Press Release

It is only a few years since the collective corporate madness of the dotcom bubble, but once again the Internet could be precipitating a period of costly chaos. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but only when the lessons learned lead to foresight; we have an opportunity to apply the lessons of recent experience, and ensure that online recruitment seizes the opportunities of the Internet without being ensnared by its dangers.

The Internet undoubtedly changes the HR value-chain; amongst the many benefits, it allows wider and more diverse applicant attraction, greater pace and significantly reduced costs. Recruitment and advertising agencies have had to change their business models. Crucially, it also offers an opportunity to move objective assessment methods (such as competency questionnaires and ability tests) to earlier stages of the process, enabling better sifting decisions. The potential commercial benefits are obvious.

“People are complex, emotional and unique…”

However, better decisions are by no means guaranteed, and this is where the dangers of the speedy and apparently scientific Internet lie. People are complex, emotional and unique; unlike books, flights and electronic equipment, we are not commodities and our performance is often context dependent. We cannot be reduced to simplistic models and thus do not lend ourselves to being recruited on the basis of scant information hastily gained through unconvincing assessments. Yet this is what many online recruitment processes appear to be attempting. Reductionism and commoditisation are the enemies here and are often the result of the laudable aspiration to measure ‘human capital,’ which is essential if HR is to demonstrate the business value we all know it can.

Any online assessment process should rest on key principles that ensure the delivery of human and business performance, whilst reflecting fairly the uniqueness of each individual. These principles include thorough job analysis and competency definition, followed by the implementation of high quality, relevant, contemporary and insightful evaluations. Applicants must be treated as people, they must be able to appreciate the relevance and rationale for the assessments that they are undertaking and they must respect the resultant outcomes. Ask your PR people about their views on applicants investing time and energy in recruitment processes that they cannot relate to, or the impact of a rapid yes/no decision without any form of high-quality feedback. Whatever your view of the humanistic considerations, recruitment impacts PR, and this is reason enough for getting it right. Provided these key principles are reflected in the process, online recruitment can indeed allow you to make better decisions and achieve excellent returns.

“‘Bums on seats’ should not be a priority.”

There is a widespread myth that on-line assessment can replace face-to-face assessment. This is not the case, but it does allow an efficient reduction in the number of applicants visiting organisations for costly, in-depth assessment. This frees HR people to employ higher-quality processes. ‘Bums on seats’ should not be a priority. How much time does your organisation invest in specifying needs, evaluating suppliers, wrangling and signing off when purchasing capital equipment? If this is more time than you invest in evaluating your recruitment, then you should be asking why.

In essence, on-line assessment offers great opportunities to make better decisions in a more efficient way. We must not allow its automation to seduce us into making bad decisions, or treating people as commodities. If we keep sight of our central aim, it can deliver great returns.