EFFECTIVENESS OF E-RECRUITMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES OF IT INDUSTRY OF LAHORE (PAKISTAN)

Usage of technology brings robust improvement in every aspect of human life. Paramount research reveals that Internet is being used in employment sector globally. Recruitment through electronic sources brings phenomenal success in a very short time. This study is an attempt to explore the effectiveness of e-recruitment in small and medium enterprises of IT based companies of Pakistan through descriptive analysis. Effectiveness of e-recruitment is measured through the attributes of advantages and disadvantages. This study provides an insight of how companies’ recruiters perceive the value of online recruitment. Four advantages of e-recruitment, considered in this study, are: (i) quality of applicants, (ii) wider pool of applicants, (iii) time and cost saving, and (iv) brand image development. Major disadvantages of e-recruitment, assessed in this study, are: (i) overloading of irrelevant applicants, (ii) higher numbers of unqualified applicants, (iii) established brand name, (iv) privacy issue of applicants, (v) lack of personal touch, (vi) discrimination between applicants, (vii) not the first choice to apply, (viii) unfriendly user tool, and (ix) extra time and cost subsequently. The study recommends for HR managers of IT SMEs to focus more on online recruitment in Pakistan to get large return on investment in long term perspective.