Keywords

1 Introduction

Contemporary organisations need agile and flexible people with a powerful adaptive capacity who can cope with the continuous changes taking place in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment- VUCA, as described by Holbeche [1]. The unravelling of the most efficient ways of attracting the qualified candidates is of utmost importance, as recruitment costs can be high [2]. As the acquisition, development and preserving of the talent represent a key to success, organisations are suggested to handle talent management in a strategic and integrated fashion [3]. The approach should support the organisation’s strategic objectives and, last but not least, generally match with its values and characteristics. Within an organisational context, the talented employees are the ones who can contribute to the growth of the organisational performance, either through their immediate contribution or through their long-term input, via the manifestation of their potential on the highest level [4]. The use of a talent management software is suggested which implies, for instance, the evaluation of the workforce performance, the monitoring of the candidate’s abilities and their integration, which further helps managers to “recruit, administer and keep the best employees” [5].

When taking decisions concerning recruitment, organisations take into account three paths [6]: the personnel policies (they represent organisational decisions which act upon the management of human resource in general, comprising the nature and manner in which vacant positions are filled); recruitment sources (internal and external sources), but also the characteristics and behaviour of the recruiter (which act upon the characteristics of both the vacant positions and candidates). Finally, both the decision of an applicant to accept a job offer and the decision of the organisation to make the offer depend on the coordination between the characteristics of the vacant position and those of the applicant. The recruitment sources make reference to the location of the qualified candidates (i.e., universities or competitors), and the recruitment methods account for the special means used so as to attract the candidates (i.e., online recruitment) [2]. Because of the development of technology, online recruitment has, nowadays, become one of the most used and efficient ways of recruitment. This paper aims at identifying the complexity of recruitment websites from Romania (from a job perspective wise but also from the perspective of facilities and options that are on offer for the users) and their use by students. Most of the students are or will be searching for a job and they represent the age group which knows how to value the diversity and richness of the resources offered by the online environment.

2 Online Recruitment

Technological tendencies have created new opportunities through which the functioning of the human resource reaches its targets, its recruitment [6]. Recruitment through technology covers a wide spectrum of the labour market, with different online platforms being available for the searching of the necessary candidates. At present, organisations are using more and more of the social media platforms, such as LinkedIn and Facebook to search for the ideal candidates [7]. In order to evaluate the different opportunities given by these platforms, it is sufficient to take into account that Facebook has outreached 2 billions of daily active users and 3 billions of monthly active users [8]. Online or electronic recruitment uses the internet to advertise vacant positions and to offer information about the job itself or to collect CVs. The majority of organisations resort to online recruitment through their own webpage, where they offer details about the vacant positions, the benefits that the enterprise offers and details about how to apply for the job [9]. A website which offers numerous details about the job is, most of the times, a successful website in online recruitment [10].

There are multiple advantages of online recruitment: information can reach a higher number of possible candidates; low costs, convenient, the speed of getting people employed (the fastest and cheapest method, as opposed to the old methods of recruitment); the possibility to offer more details about the future workplace; through social media websites and blogs one can identify a large range of possible candidates and know various details about them; websites such as LinkedIn offer candidates enough information about the culture and values of the organisation which help them evaluate whether they are eligible to the requirements of the position and of the organisation. On the other hand, such websites are useful for the employers who can pay for extra benefits; such is the case of “Recruiter”, an instrument with which one can identify the profiles of the candidates whose qualities and abilities are similar to the ones required by the organisation. “The organisations can create a career page on LinkedIn so as to offer a description of themselves using key words which candidates might use; they could also present the lists concerning the available jobs and customize messages according to the visitor’s profile” [6].

In spite of the many advantages of online recruitment, there are also some disadvantages that employers must consider when using it: collecting too many job applications for a vacant position, thus bringing difficulties in sorting them out; attracting unqualified people for the position. Therefore, it is necessary that the employers should make the recruitment process more efficient; the possible candidates post information on social media websites which they do not reveal at an interview, a fact which might not be regarded as positive by the employer; “accessibility for some groups, such as the unemployed, less IT-literate or older applicants” [9]. E-recruitment may also not be fully compliant with disability discrimination legislation. Organisations should, therefore, also use traditional methods, such as application forms and print media, to ensure equality of access to information [9]. In addition, recruiters begin to intensively use artificial intelligence (AI) and other recruiting instruments with intelligent technology at the workplace [7]. AI is seen as a game changer of recruitment, especially in large organisations [10]. “AI-powered interfaces will become a source of competitive advantage for organizations that use them correctly” [11].

AI can be used in different ways: the algorithms can sort CVs, can create the profile of the outstanding employees and compare it to the candidates’ profile, can write job descriptions; the data extraction algorithms can use the given data on social media; Google Hire comes as an add-on to Google platform for jobs; one can create psychometric systems for game testing (gamification). The learning algorithms can easily help in the recruitment automation system through the basic fact that they collect data from the online environment [10]. The possible problems that can show up, as a result of the use of AI in recruiting, are linked to the fact that erroneous information can be extracted from Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter; discrimination or other biases against the candidate can also arise. “Pictures can potentially identify individuals as members of a protected class, and those pictures may cause subconscious bias on the part of some recruiters. AI systems also pose privacy issues. Any privacy invasion or bias, whether intentional or unintentional, is a danger to the organization during the recruiting and hiring process” [7]. “As talent acquisition is one of the most labour-intensive elements in the entire HR spectrum, professionals in this field stand to gain much from the adoption of AI-based recruiting technologies” [12].

This study aims at identifying the way in which students use recruitment websites from Romania: the frequency of their use, the options which are considered useful, the trust and degree of satisfaction of the above mentioned in terms of their use and the ability of finding a job with their help, but also the use of instruments of artificial intelligence, offered by some of them.

3 Methodology

3.1 Research Objectives

  1. (1)

    A comparative analysis of recruitment websites from Romania from the available positions’ stance: the number and type of positions (overall and from the domain of human resources (HR), the required education level and previous experience, the number of jobs for students and graduates from the domain of HR, the number of positions from abroad (overall and from the domain of HR), the number of remote positions (overall and from the domain of HR).

  2. (2)

    A comparative analysis of recruitment websites from Romania, from the perspective of design and from the different facilities that are on offer.

  3. (3)

    To identify the students’ attitudes towards the use of recruitment websites from Romania and other general behaviours towards their online use.

3.2 Research Design

The present sociological study is a descriptive one. Two methods of research have been used: content analysis and the sociological inquiry based on a questionnaire. The questionnaire has been sent through e-mail to the students from Transilvania University of Brașov. A number of 16,809 students were enrolled at Transilvania University of Brasov in the 2022–2023 academic year (undergraduate degree programmes).

3.3 Data Collection

The universe of the research is given by: (1–2) Recruitment websites from Romania in June 2023; (3) students from Transilvania University of Brașov, enrolled in the 2022–2023 academic year. The size of sampling: (1–2) 10 recruitment websites from Romania, some of them being sponsored by the Google search engine: eJobs [13], BestJobs [14], Hipo [15], Jobradar24 [16], Undelucram [17], Jooble [18], JobZZ [19], OLX Jobs [20], Romjob [21], Careerjet [22]. The sampling was improbably accidental. Data were collected in June, 21st 2023. (3) 200 students from Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania, enrolled in the 2022–2023 academic year. The sampling was improbably accidental. Data were collected in June 2023.

4 Analysis and Interpretation of Data

4.1 A Comparative Analysis of Recruitment Websites from Romania

Top websites with most jobs are: Jobradar24, eJobs and OLX Jobs. Full time jobs gain the upper hand on most of the recruitment websites and Jobradar24 contains many seasonal positions. The majority of remote jobs can be found on Jooble. According to the education level: eJobs mainly contains jobs for qualified candidates and for graduates. BestJobs mainly includes jobs for underqualified candidates; Hipo for students; Jobradar24 for underqualified candidates and for graduates; Jooble for students and graduates; JobZZ for qualified candidates; OLX Jobs and Romjob for underqualified and qualified candidates; Careejet for underqulified and students; Undelucram website does not mention any. Based on experience level, such websites contain jobs which do not require previous experience (most jobs out of the total number offered on Jooble, OLX Jobs and Careerjet); Entry-level jobs (eJobs, Jobradar24 and Romjob); Mid-level (BestJobs, Hipo and Undelucram); Senior-Level and Manager/Executive (Jooble). Most jobs from abroad can be found on Jooble, eJobs and bestJobs. The majority of jobs from abroad from the HR domain are on eJobs, OLX Jobs, BestJobs and Jooble (Table 1).

Table 1 Number of different type of jobs
Full size table

Recruitment websites have been analysed according to the following 14 criteria: job diversity (10 websites), attractive design (9 out of 10 have an attractive design), facility usage (8 websites), mobile friendly (7 websites), Facebook pages in Romanian (7 user accounts), activity on social media (6 websites), advanced filtering (6 websites), additional information about jobs (6 websites), fees for posting the announcement (6 websites), career counselling (5 websites), articles for users (4 websites), CV templates (4 websites), internship programmes (3 websites) and salary calculator (2 websites). According to the number of given facilities, the top of websites is as follows: (1) eJobs (14 facilities); (2) Undelucram (11 facilities); (3) BestJobs (10 facilities); (4) Hipo (9 facilities); (5) Jobradar24 and Jooble (8 facilities); (6) Careerjet (7 facilities); (7) Romjob (6 facilities); (8) JobZZ and OLX Jobs (5 facilities).

4.2 The Use of AI by Recruitment Websites

In 2019, eJobs launched the feature for employers known as “Fitness candidate” which uses artificial intelligence in order to classify candidates according to the relevance and degree of compatibility in what concerns the workplace. Using this feature, all jobs posted by the employer will quickly arrive at the right candidates, because similar jobs will be recommended according to the qualifications of the candidate applying for a position. When it comes to identifying talents, eJobs introduced in 2021 an intelligent service for recruiting candidates (Skilld) which is based on algorithms and contains powerful recruitment instruments through social media. BestJobs has a section of Coaching which offers a conversation with AI (Artificial intelligence). This feature resembles ChatGPT and offers information with respect to the career that the user wishes to have, information connected to interviews, professional orientation, assistance in filling in the CVs or in finding a job. Undelucram.ro uses artificial intelligence for “Employer Branding” (to create a solid employer’s brand), “Salary Report” (which offers detailed information about incomes on the labour market) and “Jobbing” (the JobMatching algorithm represents an efficient solution for organisations to attract the right candidates).

4.3 The Attitude of Students from Transilvania University of Brașov Regarding the Use of Recruitment Websites from Romania

Socio-demographic Data of the Respondents. The age of the respondents: most of the respondents (86%) are in between 18 and 20 years of age. The respondents are students from 9 out of the 18 faculties of Transilvania University of Brașov, most of them from the 2nd year (24%) and 3rd year of undergraduate degree programme (60%). 84% of the students are on no tuition positions while 16% on tuition positions. The gender of the respondents: 72% feminine, 28% masculine. Background: 60% urban and 40% rural. Generally, students spend plenty of time in the online environment: 46% spend on average between 3 to 6 h, 40% between 6 to 8 h and 12% over 8 h daily. Only 2% state they spend less than 3 h.

Over a half of the respondents (54%) already have a job. Out of those who do not have a job, almost half of them (46%) mention that are interested, to a large extent, in finding a job. Those students who are in search of a job turn to or intent to turn to, to a large extent the following websites: recruitment websites (66%), Social Media (54%), companies’ web pages (42%), recruiting apps on mobiles (42%), job groups on social media (32%), online communities (26%) and government’s job portals (10%). Most of the students (88%) state they access the recruitment websites, 80% already have a user account on such a website and 50% already got a job through a recruitment website. Students have user accounts on the following recruitment websites: (1) eJobs (82%); (2) BestJobs (50%); (3) JobZZ (22%) and OLX Jobs (22%); (4) Jobradar24 (16%); (5) Jooble (12%) and Careerjet (12%); (6) Hipo (10%); (7) Undelucram (4%); (8) Romjob (0%). The most accessed websites by students, when in search of a workplace, are: (1) eJobs (94%); (2) BestJobs (52%) and (3) OLX Jobs (24%). Comparing the popularity of websites to their facilities, one can notice the fact that eJobs owns more facilities and it is the most popular among students. BestJobs comes 3rd in the top when it comes to the offered facilities and 2nd in terms of students’ preferences. Even if JobZZ and OLX have fewer facilities in contrast to other websites, they come the 3rd and 4th when it comes to students’ preferences. Interesting enough is the situation of Undelucram website which, even if it comes 2nd in terms of the offered facilities, it comes the 6th in students’ preferences. Students are satisfied and extremely satisfied (72%) by their experience as users on the recruitment websites. Recruitment websites prove useful to the students in finding a workplace suitable for them (70% have managed to find at least a suitable job in the last year). Characteristics of useful websites for students, to a big extent, when they are in search of a job: detailed information about jobs (80%); filtering of information (76%), search facilities (64%), reviews (62%), the website’s reputation and popularity (60%). The most used filters on recruitment websites are: the city (86%), the required level of experience (76%), the type of job- full time, part-time (76%), the domain of activity (74%), the income (70%) and the education level (66%). Only a small number of students (25%) have used the instruments of artificial intelligence given by the websites, but most of them (80%) are eager to become knowledgeable about these instruments and further use them. Students believe that online recruitment has greatly intensified (78%) after the pandemic. Moreover, they argue that online recruitment makes, to a great extent, the work of organisations a lot easier.

5 Conclusions

Online recruitment is more and more used by organisations and candidates due its various benefits. It is a method for complex recruitment and in a continuous change due to the endless evolution of technology. It is important that organisations learn to efficiently use all instruments offered by this recruitment method- to pay attention to the organisation and use of its own websites, of the filters so as to attract the most suitable candidates, to use the best websites in the field and online platforms. In spite of all these, organisations mustn’t neglect the classical means of recruitment in order to attract those classes of candidates which do not seek for vacant positions online. In general, the most popular websites are those which offer as many facilities as possible, complex filtration systems, a great number of jobs and detailed information about them. For most websites, creating a user account is an advantage to finding a job, as they regularly send e-mails about the new jobs posted on websites, according to the users’ criteria. The costs for posting on a recruitment website are high, as well as the costs for promoting the announcements, but the chances for attracting candidates for the vacant job are higher when the rating of an announcement grows. Students search online for information about the vacant positions, many of them having user accounts on various recruitment websites. The most used website is eJobs, which is also the most popular but also known and advertised recruitment website from Romania. The most used filters by students are the city (commuting is difficult during college), the type of job (students prefer part-time jobs) and the level of experience (in order to access, as easy as possible, those jobs which do not require previous experience). At these, we add the filtering of jobs and the possibility to obtain detailed information about the job itself.