The Leading Factor

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21883 The web mania has caught

on, so will job searches on the web.

The future of career

sites



So it definitely boils down to one thing–where does the future of
career sites stand? Personnel handling career sites are unequivocal

that such sites are headed for an exponential growth. “We expect

to double turnover and traffic each year for the next three years,”

says Sanjeev Bikchandani of naukri.com, which has 5,000 jobs listed

at any point of time. It is more of the value addition that is being

talked of by the career sites and the add-on features that they

present. Most of the sites offer free posting of résumés

with revenue being targeted from advertisements and corporate memberships.

As Shirley Premsingh, Manager, Careerindia.com,

says, “We are focusing on IT professionals. We are more of a career

portal than a career site. We keep the résumé format

very short and sweet, with just the relevant questions being asked.

We also have a format of annual membership fees from corporates

and have so far 23 members from all over the world. It all depends

on the quality of the career sites, what new features you are able

to give.”

No doubt, quality is what matters today.

Not just posting résumés, but giving tips on how to

face an interview, articles on career burnouts and others, covering

the entire gamut of HR. As Mathew says, “By providing links to various

publications in our site, we are also looking at enhancing the knowledge

of the person who visits our site. We have more than 50 articles

on careers, which helps the job seeker in addressing a plethora

of issues.” It has become the order of the day and this can be gauged

from the fact that each career site is restructuring and re-engineering

to come out with a new look.

Value addition has become a key word

to watch out for. “How the service provider can use the features

of the internet to provide maximum value additions, like shortlisting

candidates through a server-based software based on parameters given

by the client. Many opportunities are opening up in this area. Software

clients, especially, can use the internet as a medium to increase

brand recall and improve the corporate equity through meaningful

advertising and sponsorship of relevant content.

This is all the more relevant in India

as all the advertising is targetted at attracting talent through

a good corporate image,” says Anant Wadkar of Winjobs.com. A harbinger

of things to come taking into account the way career sites are shaping

up and improving their look and content. They now address various

segments and issues of the recruiters as well as the job seekers.

Net recruiting in India



Internet recruiting in India is still in the nascent stage. Though
it has taken a long time to come, it is growing at a fast pace,

offering at least something for everyone. HR managers, consultants

and companies are still relying heavily on the conventional methods.

Maybe two years down the line, one may see a paradigm shift. And

it will not be long before we see job advertisements making an exit

from the print media. It all depends on the infrastructure, the

connectivity and the links. There is light at the end of the tunnel

for career sites, but it all depends on how long the sojourn will

be through the tunnel.

Rajesh

Menon



In Bangalore