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NForum: Digital platform an increasingly important part of the recruitment mix

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Social networking currently is a powerful channel in the digital platform not only for job-seekers and freelancers, but also for employers - but it is not the only channel, said panellists from the NForum, the digital and trend forum hosted by The Nation, last Saturday at the Siam City Hotel.

The panellists were Tidarat Kanchanawat, country manager of Adecco Group Thailand, Chutchapol Youngwiriyakul, human resources manager at Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand), Pinkamol Ruckpao, marketing manager at Nation Multimedia Group who oversees the Nation eJobs project, and Chantra Thongiead, director of human resources at The Siam Bangkok and Siam Hotels & Resorts. The panel was moderated by Vowpaillin Chovichien, second secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Kongdej Keesukpan, blogger at Kafaak.com.

Tidarat said the digital platform is now playing a key role in recruitment. The share between online and offline channels for recruitment at present is around 85:15 - a total change from the years before 2008 when 15 per cent of recruitment was on online channels and 85 per cent on offline.

"Lifestyles of people are dramatically changing, everything is at a finger's click. As a recruitment agency, we need to adapt to utilise all online channels such as website and social media, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. We use each in different ways and for different purposes," said Tidarat.

For example, the company mainly uses a website, improved to be more interactive, as the recruitment platform. The company also uses LinkedIn for seeking professional and management level resources. "Online channel is important for us in job matching, but we do not rely on all online information or social network profiling of candidates. We have a verification process such as behavioural interviews in order to make sure we recommend the right person for our customer," said Tidarat.

Chutchapol said P&G has a global policy to use social networks, both Facebook and Twitter, as communication channels to promote the corporate brand and to encourage people from the social network community to the company's recruitment website. The company set its website as the main channel for recruitment.

"The digital platform is already a part of community life. Both job-seekers or freelancers and employers have to adjust themselves. They have to know where the jobs they seek are, while employers have to know where to tap into the resources the company needs," said Chutchapol.

Chantra said that in the hospitality business, the need is for service-minded people. She said hotels use a digital platform for recruitment for both management and operation level.

"We use LinkedIn to seek professional or management level people, while we use our website as the key recruitment channel, and the social network such as Facebook and Twitter to get connection with potential candidates," said Chantra.

Pinkamol said the company has launched Nation eJobs on social network, which is designed to be an online social community for jobseekers and employers.

-- The Nation 2012-04-30

[scorecard]

Employers please note, don't be fooled by this 'amazing new generation' 'on-line' approach to recruiting.

Many employers have discovered that the actual person is nothing like what they have portrayed in their 'on-line' personal details of qualifications, experience, attitudes, etc.

Nothing wrong with using these 'on-line' sites to gather some candidates but there should be mix of methods to get candidates, and perhaps only professional agencies for higher level and/or critical operational positions.

Through some consulting work I'm aware of several Thai and Singapore companies who 'embraced' the on-line approach and cancelled their agreements with the more professional agencies. They have all since reversed this and gone back to working with / paying fees to good recruitment agents.

All of these employers have now added another serious question which they ask to the candidates who get an interview and have come from a professional dedicated recruitment agency; 'how did the recruitment agency get your name and details?'

If this question and further questioning and checking proves that the recruitment agency got the candidate name from a static website then they cancel the agreement with that agency. And these employers have all informed the recruitment agencies about this policy.

Further, it seems that many recruitment agencies have dropped a critical part of successful recruitment steps - they have dropped the step where they contact previous employers / bosses to ask for comments about past employment history, capability, performance, behaviors, punctuality, etc etc.

I know of one two international agencies in Bangkok who say that they check references - which actually means they call the specific people the candidate has supplied to the recruitment agency as 'references'. This is a waste of time, when anybody gives a specific name as a 'reference, you can guarantee the referee will give positive comments.

I challenged these two agencies to explain what they mean by saying 'they check references'. Both at first insisted that it was a secret methodology, but my insistence on a clear answer proved they don't actually contact past employers and ask to speak to at least two previous bosses (and not including the HR Manager). One international agency insisted that this would be unfair to job candidates. In reality if the job candidate has good knowledge and skills, has a good past performance record, has good on the job behaviors then they have nothing to fear. On the other side of the coin the new employer has every right to be aware of any lack of any / all of these factors.

I have convinced my clients to insist on this step as part of the signed agreement with each recruitment agency.

In most cases the questions to the previous boss should be:

- Please comment about the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate, with added focus on the on the job behaviors and attitudes, co-operation and collaboration, and more.

- Then, 'would you re-employ this person, at the same level and with the same responsibilities?', and with a polite request to be very frank.

Edited April 30, 2012 by scorecard