Prospects online is the UK’S official graduate careers website and is very easy and simple to use. It is quite straight forward because as soon as you click on the site there is a search engine on the homepage with all the different categories of jobs and courses in the area of interest. As soon as I chose a category e.g. Business and management it narrowed the job search to suit the graduate jobs I was looking for. Not only is there job searches but links to career advice, postgraduate study and my prospects where I can join and get updates on job vacancy alerts by email.
The layout of prospects online is fairly simple and clear but in general exceptionally good. There is no need to scroll down much which is important because as a user myself I would not want to be scrolling down and searching the relevant links. On the left of the homepage is a search engine called ‘my prospects’ where the user can login and in the centre is the main search where users can search for jobs and work. Therefore the layout of this website is straight forward and even a person using this website for the first time would not have any problems.
The accessibility of the website is straightforward and easy to navigate as all the pages are linked with each other. Users can navigate through the website without difficulty. On any page of the Prospects.ac.uk website there are links to help pages, site maps and contact us pages. The loading time of each page is quick so therefore it’s quite efficient.
The content is well structured including the relevant drop down menus and search engines. Video and audio content is accessible to everyone by providing transcripts or captions wherever possible. There are no pop-ups that appear automatically so there is no disturbance when viewing the content.
The design of the website is very professional yet simple so it is fit for its purpose. The background colour is a white colour and the text is black which makes it easy and clear to read text. The prospects logo at the top is multi-coloured and the logo is in the same place of every page which gives it a sleek look. (Prospects, 2010)
Advantages and disadvantages of online recruitment
Advantages of online recruitment:
- It is efficient as it doesn’t take long to post new vacancies on the internet by recruiting firms. This then makes recruiting quick as applicants can straightaway apply for the job online, be interviewed if the applicant is suitable for the job.
- Cost effective as vacancies are posted on firms own website so it does not cost a thing. Advertising on a national newspaper can cost thousands, so you can instantly see the cost savings with online recruitment.
- There is a better chance of being successful if job vacancies are advertised on websites as there is access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This provides flexibility as applicants can apply whenever they get time to.
- Online recruitment gives you’re a wider range of audience from young people to candidates 35 years of age. Online recruitment is now a part of most people's job hunting no matter what level or age.
- It’s straightforward and simple to post job vacancies on your own site and does not require a great deal of work. (What job site, 2009)
Disadvantages of online recruitment:
- As applying online can be simple it may lead to the overload of candidates applying for the job especially candidates who have not got the best qualifications for the job. This can be quite time consuming for HR department to look through all the applicants and choose the best ones.
- Online recruitment does not always work as not every job vacancy can be filled online. Some job vacancies can only be filled by recruitment consultants or head-hunters as it’s too difficult to fill otherwise.
- Not everyone may have access to the internet so this may prove to be a disadvantage to those people. It could miss out on some of the top candidates who may not have accessibility to the internet.
- It might be expensive to recruit online as it may be necessary to hire additional staff; therefore creating additional expense, especially with the sheer volume of responses from candidates can require more staff.
- If a candidate who lives in another country and has applied online, there might be a possibility to perform interviews by telephone instead; consequently the employer may not get a clear outlook of the candidate’s personality.
A recruitment campaign that has interested me
A recruitment campaign that interested me was when I was going through the recruitment section of the 2012 Olympics official site, one of the latest accountancy jobs that I could look into when I graduate hopefully by 2012. This has interested me as the Olympics are going to be held in London and I would have just graduated this would be quite an experience working for the firm even as a trainee. If I do get a good honours degree and enough experience I would stand a chance to be considered for the role. Additionally sports is a hobby that I enjoy a lot so being apart of London’s most exciting and memorable events would be great achievement for myself therefore I would have interest in applying for the job.
What ‘physiological contract’ means to me
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm
The term ‘physiological contract’ had become well-known after the economic downturn in the early 1990s. It is defined as the insight between employers and their employees and the joint requirements they hold. These requirements are believed by the employee to be part of the relationship with the employer. In the contract it states what is expected by employees from their job and is based on the employee’s sense of fairness and trust they hold onto their employer. The model of the psychological contract by Professor David Guest outlines that if the contract is positive, there will be an increase in commitment and agreement leading to a positive impact on business performance. It is vital employers and managers take responsibility for maintaining their employees and making best efforts to fulfil the promises they guaranteed and spend time negotiating on deals otherwise the contract could be broken. This could have negative effect on the job satisfaction and commitment which could result in de-motivation. (Cipid, 2009)
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I found this topic on recruitment quite interesting because this is something I will be going through later in my life and it widened my knowledge on this subject matter. I was not familiar with the term Psychological contract but now I understand more about it.
References:
What job site, (2009) The advantages of online recruitment [online] Available from: http://www.whatjobsite.com/Online%20Recruitment:%20Advantages%20and%20disadvantages.htm [Accessed on 4 April]
Prospects (2010) [online] Available from: http://www.prospects.ac,uk/ [Accessed on 4 April]
Cipid, (2009) The psychological contract [online] Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm [Accessed on 5 April]
EHow (2010) Disadvantages of online recruitment [online] Available from: http://www.ehow.com/about_5384653_disadvantages-online-recruitment.html [Accessed on 6 April]
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