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Finding well-qualified applicants quickly at the lowest possible cost has long been a primary goal for recruiters. To accomplish that aim, more companies are using online sources.
The number of people tapping into the Internet to post or find jobs is expected to double in the coming year, according to a national survey of some 410 HR professionals and nearly 800 job seekers. The survey, 'Net Working, was sponsored by JWT Specialized Communications, a Los Angeles-based marketing communications agent.
"If you're looking for ajob in the technical field or to fill a technical job in your company, you need to look toward the Internet, and we fully expect nontechnical jobs to follow in the year ahead," says Kim Macalister, president of JWT Specialized Communications, in summing up the company's findings.
In an earlier survey, Austin Knight Inc., a recruitment and employee communications firm based in Sausalito, Calif, also projected growth in Internet recruiting. The firm's research showed that of 210 companies polled in phone interviews, 93 percent say they expect to use the Internet more intensively for recruiting in the future.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The Austin Knight survey showed two-thirds of the companies surveyed consider the Internet more costeffective than most or all other available recruitment methods. Companies that had used the Internet longer or posted more jobs rated the Internet's cost effectiveness higher than did other firms.
Internet users responding to the JWT Specialized Communications survey cited these advantages, among others: access to more people and a broader selection of applicants, the ability to target the type of people needed, access to people with a technical background who know computers, convenience and quicker response and turnaround, ease of use, and economy.
But as Ben Klau, chief interactive recruitment specialist with Austin Knight explains, recruiting on the Internet can also have disadvantages. "There's the question of how you find the `passive job seeker,' the person who is not actively searching on the Internet, but may be interested in openings at specific companies or specific types of openings." To find those candidates, Klau recommends that companies set up their own Web sites. "I also recommend that people code their job postings on either their own or commercial sites, so they can tell how many applicants for...