Job Seekers’ Perceptions about the PNet Website as an E-Recruitment Tool within South Africa

Abstract

The primary objective of the study was to evaluate job seekers’ perceptions about the PNet website as an e-recruitment tool in South Africa. There have been many variation regarding sophistication, types and success of recruitment websites and, research has lagged behind on the subject of these rapid changes in practice. On one hand companies continue to make huge investments in these e-applications whereas they have limited knowledge regarding evaluation of success of these applications. On the other hand, customers whom these systems are designed for, vary considerably on their ability to use them. A cros-sectional survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect data form the sample. The purposive sampling of the job seekers who use the PNet website to search for jobs was undertaken (n = 717). There was a statistically significant association between the perceptions of job seekers about the PNet website as and e-recruitment tool and their level of educational qualifications, as well as with gender of respondents. Job seekers with higher educational qualification were found to have less positive perceptions. Male respondents were found to be more positive than female respondents. The highly qualified job seekers are more costly to recruit, thus, they represent a more lucrative market for recruiters and PNet is likely to lose this segment of job seekers. More information about this segment should be gathered in order to find ways to attract this lucrative market.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p530