Online recruitment: Research reports

Section nine of the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide on online recruitment, covering useful research on e-recruitment. Other sections .

As much as internet recruiting itself is in its infancy, research into the whys and wherefores is even younger. The major research organisations such as Forrester and IDC have only recently begun to examine the internet at work as a specific topic. Specialist companies such as Enhance Media and Actionline Research in the UK have undertaken client-paid (but independent) work on behalf of the industry (the NORAS Survey) and individual job boards (www.Totaljobs.com ).

Recruitment companies such as Reed and Workthing have conducted their own research and regularly publish reports on the experience of internet job seekers and the companies that recruit for them. Zebra Managed Services has conducted a survey on the use of metrics.

The recruitment advertising fraternity has begun to conduct its own specialised research. Park HR has collaborated with The Times to look at the top UK recruitment sites, while JWT Specialized Communications in the US has looked at better use of search engines.

There has been a raft of internet recruitment conferences over the past three years. IQPC's Exchange series has commissioned an on-the-spot survey each of the past two years (by Enhance Media) to gauge the real use of the internet by HR directors for recruitment.

In 2001, Erecruitix examined 47 of the European Top 500 company websites to evaluate and rank their recruitment/careers section effectiveness.

Again in the US, Interbiznet's founder and recruitment industry leading light John Sumser has both examined in detail the economics of recruiting and just released his forward look into 2003, the trends for the Human Resources marketplace in 2003.

The author has published (in conjunction with Hire.com in the US) a White Paper on Data Protection legislation and its possible effects on the recruitment policies of European companies.

As you will see, there is a growing body of research, of which we have only given you a taste here. Find it and read it, for there are many important lessons to be learned from the experiences of your colleagues who take part in this research.

Current use of the internet to recruit
(Actionline Research)
September 2002
Jean Sutton
jf.sutton@aol.com

National online recruitment audience survey
(Results - Jan 2003)
Tim Elkington
www.enhancemedia.co.uk

Is e-cruitment working?
(Reed Executive plc)
www.reed.co.uk

Options for recruitment metrics
(zebra managed recruitment services)
www.zebramrs.com

A review of the Times top 100 employers' recruitment websites
(October 2002)
ParkHR
graeme.wright@parkhr.com

Employers : Why can't job seekers find your career site on Google? or How you can use search engine recruitment marketing to drive efficient online recruiting
(June 2002)
www.jwtworks.com/digital

IQPC exchange/enhance media
(Benchmarking study)
Results 2002
Tim Elkington
www.enhancemedia.co.uk

European Fortune Global 500 corporate recruiting web site ranking 2001
(www.erecruitix.com)

2003 trends: the human capital market place
(An Interbiznet White Paper)
By John Sumser
August 2002
www.interbiznet.com

Recruiting economics
(The Real Costs of Human Capital Acquisition)
By John Sumser
August 2002
www.interbiznet.com

Data protection legislation
(Its Impact on European Recruitment and Human Resource Policies)
By Alan Whitford
Abtech Partnership
October 2002
Awhitford@compuserve.com

Recruitment trends and forecasts
(Quarterly newsletter giving key economic and business data on recruitment, published by Personnel Today)
Reed Business Information
020 8652 8803