Internet technology and HRIS systems in modern recruitment and employee services

Human Resources

It is very important for an human resources director in the modern age of human resources and internet technology to understand that while paper-based resumes and applications as well as face-to-face-only contacts are not dead and gone as a common practice, the advent and advancement of the Internet as a job seeking and hiring mechanism cannot be denied and the phenomenon is never going to go away. It will simply expand and evolve as time goes on and taking this challenge head on would and should include the proper understanding, implementation and administration of a solid HRIS system such as PeopleSoft. The author of this report will offer thoughts on three major topics. Those topics, in the order in which they will be covered, will be e-recruiting, self-service technology and e-learning/training (Coronas & Oliva, 2005)(Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

E-Recruiting

Part and parcel of all the three major topics in this report is the overall risk management process and the tradeoffs and risks of using a given approach over another. While cost is a major concern it should never be the only one and considerations such as efficacy and risks of taking a certain approach should always be considered (Coronas & Oliva, 2005)(Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

The author of this report did learn a great deal about e-recruiting during the course of the class. The practice and use of e-recruiting is a valuable and indispensable tool for recruiting in the modern job landscape. However, there are several caveats that a human resources director would have to understand. First, while it is not impossible to get a good fix for the quality of an applicant by looking at an online profile or email, nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting or even a phone conversation for getting a feeling for how good and sharp the person is. Even a face-to-face or phone call is not perfect, but screening out applicants based on an online resume or profile is far from being an exact science but it's a necessary evil in today's online society. However, the positives are that employers can expand their reach of who they can find greatly and they can indeed review a good number of applicants quite quickly in short order. Resources that can be used in an organization include job pages on corporate websites or even farming it out to sites like Monster and CareerBuilder. A third recruiting tool would be networking sites like LinkedIn. The latter allows for recruiting of people that are either not actively job-searching and/or for jobs that are not publicly posted (Coronas & Oliva, 2005)(Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

E-Learning & Training

As for E-learning and training, the student learned that while it's also an invaluable tool for teaching people that are disparately located, there are situations and students that do not always take to the e-learning wave as favorably as others and there is something to be said for face-to-face training when it's possible and/or preferable. Advantages of corporate universities allows workers to expand their mind in ways that are specific both to the company itself and its operations as well as skills that can be applied to other situations and even future employers. While it may seem counter-productive or counter-intuitive to potentially give employees skills and knowledge that they can use elsewhere, the workers generally take well to be extended the opportunity and will often reward their employer with their loyalty (Coronas & Oliva, 2005)(Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

Example tools would be online courses that allow for people to learn an internal or external process or software suite using e-learning sessions that are self-managed and self-paced. An alternative is to have phone teleconference (or even web-meeting) sessions (or a blend of the two) to allow for geographically dispersed people to get the same training at the same time while not removing the personal element to the training. The technology is advantageous to use because materials are not in hard copy and are thus easier to update and there is less waste of money, time and resources. Another advantage is that people don't have to travel as much to get trained and this is a main limitation of hiring remote employees, although not the only one. Important considerations is whether online learning is the best way to treat the subject at hand and making sure the learners are paying attention, are engaged and are actually absorbing the material (Coronas & Oliva, 2005)(Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

Conclusion

If there was a salient quote or statement to make about the three above subjects, it would be that while they are extremely useful and very lucrative to use, they must be used with care and should not be used improperly or in ways that actually end up hurting more than they help. Heavy use of online recruiting, self-service and training is a great idea but the idea should not be abused or misused because the effects can be quite extensive depending on how extreme the missteps are.