CHAPTER 10

Recruitment and Selection in an

Internet Context
 RECRUITMENT
• The goal of the recruitment function is to
identify, attract, and hire the most qualified
people (Cascio, 2006).

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RECRUITMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
• The goal of the recruitment function is to
identify, attract, and hire the most qualified
people (Cascio, 2006).
• In the U.S., over 90% of large companies use
the Internet to recruit applicants.
• Over 95% of Fortune 500 companies have an
online job page.
• Over 46 million people look for job openings
online.
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 ONLINE RECRUITMENT AND
RECRUITMENT OBJECTIVES
• Cost
• Speed of filling job vacancies
• Psychological contract fulfillment
• Satisfaction and retention rates
• Quality and quantity of applicants
• Diversity of applicants

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 ATTRIBUTES OF THE
RECRUITING WEBSITE
• Navigability can be defined as the overall ease with which a user can
browse through multiple webpages to locate topics of interest. Hosting a
website that displays current information and includes active hyperlinks to
retrieve information is essential in maintaining user interest within the
site. To achieve this goal, organizations should follow the “three-click” rule
for users to locate information of interest.
• Content information refers to the degree to which the website hosts
relevant information that the user deems valuable and informative in
nature. Providing information that the user desires is another mechanism
by which organizations can sustain user interest and satisfaction with the
website.
• The media richness theory has been frequently applied to explain why
hosting relevant content information is beneficial to applicants.
Specifically, this theory contends that communication effectiveness is a
function of the degree to which media sources reduce user uncertainty
and equivocality. Kavanagh, Human Resource Information Systems 4e.
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 ATTRIBUTES OF THE
RECRUITING WEBSITE
• The more customizable information an organization provides on its webpage,
the more likely an applicant will engage in appropriate self-selection behavior
(to apply or not apply for a job within the organization). In other words, if the
website provides direct feedback to applicants regarding their P-O or P-J fit,
the online recruiting effort will likely attract a more qualified applicant pool.
• Companies should consider how the aesthetic features of their websites
engage user interest and attention. These features encompass the overall
stylistic or innovative aspects of a website, such as contrasting colors, pictures,
animation, and playfulness, which keep the user engaged while he or she
navigates through multiple webpages.
• Integrating these attributes together, a website’s usability has been found to
affect applicant perceptions and attitudes toward the organization. A recent
meta-analytic study found a corrected correlation coefficient of .41 between
website usability and organizational attraction—in other words, the more
usable the website was perceived to be, the more likely the applicant was
attracted to the organization.
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 RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES AND
SOCIAL NETWORKING
• Social networking sites and online search engines are being
used more frequently now as an HR tool than they were 2
years ago.
• They are primarily used to search for passive applicants,
particularly at the middle-management levels, who might not
otherwise apply or be contacted by an organization.
• They are not used to screen applicants.
• Negative information provided in the social networking sites
has a greater influence on hiring decisions than positive
information.

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 Guidelines for Online Recruitment
• More suitable for well-known firms with excellent employer
brand
• To be used as one of the many sources of recruitment
• More suitable when large number of candidates are required
for high-level jobs requiring high levels of education
• Be aware of the limitations, such as the limited ability to
attract highly qualified candidates and minority candidates. It
may, in fact, attract job hoppers.
• The websites should be easy to use and navigate and
designed to attract, not screen, candidates.
• Online screening systems should be based on job analyses.
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 Guidelines for Online Recruitment
• E-recruiting systems should provide realistic preview of the
job and the firm
• The effectiveness should be regularly reviewed and
continuously improved based on feedback from job
applicants.
• Should be culturally sensitive and suit people from diverse
backgrounds, including those with low education levels and
low computer self-efficacy
• Should incorporate privacy protection policies, including
collection of only employment-specific data and restricting
access to and distribution of such data.

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 SELECTION
• The process of choosing individuals who have
relevant qualifications to fill existing or
projected job openings and “match” the
needs of the company, as well as those of the
individual. This means a match on both KSAs
and company culture.

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 SELECTION AND TECHNOLOGY
• Tests and assessments are used for the
following:
• Selection of employees
• Placing employees in positions in the
organization
• Training and development of employees
• Promotion of employees
• Evaluation of employees
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SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF TESTS AND
ASSESSMENTS

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 SELECTION TESTS AND
ASSESSMENTS
• Selection procedures refer to any procedure
used singly or in combination to make a
personnel decision.
• Selection tests and assessments are job-
related decision-making tools that provide
information about candidates that
organizations can use in selection.

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 WHY IS ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT
FOR HRIS?
• All organizations use assessments.
• Organization leaders know that employees’ abilities,
skills, and personal attributes are critical for success.
• Some selection systems work better than others.
• Employee selection is regulated by antidiscrimination
laws.
• The value of selection is quantifiable.

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TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN SELECTION
• Equivalence between conventional and
computerized assessments
• Bandwidth versus fidelity: How closely should
we simulate the job?
• Validity and security issues created by
unproctored online testing

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CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ASSESSMENT
SCORES AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Kavanagh, Human Resource Information Systems 4e. Schmidt and Hunter (1998)
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APPLYING HRIS TO SELECTION AND
ASSESSMENT
• Careful design and integration of systems to
store and link information
• Development of scoring and decision rules –
simplicity
• Accessing and distributing data: privacy and
security
• Cost–benefit analysis of online tools

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APPLYING HRIS TO SELECTION AND
ASSESSMENT
• Test access and security
• Test inventory and administrative privileges
• Options for scoring
• Accessing results
• Applying test policies

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 HR’S VALUE WITH HRIS
SELECTION APPLICATIONS
• HRIS manager plays a key role in proving the
value of a selection system through
knowledge of how to obtain and use the right
data on individual and organizational
outcomes that will demonstrate a return on
investment in the system.

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HR’S VALUE WITH HRIS SELECTION
APPLICATIONS
• The quality of the candidates may be defined
in terms of one or more of the following
(Cascio, 1991):
• The proportion who are successful on the job
• The average numeric value of an outcome of
interest (performance criterion)
• The dollar amount of benefit resulting to the
organization (such as the annual increase in
revenue)
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HR’S VALUE WITH HRIS SELECTION
APPLICATIONS
• Simplest approach to estimating utility is to conduct
pre/post comparisons of measurable performance to
see if the selection system has coincided with a
change in performance
• A complex approach (more precise) is to use a utility
formula that takes several factors into account:
– The selection ratio
– The validity coefficient, expressed as the correlation
between assessment scores and criteria (outcomes)
– Information about the dollar value of performance

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