Design and Implementation of Online Examination System for Staff Recruitment
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The following are the objectives of the study;
- To design and implement an online examination system for the recruitment of staff.
- To identify the structure/characteristics of an online examination system for staff recruitment.
- To identify the benefits of an online examination system for the recruitment of staff.
- To find out the challenges/disadvantages of the adoption of online examination system for the recruitment of staff.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the review of related literature, the contributions of other researchers is examined in this chapter. It looks at:
- The Need for employee recruitment using online examination
- Steps involved in employee recruitment
- The concept of online examination
- System structure/characteristics of online examination
- Advantages of Using Online Examination System for Employee Recruitment
- Disadvantages of Using Online Examination for Employee Recruitment
The Need for Employee Recruitment Using Online Examination
Organizations make use of e-recruitment because of several reasons (Chapman & Webster, 2003). These include:
- Cost Savings
- Ease of Use for Candidates
- Larger candidate pool
- Ease of use for the organisation
- Increasing the speed to hire
- Success in finding candidates
- Keeping ahead of competitors
Parry and Tyson (2008) studied the use and success of e-recruitment methods in the UK. They conducted a six-year survey and performed qualitative interviews among HR managers. The survey had 25,224 respondents over the six years, and represented 935 organizations per survey. Interviews were held to supplement the survey data with a more in-depth view. Fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with senior HR or resourcing managers responsible for recruitment, and five additional interviews were conducted with providers of online recruitment technology. They found from research that cost effectiveness is the most important reason (75%) mentioned by organisations, followed by ease of use for candidates (64%), a larger candidate pool (53%) and ease of use for the organisation (52%). Galanaki (2002) performed a survey among a sample of 99 organisations, of which 34 organisations responded. This research found similar importance regarding reasons to use e-recruitment, like cost effectiveness (46%), wide response rate (46%), reaching a specific niche (42%) and reaching passive job seekers (38%). Pin et al (2001) found, among 167 organisations, additional support for time savings (64%), lower recruitment costs (51%) and 24hrs a day, 7 days a week online (51%).
Steps involved in Employee recruitment
The recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy whereafter the recruiter receives authorization to fill in this vacancy (Chapman & Webster, 2003). In order to do so, the vacant job needs to be carefully analyzed. Analyzing the job might include determining the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience required to perform the job appropriately and defining the required specifications. After identifying and analyzing a vacancy, it can be placed in, for example, newspapers or other media sources. Applicants can apply for vacancies by using the internet. Likewise, further correspondence between organization and applicant depends on the internet to a large extent. Cappelli (2001) describes the recruitment process in three steps. First, candidates need to be attracted. This concerns using the organization’s reputation, product image, online technology and other methods to draw as many potential applicants as possible to the organization’s website. On the website, organizations can reinforce their human resources brand and provide information about jobs and working conditions. The second step in this process is sorting applicants. This relates, for example, to employing sophisticated, standardized online tests to screen candidates, and winnowing the applicant pool to a manageable number. Third, the contacts need to be managed quickly. Due to the use of the internet, organizations are able to respond more quickly to a desirable candidate. An e-recruitment process follows ideally from a systematic human resource planning process, whereby an organization analyses and plans for the flow of people into, through, and out of the organisation (Chapman & Webster, 2003). Yet, there is a fourth step, which does not belong necessarily to e-recruitment but to every recruitment process. This concerns closing the deal (Cappelli, 2001). It refers to making the phone call, setting up the meeting and shaking the hand. From this description, one can notice that the e-element is absent. In this way, Cappelli (2001) highlights the importance of the human touch at the end of the recruitment process. According to him, human touch is increasingly neglected in e-recruitment processes but remains very crucial.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Introduction
This chapter takes an overviews on the system design and the entire research work, it is important to note that a poorly designed system will equally produce an incorrect output as such this chapter presents a skeletal approach to the design of the entire system.
Research Methodology
A software development methodology or system development methodology is a frame work that is used to structure, plan and control the process of developing an information system. The methodology employed for the development of the system is the spiral development. The spiral development model comprises the elements of both design and prototyping. The model has four stages namely:
- Planning
- Analysis
- Evaluation
- Development
The data used for the development of the research was gotten from the internet, textbooks and articles. The contributions of other researchers on the subject were examined so as to gather relevant information. The case study also provided useful information for the development of the system.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION
Introduction
This chapter presents the system flow chart, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and programming environment.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION (S)
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion, constraints of the study and offers useful recommendations.
Constraints of the study
In carrying out the research work, some challenges were faced that limited the study such as:
Time: The time given for the completion of the research work was too short hence the researcher had speed up the research work to meet up and this has an impact on the study.
Limited Materials: few materials were found pertaining to the research area and this limited the bulk of the literature review.
Finance: The high cost of textbooks, internet browsing and transportation to different libraries to gather materials stood as a constraint to the research work.
Summary
Recruitment and selection of staff, forms a core part of the central activities underlying human resource management and it involves: namely, the acquisition, development and reward of workers. It forms an important part of the work of human resource managers – or designated specialists within work organizations. It has an important role to play in ensuring worker performance and positive organizational outcomes. Basically, for an organization to get competent employees they need to be tested. Organizations have taken advantage of the internet to aid their recruitment process. Online examination system for recruitment of staff is a web application that establishes a network between the organization and applicants. The organization enters on the site the questions they want in the exam. These questions are displayed as a test to the eligible applicants. The results of the test or exam is computed and displayed in real time.
Conclusion
It is very important for organizations to take advantage of the internet and adopt online examination system for the recruitment of staff. This will increase their chances of getting competent employees and also eliminate the barrier of distance and bias in recruitment of employees
.Recommendations
The following recommendations are made based on the findings of the research work:
- IT professionals such as computer programmers, web designers and database administrators should be employed.
- Recruitment of staff should be computerized
- Professionals experienced in the development of online recruitment and examination systems should be consulted for guidelines.
- Staff in the recruitment unit should be sent for advanced training to learn how to develop and maintain online examination system for staff recruitment.
REFERENCES
- Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. (1999). Knowledge management systems: Issues, challenges, and benefits, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 1(7).
- Balcı, A. (2004). Sosyal bilimlerde araştırma: Yöntem, teknik ve ilkeler, Ankara: Pegem.
- Beadles, N. A., Lowery, C. M., & Johns, K. (2005). The impact of human resource information systems: An exploratory study in the public sector, Communication of the IIMA, 5(4), pp. 39–46.
- Curtis, G., & Cobham, D. (2002). Business information systems. London, UK: Pearson.
- Dessler, G. (2005) Human Resource Management, 10.ed., USA: Prentice Hall.
