Recruitsoft / iLogos Research Study Highlights Best Practices for European 500 Careers Web Site Recruiting
European 500 utilization of Careers sections two years behind that of the Fortune 500
San Francisco, CA – September 26, 2001 –
iLogos Research (www.ilogosresearch.com), the leading research and consulting firm covering online human capital management (HCM) trends and best practice methodologies, announced today a study that reveals key findings about current Web site recruiting practices employed by European 500 companies and designates 20 Best Practices for European 500 Career Web Site Recruiting. This report is similar to a study on the Fortune 500, Best Practices for Fortune 500 Career Web Site Recruiting, which was released by iLogos Research in November 2000. iLogos Research is a division of Recruitsoft, Inc., the leading provider of online hiring management solutions. iLogos has been providing primary data and analysis about the adoption of corporate Web site recruiting since 1997.
The study found that 76 percent of European 500 companies have adopted a Careers section, representing a moderately lower adoption rate compared with that of the Fortune 500, which was 89 percent at the time of the study. The corporate Web site is a vital projection of the corporate image and a key communication platform for internal employees as well as external audiences. For recruiting, the Careers section is quickly becoming the first and most valuable point of contact between candidates and companies. Today, implementation of the iLogos Research Best Practices among the top 500 European companies varies widely, with only 52 percent of corporations posting jobs and accepting applications via the Internet compared with 71 percent of the Fortune 500.
"Worldwide, companies are increasingly looking to the Web to generate efficiencies and to optimize workflow," said Yves Lermusiaux, founder & president of iLogos Research. "Leading companies are seeing the same impact on their recruiting and overall human capital management processes. In the European 500 study, we assess trends in the online recruiting industry and designate 20 Best Practices as a benchmark for leading European companies as they evolve their online recruiting strategies. While Europe is ahead in many aspects of technology, it is interesting that most European companies have yet to fully integrate features that optimize the corporate Web site careers section to attract and convince potential candidates. We predict that most large European companies will increasingly move toward adopting the tactics that will entirely support their recruiting efforts and integrate the recruiting supply chain÷online."
Comparison of Current Practices
Based on the studies, 76 percent of European 500 and 89 percent of Fortune 500 have adopted a Careers section on the corporate Web site, which is significant. However, designing the Careers section is only a first step in offering a comprehensive Careers Web site to "Attract, Convince and Capture" potential qualified candidates. A much lower percentage of global companies utilizing the Careers section have the functionality necessary to post and accept online applications.
Additionally, five percent of European 500 companies take advantage of the Web site visitors' personal referral network by offering an "Email to a friend" feature, which targets the passive jobseeker, defined as an individual who is employed but may be open to offers of employment, while nine percent of the Fortune 500 utilized this feature. Many corporate recruiters consider the passive jobseekers to be the most desirable candidates. Furthermore, five percent of European 500 companies offer a Job Agent for automated notification of new positions matching the candidates' interests and skills while six percent of the Fortune 500 utilized this feature.
20 Best Practices
The 20 Best Practices for European 500 Career Web Site Recruiting were determined by iLogos Research to signify distinct features on corporate Web sites that optimize the ability of the corporate career Web site to "Attract, Convince and Capture" potential qualified candidates. The 20 Best Practices focus on optimal functions that:
- Attract traffic to the corporate Career Web site (e.g. Support for multiple languages),
- Convince potential candidates of the company's status as an employer of choice (e.g. Anonymous application option, Privacy policy), and
- Capture and process the candidate's information in a streamlined process, benefitting both the candidate and corporate recruiter (e.g. One click to apply for a job).
Through such implementation, global corporations may achieve a competitive edge in recruiting the most qualified candidates quickly, and gain financial benefits from both direct cost reductions and opportunity cost savings due to a more efficient hiring process.
Next Practices
iLogos Research expects European 500 companies to utilize the Web to maximize their recruiting efforts. ILogos anticipates upcoming Career Web site recruiting practices and recruiting trends for European 500 companies to include:
- Seamless multi-language capabilities to accommodate an increasingly diverse and global workforce, and increased sensitivity to local languages,
- Establishment of internal systems and procedures that adhere to published privacy policies amongst regions globally,
- "CRM (Customer Relationship Management) style" one-to-one recruiting through personalized messaging and communications and
- New metrics, analytics and benchmarking tools for management to measure success and align corporate recruiting results with corporate business strategy.
According to the study, companies late in awakening to the recruitment potential of corporate Web sites may rapidly adopt current Best Practices. The technological hurdles have been reduced by full-featured Hiring Management Systems delivered via an Application Service Provider (ASP) model for powering enterprise recruiting. Thanks to such technology, both experienced and new Career Web site recruiting corporations can immediately implement sophisticated features via Web-based systems to achieve a state-of-the-art Web site recruiting process.
"We expect that 100 percent of European 500 companies will have Careers sections, post jobs and accept applications on the corporate Web site by 2004 but anticipate that the Fortune 500 to have these features and functionalities by 2002," said Yves Lermusiaux. He added, "This study shows how leading European companies are using the Internet for recruiting. It is important for global companies to be aware of local differences in order to optimize their human capital initiatives."
Editor's Note: The executive summary can be downloaded at (www.ilogos.com/iLogosEuro500/). Please note that the list of European 500 companies was compiled by the Wall Street Journal Europe and represents the 500 largest European-based companies based on revenue.
About iLogos Research
iLogos Research analyzes best practices and innovative information technologies to provide intelligence, strategies and results-based consulting for large corporations, to optimize human capital assets. The research driven consulting practice produces primary data on industry trends, impact of new technologies, best practice methodologies and benchmarking to provide fundamental metrics and intelligence-based actions. Published reports and studies include Perception vs. Reality: Jobseeker Behavior Online; Best Practices for Fortune 500 Career Web Site Recruiting; Global 500 Web Site Recruiting Surveys; Lessons from the Global 500, 1999; and Achieving Results with Internet Recruiting, 1998. Founded in 1997 as iLogos Internet Intelligence, iLogos Research today is recognized as the most rigorous source of data for human capital Internet-related issues.
About Recruitsoft
Recruitsoft powers enterprise-wide talent flow for leading companies across many industries. Among Recruitsoft clients are Hewlett-Packard, Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), Agilent Technologies, The Gillette Company, Hasbro, Deloitte & Touche, Bombardier Aerospace and Transportation, MetLife, and Sutter Health. Among the benefits Recruitsoft brings to large organizations are faster time-to-hire, lower cost-per-hire, and ultimately, increased quality of hires. Recruitsoft is considered to be the best-practice ASP for recruitment management solutions, based on its proprietary ACE Recruiting™ methodology, designed in collaboration with large corporations to improve the corporate recruiting and internal talent matching and deployment processes through reengineering. Recruitsoft is a member of the HR-XML consortium.
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