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Transcript of ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS.
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ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT: PROBLEMS AND
PROSPECTS
(A Case Study of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission)
BY
MUSA ABUBAKAR
KPT/CBMS/10/3709
BEING A PROJECT SUBMISTTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
MANAGEMENT STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THEREQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF HIGHER NATIONAL
DIPLOMA IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
KADUNA POLYTECHNIC
KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA.
SPETEMBER, 2013
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Today, the internet as well as other information and communication technologies has
changed many business and private life and continues to do so. For the young
generation of developing countries like Nigeria, these changes are taken for granted.
It is already known that computer and internet are being used to automate most of the
related tasks of Human Resource department of many organizations.
Electronic recruitment is a concept that has gained enormous popularity in recent
times. It is one of such tasks in the field of Human Resource Management that has
been transformed greatly by ICT. According to Gill (2001), electronic recruitment is a
way of recruiting that provides organizations with an exceptionally cost-effective way
to manage and monitor their entire recruitment process, from categorizing and
tracking candidate applications to ensuring security in all candidate communications
and keeping logs on all correspondences for future references. The concept is
synonymous and can sometimes be used interchangeably with online recruitment,
cyber-recruitment or internet recruitment (Ben, 2010). The growth of electronic
recruitment has being fuelled by the adoption of the new technology. It forms one of
the central pillars of a smart staffing for organization in almost every economic
sector. It provides current information to a broad audience and improved
communication in an efficient and timely manner. It bridges the gap between the
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employers and job seekers. It also provides a wider scope, choice and opportunity for
both parties (Lee, 2005). In spites of all these advantages, electronic recruitment
appears to be unpopular in Nigeria and other developing countries.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
It is undeniable that changing from manual to electronic recruitment of many
recruitment functions and job search resources has vastly expanded the scope,
accessibility, ease and efficiency of the recruitment process. However, the long ever
implications of this trend remain shrouded in ambiguity (Gill, 2001). Regardless of
the widespread growth and inherent advantages of this new technology, there exist
significant shortcomings from both demographic and technological perspectives in
Nigeria which include; limited access, usage problems and flawed infrastructure
(Ben, 2008). Even when it is abundantly clear that electronic recruitment has
inexorably altered the hiring process its impact upon the practices and principles of
Human Resource Management are not yet fully defined. It seems the primary change
at this time has been a technological one, in which the newspaper help-wanted ads
and snail-mailed paper resumes of the past have been neatly replaced with their
electronic successors (Lee, 2005). In other words, although the tools we use have
changed, most of the underlying principles that govern the recruitment process have
remained basically unchanged.
Today in Nigeria, the Human Resource profession stands at a critical junction. We
have been presented with the unique and formidable opportunity to help usher in a
new paradigm that combines the best world- the efficiency and unparalleled reach of
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the internet with the high- touch, intuitive and exceedingly human focus of traditional
recruitment.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study sets out to assess the Nigerian recruitment situation, its constraints, challenges
and its prospects. It intends to suggest a possible way of recruiting electronically or
otherwise that would bye pass those constraints and challenges in order to make it
suitable and more accessible to the prospective applicants in particular and organizations
and recruitment agencies in general.
1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
According to Osuola (2010), hypothesis can be defined as a conjectural statement of
relationship between two or more variables.
In this research, hypothesis will be formulated as follows:
Ho= Electronic recruitment is not a favourable means of recruitment.
Hi=Electronic recruitment is a favourable means of recruitment
Where Ho = Null hypothesis
Hi =Alternative hypothesis
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1.5THESIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research work will be of great importance to the following sections of the people:
To students, the study will serve as their reference or guide in pursuing a great
career particularly in Human Resource Management;
To teachers, the study will help them to have a deeper understanding of the
subject matter and will be an aid for teaching students.
To future researchers, the study will benefit and help them as guide to develop
and expand the subject matter.
Lastly, the study will also provide organizations and recruiting agencies with
relevant information that will help them to select and design effective and
efficient ways of reaching prospective employees.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research is focused on the problems and prospects of electronic recruitment
system using Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) as a case
study. The study covers all staff of the Commission irrespective of their hierarchical
position.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
There is no achievement without hurdles and same goes with this research. In the
course of this research work, a number of unavoidable constraints and obstacles were
encountered and these are as follows;
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Limited or very few numbers of organizations that use electronic recruitment and
same goes with recruiting agencies particularly in Kaduna.
Non-availability of certain information regarded as sensitive information in the
Commission.
Also, the time limit was very short due to the fact that the time of writing this project
coincides with the time of examination.
Lastly and most importantly is the financial constraint. Writing a genuine and
comprehensive project need a lot of money and as a student, the researcher found it
very difficult to be able to do what he dreamt to do. Nevertheless, the aim and
objective of the study has been achieved.
1.8 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY
The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission was established pursuant to the
provisions of section 197(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 1999. Before 1999, what existed was the State Electoral Commission which
was established under the State Electoral Commission Law cap.50, Laws of Kaduna
State 1991; which eventually metamophorsized into SIECOM with the promulgation
of the 1999 Constitution.
The constitution vested in the Governor of a State to nominate the Chairman and
Members of the State Independent Electoral Commission subject to the confirmation
of the Sate House Assembly. In pursuance of the power, the Chairman and Members
were nominated by the Executive Governor of Kaduna State Dr. Ahmed Mohammed
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Makarfi and confirmed by the House of Assembly in September 2000. The Chairman
and members of the commission were sworn in on the 11th October, 2000.
The same 1999 Constitution clearly spells out the functions of the Commission which
are:
(a) To organize, undertake and supervise all elections to local government
councils within the state; and
(b) To render such advice as it may consider necessary to the Independent
National Electoral Commission on the compilation of and the register of voters in
so far as that register is applicable to local government elections in the State.
The Commission comprise of the Chairman and six other members, who not only
formulate policies, but perform assigned duties. One of such duties is supervisory in
nature. In this regard each member is performing supervisory functions over a Zone
(group of Local Government Areas).
The Chairman presides over the meetings of the Commission provided that one third
of the total membership is in attendance. Each member shall be entitled to one vote,
the Chairman shall have casting as well as deliberative vote.
In order to facilitate action and or decision, the Commission has appointed the following
committees:
i. Finance Committee
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ii. Establishment Matters Committee
iii. Logistics Committee
iv. Public Affairs Committee
iv. Legal Affairs Committee
Each of this Committee is being headed by a Commissioner, and memberships
include some Commissioners. The Commission has staff strength of 165 although it
has authority to build a staff strength of 236.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
These are terms that are conceptually and operationally defined for better
understanding of the readers.
Internet: It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public,
academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope,
that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical
networking technologies.
ICT: Information and Communication Technology - This is an umbrella term that
includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio,
television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software,
satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications
associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.
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Recruitment: Thisrefers to the process of attracting, screening, selecting, and on
boarding a qualified person for a job in an organization.
Job Seeker: Is a person who is looking for employment, due to unemployment or
discontent with a current position.
Human Resource: It is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an
organization, business sector or an economy.
Recruitment Agency: It is an organization which matches employers to employees.
SIECOM: State Independent Electoral Commission
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Human resources are the key components of every organization. It represents total
knowledge, talent and attitude, creative ability, aptitude and belief of an individual
involved in the affair of an organization which is an integral part for every concerned
(Armstrong, 2009). It is associated with the people at work and their relationships
within and outside the enterprise.
Recruitment of efficient staff is one of the activities perform by Human Resource
Management department since it performs the essential function of drawing an
important resource in to the organization. It has a strategic aim as it focuses on the
need to attract high quality people in order to gain a competitive advantage (Parry &
Tyson 2008). They further stress that a new development in this domain is the use of
the internet to attract potential employees to an organization, and is referred to as
electronic recruitment. Internet has made an impact on the overall functioning of
human resource department. Also human resource processes and procedures have
been supported by everything from complicated file folder system to automation,
going from usage multiple systems and databases to a single version of the whole
system (Dhamijia, 2010)
2.1THE CONCEPT OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
The concept of electronic recruitment was brought about as a result of the rapid
advance in technology which dramatically changed the way business is conducted
(Erica, 2007). This increasing use of technology is clearly demonstrated by the
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number of organizations and individuals who utilize the internet and electronic mail.
According to Dhamija (2010), in terms of Human Resource Management, the internet
has changed the way of recruitment from both perspective i.e. organization and job
seekers.
Electronic recruitment has been defined as a way of recruiting that provides
organizations with an exceptionally cost effective way to manage and monitor their
entire recruitment process, from categorizing and tracking candidate applications to
ensuring security in all candidate communications and keeping logs on all
correspondences for future uses (Gill, 2001). This definition provides much wider
scope of what electronic recruitment is all about. Gill further said that two trends
which make it compulsory for small and medium sized business to invest in the tools
for a successful electronic recruitment strategy are demographic trend and financial
scarcity. On one hand, better technology and easier access to information produced
between workers and firms is increasing the probability of finding the best match for
a given opening. On the other hand, reduced application cost also encourages
increased application from under qualified job seekers, triggering increased effort by
firms to improve screening mechanism. The internet according to Dhamijia (2010 ),
first emerge as a recruiting tool in the mid 1995 and was hailed by the popular
media as the drive behind a recruiting revolution due to the benefits it could bring to
recruiters .
According to Breagh and Stark (2000), the breakthrough and the lasted trends in
recruitment is the electronic recruitment which is also known as online recruitment.
They affirmed that e-recruitment or electronic recruitment makes the process of
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finding candidates and new business opportunities quicker, cheaper, and more
efficient. It has also caused the largest change to the recruitment process in the past
decade acting as a link between employers and job seekers.
2.2 THE FORMS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
(a) Commercial job boards
Commercial job boards are the most common form of electronic recruitment. Job
boards work like classified ads in the newspaper. These are global and allow a wide
reach to pool of candidate. The job boards greatest strength is the sheer numbers of
job applicants listing resumes. It has been estimated that they contain five million
unique resumes (Gutmacher, 2006). In addition they enable recruiters to operate 24
hours a day, examine candidates from around the world, and are generally quite
inexpensive (Boehle, 2000). A major advantage of the job board approach for an
organization is that many people post resumes and that job boards provide a search
for applicants with the relevant skills and experience. A second advantage is that an
organization can provide extensive information as well as a link to the companys
web site for further information on both i.e. the job as well as the organizations. The
dedicated recruitment websites can take a form of job listing websites that are very
similar to printed classified advertisements, work wanted sites, which emphasize the
prospective employees side and finally online recruiters who makes use of other
websites as a resource for finding clients and customers (Rudich, 2000, Tailor, 2001)
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(b) Corporate websites
Companies websites represent one of the first web based modes or form to
recruitment. Many of these websites also provide the useful information about an
organization as well as the mechanism to apply for available jobs. It is a very
common practice to add recruitment pages to the existing organization site. Its major
advantage is the minimal cost associated with the developing a page on the corporate
sites and put it forward as the smartest way to recruit on the internet (Scheyer &
Mecarter, 1998).
Most applicants would consider a medium to large size company without a
recruitment websites to be somewhat strange. One report indicated that of 62,000
hires at nine large companies in the United State, 16% were imitated at the
companys corporate websites (Maher and Silverman, 2002). With a good list of
benefits, it would result foolish for any organization that does not have a companys
corporate websites
2.3 THE PROCESS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
The recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy where after the
recruiter receives authorization to fill in this vacancy (Chapman & Webstars, 2003).
In order to do so, the vacant job needs to be carefully analyzed. Analyzing the job
might include determining the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience required
to perform the job appropriately and defining the required specifications. After
identifying and analyzing a vacancy, it can be placed in, for example, newspapers or
other media sources
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Electronic recruitment process differs from the traditional recruitment in that it uses
the internet and technology to support the process. In the case of electronic
recruitment, vacancy can be published on corporate websites or job boards (Cappelli,
2001). Applicants can apply for vacancies by using the internet. Likewise, further
future correspondence between organization and applicant depends on the internet to
a large extent.
Cappelli (2001) further describes the electronic recruitment process in three steps.
First, candidates need to be attracted. This is concerns with using the organization
reputation, product image, online technology and other methods to draw as many
potential applicants as possible to the organizations websites. Thus, organization can
reinforce their human resources brand and provide information about jobs and
working conditions. The second step in this process is sorting applicants. This relates
for example to employing sophisticated candidates, online test to screen candidates,
and winnowing the applicant pool to a manageable number. Third, the contract needs
to be managed quickly. Due to the use of the internet, organizations are able to
respond more quickly to desirable candidates. Organization need to work
aggressively and use automated hiring management system to contact the most
desirable candidates very quickly before they are snapped up by another company.
Chapman and Webstars (2003), describe a similar electronic recruitment process. In
this way, electronic recruitment differs from manual recruitment by making use of e-
enable sources. These steps can also be applied to the traditional recruitment process
as well, yet the distinction lies in the use of e-enabled technologies.
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An electronic recruitment process follows ideally from systematic human resources
planning process, whereby an organization analyses and plans for the flow of people
into, through, and out of the organization (Cappelli, 2001)
Yet there is a forth steps, which does not belong necessarily to electronic recruitment
but to every recruitment process. This is concerns with closing the deal. According to
Chapman and Webstsar (2003), it refers to making the phone call, setting up the
meeting and shaking the hand. From this description one can notice the e-element is
absent. In this way Cappelli(2001), highlights the importance of the human touch at
the end of the recruitment process but remain very crucial.
ELECTRIC RECRUITMENT PROCESS
1. Attracting candidates using the organizations online
technology to draw potential applicants
to the organizations website
2. Sorting Applicants employing sophisticated online test to
Screen candidates and winnow the
Applicants pool to a manageable number
3. Making Contact using automated hiring management
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System to contact the most desirable
Candidates very quickly, before they
are snapped up by another company.
4. Closing the Deal Making the phone call, setting up the
meeting and shaking hands .
The above diagram presents steps taken during electronic recruitment process
(Chapman and Webstar, 2003.)
2.3 THE BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
Gone are the days when electronic recruitment was the exclusive domain of the
technologically savvy, the curious and the ultra-sophisticated. Today, with this
medium tried, tested and proven to be true and more importantly dispensable,
professional recruiters and employers alike rely on job portals as a primary source of
professional talents both on a stand-alone basis and in some cases to complement
traditional hiring methods (Gill, 2001).
So the question is what are the benefits of electronic recruitment that have led to such
meteoric rise in its use and revolutionized the way companys hire and candidates
search for jobs in such a short time span?
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According to Galanaki (2002), there are ten (10) basic benefits of electronic
recruitment which are listed below.
i. Reduced time to hire
ii. Reduced cost to hire
iii. Wider reach for employers
iv. Wider reach for candidates (job seeker)
v. Branding opportunity for employers
vi. Sophisticated management tools
vii. Allows for confidentially
viii. Allows for productivity
ix. Allows for database build up
(i) Reduced time-to-hire
According to Galanaki (2002), a firm that uses electronic recruitment allows real time
interaction and 24 x 7 hiring search activities. Employers can post a job in as little to
add 20 minutes size and starts receiving CVs in response immediately. The posting
typically remain active for as long as 30 days and continues to receive applicant CVs
immediately as job seekers come across it. He later conclude that electronic
recruitment hiring is typically on average 70% faster than traditional hiring method
and the recruitment cycle is specked up at every stage from posting to receiving CVs,
to filtering to managing the contact and workflow.
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(ii) Reduce cost of hire
According to Lee (2005), electronic recruitments have reduced hiring costs by about
87% as compared to traditional recruiting through newspapers and magazines. Also
prominent employers for example Dow Chemical were able to reduce their hiring
cycle from 90 to 34 days while cutting its cost per hire by 26% (Gill 2001).
(iii) Wider reach for employers
Unlike traditional methods which are usually restricted by career level, geography,
industry or other parameters online requirement portals typically have current and
active talent database that cover all career levels, industries and regions. Spraining
business development reams also endure that affiliations are established whereby the
portals are always prominent and top of mind with the relevant candidates and are
visited by the target job seekers regularly (Galanaki 2002).
(iv) Wider reach for candidates
Candidates or job seekers benefits immensely from the wider scope they gain through
electronic job sites (Gill 2001). They are able to access jobs in companies, industries
and locations they may not otherwise have learned of and can apply immediately with
the click of a mouse. This is made possible by posting their CVs online which they
can be contacted by employers directly for opportunities that may not even be
advertised (Galanaki, 2002).
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(v) Branding opportunities for employers
Employers can use their job ads to project a consistent brand and company
image/values to prospective job seekers. With this, top talent candidates can be
conversant about who they work for and these companies descriptions often serve as
a basis for their application decisions (Galanaki, 2002)
(vi) Sophisticated Management Tools.
The entire recruitment process is managed from one location which allows the
employers to post vacancies, receive VCs, screen, prioritize and contact candidates
individually or collectively and track all activities from the confines of a private and
highly functional employers workspace (Lee, 2005). E-recruitment manages and
monitor the entire recruitments process from categorizing and tracking candidate
application to ensuring security in all candidate communication and keeping logs on
all correspondence for future references (Gill, 2001).
Job seekers similarly can track the progress of their application at every stage of the
hiring process from their own functional workplace. This allows for an enhanced user
experience for both employers and job seeker.
(vii) Allows for Confidentiality
Both employers and job seekers can elect to maintain their confidentiality. Employers
can elect to search the database without posting a job if the vacancy is sensitive in
nature, or they can post a vacancy while keeping their names and present employers
name confidential.
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(viii) Allows for Database Build Up
Employers can save high profile or particularly attractive CVs, from an existing
online search to build a priority database of pre-screened star talent for future use.
2.5 THE CHALLENGES OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
Adopting online recruitment can be beneficial to organization to a great extent.
However, there are certainly few challenges associated with their successful
implementation.
According to Khosrowpour (2007), there are four major challenges by named:
managerial, organizational, technological and legal challenges that have to overcome
by organizations for making the best use electronic recruitment process.
Managerial challenges
Any technology would remain unused without user acceptance. It is important that
hiring and recruitment managers alike are knowledgeable and comfortable about the
use of electronic recruitment methods (Taylor, 2005). Organizations must hence
conduct a comprehensive training program for HR managers to help them use the
online recruitment tools without any difficulty. The usage online requirement method
has not put an end to the use of other recruitment methods such as employee referrals,
newspaper ads etc. Given the limited financial resources, finding the optimal mix of
various recruitment methods is a challenge for human resources managers. The
success of online recruitment neither does nor relies purely upon the technical
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sophistication of the career website, but upon balanced combination of management
skills and technology. With several available choices, recruitment must imitate to
learn the ways to combine technology into the recruitment practices to prove
strategies and increase their efficiencies.
Finally, electronic requirement has helped companies to retrieve and store talented
applicant faster, but always failed to screen the applicant sufficiently. Therefore
hiring and recruiting mangers have to review each of the applicants manually before
interviewing a candidate and performing assessment (Khosrowpour, 2007)
Organizational Challenges
Most qualified applicants are often passive job seekers, who are presently employed
but strategy to recognized passive job seekers and motivate them to apply must be
developed. Business process redesign is needed across the whole process of Human
Resources Management to realize the online recruitment benefit (Taylor, 2005).
Inefficient and bottle neck tastes must be identified and reconfigured, so that the
whole recruitment moves quickly with an exchange of standardized data and it is
critical to benchmark the best management practice and develop a set of metrics that
measure the effectiveness of various methods of recruitment. There are no important
statistics available at present on the effectiveness of different management practices
of online recruitment tools because of a limited experience with electronic
recruitment.
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Technical Challenges
Lack of confidentiality and security of information discourages the posting of job
applications by job seekers. While security is one of the biggest challenges with job
applications, topmost companies do not specify it explicitly on their career websites.
Combining the process of online recruitment with process of conventional
recruitment is critical due to limited availability of software resources. Paper based
resumes must be converted into a digitized form and stored in the database and
designing a career database is a complex tax. The database of job must be designed to
minimize redundant data and optimize the performance of job search by a candidate.
This can be done by understanding the recruiters and applicants search behaviours.
Legal Challenges
There is need for employers liability for not violating employment discrimination
laws and the laws are similar to applicants background checks and laws restricting
false advertising. Various reporting needs for government would be for global
companies for centralized recruiting (Flyn, 2002). Electronic recruitment is likely to
affect the diversity of an organization if proper efforts are not made. Biased
demographic characteristics can create a serious impact on diversity thereby giving
candidates belonging to minority group less chance to be hired than others.
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2.6 THE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT SITUATION
Nigeria has a high level of unemployment as few employment opportunities exist for
a large amount of qualified citizens who seek jobs daily (Ikechukwu, 2010). And the
government pays little or no attention to combating the problem as no efforts are
made to create employment opportunities for jobless Nigerians (Okecha, 2008).
The Nigerian recruitment practice is characterized by irregularities and malpractices
ranging from corruption to nepotism. Many cases of illegal recruitment of staff are on
the rise in the federal government agencies, subverting a system that is designed to
enhance the unity of the country (sundaytrust.com)
According to investigation by Sunday Trust (2013), illegal recruitment practices are
so wide spread they affect almost all federal ministries, departments and agencies.
The Nigerian senate on Thursday, 17 January 2013 resolved to investigate all the
recruitment exercises conducted by all Federal Government agencies in the last two
years, with a vow to punish perpetrators of employment scam in the country (Wakili,
2013).
As a result of the high employment rate and nepotistic recruitment, exploiters are now
taking advantage of desperation of job seekers thereby further worsening the
recruitment process. According to Okechuku (2010), the followings are examples of
such exploitations.
There are workersengagement centers that scout for firm in need of employees and
advertise their existing vacancies. They demand registration fees from job-seekers,
promising them employment with their clients. When a job is secured , it is usually
agreed between the centre and the employer for the fresh employee to forfeit one or
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two months salary to the centre as payment for its service, and in so doing transfer
the cost of hiring from the hirer to the hired which should not be the case.
Then there are consultants hired by several companies to carry out aptitude tests and
interviews for prospective employees. These consultancies outfits usually have stand-
by candidates who pay huge registration fees and await notice of vacancies anywhere.
These candidates are promptly, notified of any aptitude test or interview the
consultancy would conduct. After such aptitude tests and interviews, these candidates
are mostly among the successful applicants short listed and forwarded to the
prospective employer for recruitment.
In the third group are persons who extort money from job seekers promising to secure
jobs for them. This especially happens when government agencies are recruiting.
These extortionists are either insiders, i.e. employees of the recruiting agency, or
outsiders who have or claim connection to the top management of the government
agency and seldom do they deliver on their promises (Ikechukwu, 2010).
This happens to many federal agencies, particularly those seen to be lucrative such as
the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Custom Service, the
armed forces and financial institutions. Most time they fail and also hardly refund the
money so collected, leaving the applicants disappointed and frustrated. In some state,
people pay up to One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100, 000) to secure a teaching job
in public primary schools. For job in federal bodies, a job seeker may be required to
part with N 150,000. In successful cases, the victims do not complain for, in their
reckoning, the job is worth the price (Ikechukwu, 2010).
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Contributing to a debate, Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno) confessed
that out of compassion, he once paid an amount sum of money for a job offer in a
government agency for one of his constituents.
There was a boy from my constituency who graduated with second
class upper and could not get a job for four years. He had been
driving a taxi for someone in Abuja here before he came to tell me
that one government agency was collecting N200, 000 from each job
applicant. I did not want to give him the money because I couldnt
imagine that kind of thing could be happening, but he was begging
me and in the end, I gave him the money. (Sen. Ndume).
Giving his own personal account, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba said;
For me, it is not a mere hearsay because I was directly approached
severally by my constituents for N500, 000 for job offer in
government agencies, but I declined because I couldnt imagine
something like that happening in our country.(Senator Victor
Ndoma-Egba).
Furthermore, one may liken these three above instance of exploitation of job seekers
to a scenario put forward by the two senators quotes above, to a politician who spends
his money to secure votes during election; of course, the first thing he does after
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assuming office is to recoup his investment and definitely make a profit. The
dangerous dimension is that, a graduate who secures a job however qualified must
first recoup investment setting in motion a vicious cycle of exploitations and
corruption. And before you know it, looting of public treasure becomes a celebrated
evil (Haruna, 2013).
There are also cases where applicants were required to buy internet scratch cards,
apply online, buy sport kits, undergo medical tests and fitness exercise, etc. Not only
did applicants spend much money in the process, some of them reportedly lost their
lives as a result of the fitness exercise. Also applicants incur a lot of costs by buying
air times at cyber caf to access the employers website and apply online. Some travel
from their villages to distant towns to access the internet. For private organizations,
applicants at times discover that their websites are empty of any online application
form. An applicant spends between N500 to N1000 to do this, considering the erratic
nature of internet services in Nigeria. (Gill, 2001)
According to Ben UJ (2010), Nigerias internet market remain extremely under-
served with 70 percent of the internet subscriber base reported by local Internet
Services Providers (ISPs) to account for corporate subscribers while the rest are
home, small office and cyber caf users. Available data from the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) reveals that out of the about 150 million Nigerians
only 11million have access to the internet. But more basically the slow and
exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of the death of the
fixed line infrastructure and poor service quality on the part of ISPs is further
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exacerbated by the fact that only a meager 30 SPMS of bandwidth is available to the
11 million internet users in the country.
Between 2000 to 2006, the percentage of internet users increased from about 0.1% to
about 3%. Then in the three (3) years that followed, 2006 to 2009, the percentage
increased from 3% to 16%. This indicates a somewhat exponential growth rate which
is good for electronic recruitment in not so long run in Nigeria (Ben, 2009).
2.7 APPLICATION OF POSSIBLE ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT
SYSTEM TO SOLVE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES
So how do we electronically recruit the best people putting into consideration the
Nigerian situation that is mentioned above?
In the Nigerian recruitment system there are limited amount of avenues through
which undergraduates can be seen by organizations. This is especially wrong since it
is in the best interest of the organizations that they are able to recruit the best to do
industrial training, which is free labour, with them so as to nurture them into graduate
employees made for that specific company. So in other words these organizations
would have employees that are suitable to them and experienced at the time they
graduate and join that company (Gill, 2010). It is suggested that companies endeavour
to find a way, may be through job boards, to access students that are doing well in
their area of business so as to be able to attract them when it comes time for industrial
training.
As the vacancy arises, sometimes due to the creation of new job, or may be because
an existing member of staff has been promoted or is retiring, a job description and
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employee specification is written or updated, whichever is the case. The job
description lists the duties of the job while the employee specification gives detail of
qualifications, the experience, skills and abilities necessary, to carry out those duties
listed in the job description. This should be carried out by the department seeking to
fill the position (Lee, 2005)
Once this is done it is imperative to send the job description and employee
specification to an outside Human Resource firm that would then search out others
that are doing that kind of job; as detailed in the job description, very well in other
companies so as to have a discussion with them to find out if they might be interested
in working in the company which is currently hiring. It is important to note that it
would be difficult to move this people from their old jobs without a package that is
more than the package they were formerly receiving (Gill, 2001).
While this is going on, a vacancy advertisement should be written that corresponds to
the job description and employee specification and circulated via at least three
different medium, i.e. the internet, TV, radio, newspapers and magazine. This is done
so as to reach both the electronically savvy and the not so electronically savvy (Gill,
2001).
It should be noted that this is a marketing endeavour; as brands and reputations are
crucial in large, open and competitive product and services markets. They are also
crucial in the labour market so much so that all the companys promotions,
advertising and other marketing efforts influence the perspective employees. So
companies should always make sure that they are viewed in the best possible light by
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the public. When this is advertised it is imperative to also states where the interested
applicants would be able to apply.
Even thought internet has not proliferated in Nigeria it should be noted that most blue
collar and white colour jobs require the applicants to be computer literate. So it would
be wise to post that applicant should apply electronically. This do not mean by
sending a CV to an email box but by filling out electronic application forms online
(Cappelli, 2001). Once these applications flood in to the database through the
electronic forms, each application would be given a number (Number 1), indicating
that they actually applied for the job. Then the database screens the applicants, pick
the best prospects which would then be given a second number (Number 2).
Electronic screening drastically reduces the amount of time that is spent when
screening manually.
After the initial screening, a further screening is done by testing the applicants, this
would be done by either the company hiring or a consultant. Without number 1 and 2,
it would be impossible to sit for the test or get graded electronically, implying that the
test could be either an electronic paper test or a computer test.
Furthermore, it is imperative that each applicant that was successful screened through
the database system would be given a number (Number 3) that is generated by the
database.
After the above, a shortlist would be compiled by the database of applicants, with
number 1, 2 and 3, who are going to be invited to attend for interview, and without
these numbers an interview would not be administered. The interviewers would
comprise of sound professionals in the hiring field both from inside and outside the
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organization. These professionals would generate the questions in a meeting prior to
the interview, and these questions would be used for each of the interviewees.
Feedback can be provided (upon request) and unsuccessful applicants have the right
to complain if they feel that they have been unfairly treated. Thereafter, the successful
candidates would be appointed and then inducted (Gill, 2001).
Applicant Acquires
Applicant Acquires
A diagram of
Applicant Acquires Recruitment System.
By Gill J. (2001)
Applicant Acquires
30
Apply by filling
electronic applicationform. Number 1
Screening of application
through database.
Number 2
Electronic Testing andScreening.
Number 3
Interview of those with
number 1, 2, and 3.
Number 4
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The success of every research work depends largely on how well the entire process is
defined and planned bearing in mind the terrain the researcher would be operating in.
The researcher has carefully and logically designed and planed every aspect and stage
of the research including the timing to facilitate and articulate the gathering of data
from the field.
Apart from obtaining all the necessary and relevant information concerning the
problem at hand there was the need to clarify the problem. This was done to ensure
that survey did not prove a failure. All the information needed was obtained from
Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, in order to reveal the problems and
prospects of electronic recruitment.
3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION
All the employees of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission constituted the
research population. The organization had total staff strength of One Hundred and
Sixty Five (165) staff according to the boards payroll.
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3.3 SAMPLING SIZE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Out of the total population of One Hundred and Six Five (165) in the case study, the
researcher determined the sample size using Roscoe (1975) formulae.
The formula is computed as follows:
10% Rule of thumb
Using the total population of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to
compute for the sample size.
10/100 X 165
1650 / 100
16.5
: Sample size is 17 approximately.
3.4 METHOD OF GATHERING DATA
Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used in gathering data. The
sources however, which include materials got from the Kaduna State Independent
Electoral Commission was used for the background of the study as well as materials
from text books, magazines and newspapers were used for the literature review.
For the instrument used in the gathering of raw facts(data) for the research proper, the
questionnaire was strictly used throughout the entire process of the research.
3.5 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE METHOD USED
The reason which prompted the used of questionnaire as the instrument for gathering
data for the research proper include the following:
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i. The questionnaire allows for much time for thought by respondents before
answering the questions i.e. not impromptu.
ii. It promotes wider coverage of the research population at relatively blow cost
iii. Virtually all potential respondents are literate and so, could respond to the
questions in writing through the questionnaire.
iv. Because anonymity was ensured, respondents could be most likely willing
and ready to express their opinion on the issues rose.
v. The questionnaire can be easily kept for reference purpose.
The secondary source of data was also used because it enabled the researcher to
choose relevant materials among several authors whose works were considered
relevant to the research work.
Secondary sources enabled the research to compare different authors past work.
They specifically
i. provides diagrams for the researcher.
ii. told how far researches have been conducted on that particular project or
research topic
iii. helped the researcher to view the research topic from the universal point of
view, and
iv. it is based on some certain tested hypothesis.
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3.6 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents in the field through the use of questionnaire
would be presented in tables and figures and analyzed using simple percentages. In a
similar vein, the researcher deemed it fit due to the nature of the hypothesis to use the
Chi-Square to test the hypothesis. The formula is presented below:
X2 = (O - E)
E
Where = Summation
O=Frequency observed from the table value
E=Frequency expected
3.7 JUSTIFICATION OF INSTRUMENT USED
The choice of Chi-Square for the analysis of the data gathered among other reasons is
that:
i. Most importantly is that it shows relationships between variables.
ii. It helps to present complex quantitative information in a neater and
simplified form for easy comprehension.
iii. Interpretation can be easily done without necessarily needing a guide.
iv. It covers all aspect of data gathered for the research.
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