An investigation on millennials’ perceptions on current online recruitment practices

Abstract

Corporations are faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining younger workers, such as millennials, due to the Baby Boomer generation being retired or reaching retirement. The past decade has seen the rapid development of technology putting human resource management under pressure to become more productive and efficient. Consequently, corporations feel pressured to follow this technology push and understand the generational differences of their workforce. A discussion of the literature has shown that little research has been done on applicants’ preference of different online recruitment channels, the rise of passive applicant attraction and millennials’ work-related values in combination with their attitude towards web based attraction variables. Therefore, this research aims to investigate millennials’ experiences with and perceptions of current online recruitment practices. Qualitative research, investigating millennials’ in-depth opinions, was carried out through six semi-structured interviews. Two interviews were carried out with a sample of HR practitioners, while the other four interviews were with millennial applicants who recently have or are seeking for a job online. The two sample groups were selected through purposive and snowball sampling.

The results of this investigation show that millennials prefer commercial websites, due to the variety of opportunities available to them on these platforms. Participants have criticised aspects of online recruitment, such as the attraction of passive applicants. Nonetheless, overall current online recruitment practices, with a focus on applicant attraction, have been positively perceived. The main recommendation of this research for recruiters is to familiarise themselves with millennials’ preferences, values and their behaviour during the recruitment process. This will allow recruiters to efficiently and successfully attract a millennial applicant pool.