E-Recruitment Strategies and Security in Human Resources Management

Introduction

The use of technology and computer-aided assistance in the corporate world has fulfilled many of the needs of this sector. Human resources management has increasingly adopted computers and information technology to assist in performing its role within organizations seeking to maintain or promote competitive advantage within any given industry or market. The purpose of this essay is to explore and discuss several key issues dealing with Human Resources Management (HRM) and this subject's application of knowledge toward administering proper behaviors and organizational rules.

This essay will first discuss how managers can use online recruiting to perform their jobs at a higher level and support the company mission. The essay will then investigate four strategies to mitigate the unintended consequences associated with e-recruitment. To help explain the rationale behind these ideas, the essay will next propose an approach that seeks to meet the psychological contracts of employers. Specific website details will also be mentioned to help contextualize the arguments. Before concluding, this essay will propose security controls to protect the privacy and information inherent in any e-recruitment plan.

Effective Strategies and E-Recruitment

Any effective human resources management initiative must be thoroughly aligned with the larger organizational goals set out by leadership and executives that create such strategies. HRM is an essential component of how this strategy plays out, and when used in its most effective manner, it can provide recruiting methods that reduce organizational costs and produce a time-efficient hiring model that can be implemented.

To accomplish this objective, human resource professionals need to streamline their activities to reflect their own branch or divisional goals. The human resources department of any organization must be sufficiently trained to identify these methods, whether through software assistance or not. The hiring process is perhaps the single most important function an HR department performs for the larger organization. While other tasks are important, the initiation of a new hire is a very significant and transformative event for both the person being hired and the company itself. Jobs and careers give many people their role in life to play out in a manner they see fit, and performing this act with integrity is essential to having a solid ethical approach.

Dhamija (2012) explained how e-recruitment is a useful model in the hiring process for several reasons. He noted that "it is an important part of human resource management as it performs the essential function of drawing important resources—human capital—into the organization. Online recruitment, also known as e-recruitment, is one of the worldwide trends for HR functions. It has evolved into a sophisticated interactive engine with the ability to automate virtually every facet of the hiring process. The internet can ease the selection of employees, especially where long distances are involved. E-recruitment has grown rapidly over the past ten years and is now widely used by both recruiters and job seekers across the world. The internet has proved to be a powerful tool for the delivery of different kinds of services like HR planning, HR evaluation, HR rewards, and HR recruitment under the umbrella of EHRM."

Mitigating Unintended Consequences

There are many deceitful people in the world who do not always tell the truth on their résumé. This is well known in HRM circles; however, using e-recruitment poses new challenges. The nature of the internet is often unpredictable, and attracting unwanted applicants is always a risk. To mitigate this problem, it is essential that HR staff are well trained to identify such issues.

Sometimes there are too many applicants from which to choose. This is problematic because these types of searches can take many hours to perform. If the hiring process is important—and it is—this volume could become a bottleneck. However, due to the nature of time and its relationship to money and profits, it is usually in the best interests of the HR department to fill necessary job openings as soon as possible. Organizations often adopt online systems because they believe e-recruiting is more likely than traditional recruitment sources to uncover individuals with unique talents and skills. It is evident that e-recruitment systems have become important means of helping organizations establish a brand identity, attract talented workers, and retain valuable employees compared to traditional recruitment methods (Ghazzawi & Accoumeh, 2014).

To address these challenges, the following four strategies are essential:

Fulfilling Psychological Contracts

As stated before, a new job for a person represents a very important change in their life, and a certain psychological expectation or contract with the new employer is managed through the human resources department of the organization. An upfront and honest approach should always work, but in some instances, competitive bidding wars may occur. It is important that HR professionals understand the employee's personal goals and objectives, as this knowledge can help in maintaining the critical covenant between employer and employee that rests upon HR departments and human resources professionals to manage and control. Meeting these psychological contract expectations establishes trust and commitment from the outset of the employment relationship.

Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment

Failing to adhere to certain diversity laws and rules can result in significant consequences for HR departments that do not include them within their e-recruitment approach. Finding diverse and high-quality candidates can be difficult. When conducting this type of job search, it is important to place the opening in a diverse number of places. Certain employment websites cater to different segments of the population. Widening the search to those areas can assist the HR professional in this effort.

Placing certain restrictions within the opening is another strategy to accomplish this mission. Another approach would be to create multiple openings for the same job. Having this diverse approach can attract different types of people and ensure broader representation in the applicant pool. Having more than one approach can serve HR departments well if they can use their creative capacity to make these changes and execute them in a proper and lawful manner. Legal compliance with equal employment opportunity laws is not only a matter of obligation but also a competitive advantage, as diverse teams tend to produce better outcomes.

Conclusion