment online involves finding candidates who are already employed or looking for employment in other organizations. This can be done through online recruitment tools such as:

1) Online job searching websites:

Specialized sites have high-volume databases of candidates. Many companies use them to filter their selection processes by categories and profiles with meager recruitment costs. The sites can be generic or specialized.

2) Corporate website:

Although their influence is no longer the same as in the past decade, company websites are still a necessary element for personnel selection. 

Many companies design specific sections on their website to collect candidate profiles or professional resumes. Generally, this process is carried out through a form that asks for the applicant’s essential data.

3) Social networks:

It is not only about posting job offers on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or other generic ones. Companies must frame this action in a communication plan that guarantees the proposed objectives. Besides, there is a network focused exclusively on spreading professional resumes, Linkedin, to which many companies resort when starting their online recruitment process.

4) Public employment services (online):

In many countries, public employment services have started to use digital tools to optimize their work. In this way, the system allows the linking of a candidate’s data with the offers that are published. The idea of the service is to bring interested parties together and meet both needs.

What are the benefits of online recruitment?

“What are the advantages of online recruitment?” is a commonly asked question by HR professionals. 

We can affirm that this type of recruitment represents a tremendous technological step forward in the selection process. Perhaps some people nostalgic for traditional methods may say that the warmth of personal relationships is lost, but, in reality, it is something that remains very present and alive in its online version.

Its advantages include the following: 

Saves money: The costs of contacting a specialized website are lower than contracting an ad in the newspaper.

Saves time: Selection times are reduced. Also, the new recruitment online software greatly facilitates the work of HR specialists by making certification programs, recruiter training or application tracking tools available to them.

Filtering: Companies no longer have to discard hundreds of candidates who do not meet the requirements. Technological tools make it possible to narrow the search process and make it more effective.

In your recruitment process, the future is also online

Strategies, methods, and platforms for personnel selection through digital media abound nowadays. The procedure has stopped using the typical physical advertisements and other traditional channels to give way to technological tools that make everything more agile.

But your company’s applications must receive a trustworthy and quality follow-up. 

Would you like to add an extra layer of process security to your online recruitment process? At SMOWL we have just what you need: proctoring software that will guarantee the identity of your candidates at all times.

Contact us, try SMOWL and turn your recruitment process into something much more reliable.

---

---