Online recruitment set to rise in 2003

In a climate of economic caution, UK businesses are increasingly using the internet to fulfil their recruitment needs, according to new research by totaljobs.com - one of the UK''s leading job boards - conducted amongst market-leading companies across ten industry sectors.

Of all recruitment media, web use is predicted to rise most over the next year, with one in three companies anticipating an increase in spending on jobsites, compared to just one in ten predicting an increase in agency
spending and only one in twenty expecting to spend more on recruitment advertising within the press.

With 57 per cent of businesses expecting recruitment levels to remain unchanged in 2003, it is more important than ever for HR professionals to demonstrate value for money in their recruitment budgets. In fact cost efficiency is the biggest issue currently facing HR departments, with 64 percent of businesses rating this as very important when looking to recruit.

The report reveals that the majority (64 per cent) of HR professionals who expressed a preference believe that the web provides the most cost effective solution to recruitment compared to other methods. A further 61 per cent felt the net was best in terms of time taken to recruit staff, and 55 per cent rate the internet as the easiest recruitment medium to use.

Says Keith Robinson, chief operations director for totaljobs.com: Internet recruitment has come of age and is now seen as an integral part of the recruitment mix amongst large organisations. Companies have become more confident as the medium matures and are seeing real benefits in pursuing a web-based strategy. Online recruitment''s superiority in terms of cost savings, speed and ease of use is unmatched - delivering a huge competitive advantage to businesses in the current economic climate. The Total Forum research indicates that the internet will be the fastest growing recruitment medium in the future and will begin to seriously challenge traditional channels.

Eighty-nine per cent of businesses have now used some form of e-recruitment, whilst three-quarters have next steps regarding their use of the web. Two-thirds of companies use an external jobsite, with half pursuing a dual strategy by using both an external and corporate site for maximum recruitment branding. Almost all companies questioned have a corporate website, with 76 per cent of these using it for recruitment purposes.

There are, however, still misconceptions about the suitability of the internet to recruit for certain roles. Continues Robinson: Employers are missing out on a talent pool due to pre-conceived ideas about the type of jobseekers that are online. For instance, employers looking for administration and engineering staff are less likely to believe the correct candidates are using the web. Yet admin is our third largest candidate base, and with engineering following closely behind.

About the Total Forum TJ200 report

Telephone interviews were conducted with senior HR personnel in 210 market-leading organisations in the following sectors: Public Sector (Local Govt.), Retail, Catering/Leisure/Tourism, IT/Electronics/Telecoms,
Manufacturing, Finance, Legal, Accounting & Professional Services, Media Construction.