What Is E-Recruitment and Why Is It Important?

Are you sure you’re making the most out of your e-recruitment strategy?

HR departments are going digital, especially for recruitment, paving the way for a new term, “e-recruiting”. Just like career or talent management, e-recruiting tools have become key programs for HR managers.

Whether you’re in need of a whole new team or just a couple of new recruits, online recruiting software can save you a considerable amount of time and energy. 💪

But what is e-recruitment? What are the pros and cons of using it? And what are the best recruitment systems?

Here’s everything you need to know about it. 🤓

E-recruitment, also known as online recruitment, refers to cloud-based recruitment software, web-based resources, and other technologies and features to find, attract, interview, and hire candidates.

The purpose of e-recruitment is to make recruiting processes more efficient and less expensive. And, by using e-recruitment, HR managers can reach a larger pool of potential employees and speed up the hiring process. 📝

More and more people go online to look for jobs and learn about companies before they even interview. They read reviews, check company websites, and explore social media to get a sense of the workplace culture and values.

By having a strong presence on the internet and using online recruitment tools, businesses can reach a wide range of candidates and make their hiring process much smoother.

This not only helps attract top talent but also ensures that the candidates have a good understanding of the company before they apply, leading to better matches and more successful hires.

The most common types of online recruiting methods include:

• Sourcing potential candidates on professional social media platforms
• Using an applicant tracking system (ATS)
• Interviewing candidates online via video conferencing software
• Using online testing via surveys and questionnaires
• Creating job boards to advertise job offerings

Sourcing candidates covers all of the steps prior to a job interview, this includes:

• profiling the ideal candidate,
• writing the job description and position offer,
• sharing job boards,
• identifying the best candidates.

This process allows you to slim down the candidate pool, showing you only the most qualified and relevant candidates. ✅

The candidate's experience begins as soon as they start looking for a job. More likely than not, they’ll try to evaluate, through information found on the web, your company values, and its HR management during recruitment, day-to-day work, and leave management.

This is why it’s important to have a good employer brand image across all of your social media accounts, and, more importantly, with your employees, who are the ambassadors of your brand.

☝️By highlighting your employer brand (corporate culture, strategy, values, etc.), you attract candidates who aren’t just interested in the position but also tempted to join the collective adventure offered by your company.

Similar to inbound marketing, inbound recruiting will allow you to attract more qualified candidates and make them come to you rather than having to go look for them.

To stand out from the competition, we recommend personalizing your exchanges with candidates at each stage of the recruitment process (making contact, test phase, follow-up, etc.). And do not forget that they are also potential customers: a bad candidate experience impacts their consumption and their overall relationship with the company.

By sharing job boards on social networks, job sites, recruitment agencies, and alumni networks, you will be able to attract as many candidates as possible. 👍

That being said, this can be time-consuming. However, with recruitment systems, it only takes a few clicks. All you have to do is:

• create a job board,
• publish it,
• and the software takes care of sharing the ad to the sites you have chosen.

Process and sort every resume and cover letter you receive, whether they come from job boards, your website’s recruitment page, or even unsolicited applications. With e-recruitment, everything is centralized to help you follow up on applications in record time.

☝️You will also find a history of exchanges with candidates and with other employees in charge of recruitment to make sure that you don't lose any information.

Moreover, if you decide to reject candidates, you will still leave a positive image of your company because you took the time and consideration to answer them.

One significant challenge with e-recruitment processes is the difficulty in measuring their efficiency accurately.

Many systems lack comprehensive analytical tools that provide detailed insights into the performance of job postings. This means that recruiters may struggle to identify which strategies are effective and which are not.

Without this crucial data, it becomes challenging to optimize job listings, leading to potential inefficiencies in attracting suitable candidates.

🔎For example, a recruiter might not realize that a certain position is not attracting the right candidates or that a job description is too vague, resulting in an influx of unqualified applicants.

Implementing a system with robust analytics can help mitigate this issue, allowing recruiters to make data-driven decisions and refine their recruitment strategies continuously.

Another downside of e-recruitment is the susceptibility to fraudulent applications.

Competitors or malicious actors may submit fake applications to gain access to sensitive information about your company or HR manager against the company’s consent. These fraudulent activities can lead to a waste of resources and time as HR team employees sift through non-genuine applications.

Additionally, companies might receive spam messages from unknown email addresses attempting to promote their services or products, further cluttering the recruitment process.

🔎For instance, a company might experience an influx of irrelevant resumes, promotional content which it needs to unsubscribe from, all of which can obscure genuine applications.

To combat this, companies should implement stringent application filtering systems and consider verification steps to ensure the legitimacy of applicants.

Online job postings, especially for higher-up positions such as executive roles, can sometimes convey an impression of informality that might not align with the expectations of top-tier candidates.

These positions often require a more personalized and discrete approach to attract the right caliber of professionals. Posting high-level vacancies on social media or general job boards can undermine the perceived prestige and seriousness of the role.

🔎For instance, a potential executive candidate might perceive a social media job ad as lacking the sophistication expected for such a high-stakes position. Therefore, for these crucial roles, it is advisable to engage with reputable recruiting firms that specialize in executive search.

These firms provide a more formal and tailored approach, ensuring that the recruitment process aligns with the professional standards expected at higher organizational levels.

To ensure a seamless and efficient e-recruitment process, here are some additional strategies to consider:

Utilize advanced analytics to track and measure the effectiveness of your recruitment campaigns. This can help identify which job postings are attracting the most qualified candidates and refine your strategies accordingly.

Ensure your e-recruitment platform is mobile-friendly as many candidates use their smartphones to search for jobs and apply on the go, so a responsive design can significantly enhance their experience.

Provide clear communication and timely feedback throughout the recruitment process. A positive candidate experience not only attracts top talent but also strengthens your employer brand.

Engage with potential candidates on social media platforms by sharing insights about your company culture, employee testimonials, and updates on job openings. This can help build a community of engaged and interested candidates.

Incorporate AI and automation tools to handle repetitive tasks such as resume screening and interview scheduling. This allows your HR team to focus on more strategic aspects of recruitment.

Once a candidate is hired, ensure a smooth transition with a robust virtual onboarding program. This helps new hires acclimate to the company culture and start contributing effectively from day one.

By integrating these strategies into your e-recruitment process, you can attract and retain the best talent while ensuring a smooth and efficient hiring experience.

After comparing a wide variety of e-recruitment systems, below are the 4 that stood out the most for us.

As a recruiter, you may decide to involve other people in the employee selection process, whether they are other managers or potential future colleagues of the person applying for the position.

Comeet is a collaborative recruiting software that lets employees and recruiters work together to identify the ideal candidates for their teams.

Comeet connects everything involved with recruiting. This includes all the people, processes, services, and resources that are involved during recruitment. And, with this solution, you can assign tasks to specific recruiting teammates.

Greenhouse is a multi-faceted e-recruiting solution that includes an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system, and much more.

With Greenhouse, you can optimize and customize every aspect of the hiring process and beyond. You’ll be able to track and manage every step a new hire goes through, from sourcing all the way to onboarding.

Thousands of companies, including Lyft, HelloFresh, Booking.com, and others, trust Greenhouse to find the best and most qualified talent out there.

Recruitee is an intuitive recruitment software that lets you create a career site, manage job offers and candidates, streamline the work of employees, and analyze HR performance.

From creating an employer brand to promoting jobs, recruiting talent, or tracking candidates, Recruitee helps teams automate and optimize their recruitment efforts to attract the best talent.

Recruiterbox is an applicant tracking software that provides tools to collect, parse, search, and manage resumes.

With Recruiterbox, you'll be able to skip the manual upload process and automatically collect resumes from your email attachments.

Moreover, all of the data on your candidates is stored in one central management system, ensuring that none of your candidates falls through the cracks. Its dashboard will save you time and tell you where each of your candidates is in the hiring process.

Recruitment is not a simple procedure, it must be prepared in advance to find the best candidates and make these employees part of your company.

Today, there are many recruitment solutions that streamline costs while providing new opportunities for talent recruitment. Small and medium-sized businesses can use these solutions to improve their recruitment process and find potential employees who are hidden gems.