Introducing business intelligence to recruitment

Online recruitment, at its most elementary, constitutes a pool of resumes placed by careerseekers online at no charge and then searched, using a database infrastructure and for a fee, by recruiters. While online recruitment has been around for a consistent half decade, it has not remained static. IT and Internet capabilities are ushering in the next generation of recruitment tool - business intelligence.

CareerJunction has recently undergone a relaunch, with improved functionality and a new look. Part of the transformation includes the introduction of BI tools for the recruiter. Previously, recruitment agencies were able to post job ads (both on the site as well as on partner sites), search for potential candidates in the career seeker database and make use of a profiling tool (called Prof!ler) whereby the process of selection is enhanced through applying competency-based job profiling technology, online candidate filtering and screening. The new BI tools now offer the capability to gather information that is essential for decision-making within the recruitment process.

"Business intelligence is the process of gathering information," explains Kris Jarzebowski, MD of online recruitment service CareerJunction. "These tools filter large amounts of information and distil it into a usable form." Business Intelligence (or BI) has been the darling of the IT world for quite some time now, however, recruitment is only now really entering into this IT-driven field.

"The Online Job Reporting tool provides data that allows recruiters to establish the effectiveness of job advertisements on the site, promoting fine-tuning in order to achieve best results," says Jarzebowski. Recruiters can view a graphical online report on the number of jobs advertised versus the number of careerseeker views and responses per job advertised. The recruiter can then determine the success of their job advertising and compare their results against current industry trends.

The Online Job Reporting tool also allows recruiters to run reports and compare their own job ad activity to the performance of the CareerJunction network. Further functionality allows users to extract, edit and utilise these reports offline and integrate them into company or marketing intelligence.

Another tool being made available by CareerJunction is Placement Tracker. "Placement Tracker enables you to establish the true return on your recruitment investment," says Jarzebowski. Placement Tracker allows recruiters to track and establish the success of placements, comparing the effectiveness of placements made online, via print, through word-of-mouth or any other third party channel.

"The industry is grounded in solid business principles and effective strategies," says Jarzebowski. "We understand our markets and work with clients to introduce new concepts at the right time. This is not an industry driven by the next IT trend but rather by what makes sense and what will enhance the business proposition and efficacy of the experience, at this point, in South Africa."

"These new tools from CareerJunction indicate the next phase for recruitment, a development that is only beginning to surface globally," concludes Jarzebowski.