CAREERS MEDIA: Online recruiters lure job hunters with interactivity

<p>Online recruitment websites are causing a stir in the offline </p><p>recruitment industry as job seekers realise the huge pool of resources </p><p>the Internet offers and traditional agencies take their services to the </p><p>Web. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One of Shanghai's largest recruitment agencies, China Human Resources </p><p>Market (Shanghai), recently launched an online recruitment service in </p><p>China and is to open an office in Hong Kong by the middle of this </p><p>year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The company's broadband site, www.hrm.sh.cn, allows users to post </p><p>personal video and audio files, which can be viewed on the 'Net. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It also enables job seekers to watch video clips about companies prior </p><p>to applying for employment. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The site has already attracted some 2,000 recruiters and job hunters </p><p>locally and internationally. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to China Human Resources Market IT manager, Jay Weir, the site </p><p>offers job opportunities in China as well as in overseas markets. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Other Internet recruiters have also included interactive features to </p><p>attract employers and job seekers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to Hong Kong-based researcher iamasia, the most visited job </p><p>site in Hong Kong, in terms of Internet users, was jobsdb.com, with </p><p>96,000 home visitors in December last year (5.2 per cent reach). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>To stay on top, the website recently launched an online personality </p><p>profiling service with international human resources services company </p><p>Drake International. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>While the service is innovative, it is also costly. Employers are to be </p><p>charged anything from several hundred dollars to several thousand </p><p>dollars. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The cost will depend on the amount of personality profiling results </p><p>required on the job applicant. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Meanwhile, the traditional hunt by many for a change of career at the </p><p>start of the new year and the continuous rounds of sackings in the </p><p>dotcom sector resulted in a surge in traffic to online recruitment </p><p>agencies, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The researcher found Australian online recruitment sites came into their </p><p>own during January, suggesting the increased acceptance of the Web as a </p><p>tool to conduct job searches and canvass career options, the researcher </p><p>said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Australian households during January revealed the five most popular job </p><p>sites attracted an aggregated unique audience of more than 400,000 </p><p>Australian users - the highest on record and almost 50 per cent up on </p><p>the previous month. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In Australia alone, spending on online recruitment advertising totalled </p><p>Adollars 14.7 million (about USdollars 7.49 million) last year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>That figure was expected to grow to Adollars 329.3 million in 2004. The </p><p>figure included job listings, banners, buttons and other types of ads </p><p>such as corporate profiles and microsites purchased by recruiters to </p><p>attract attention to their recruiting campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In China, the most-visited job site was 51job.com, with 281,000 home </p><p>visitors in December (3.5 per cent reach), according to reports by </p><p>iamasia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>104.com.tw led Taiwanese job sites with 787,000 home visitors in </p><p>December (16.5 per cent reach). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Iamasia director of marketing and communications, Steve Yap, said the </p><p>figures indicated there was room for only one major "category killer" in </p><p>the job-site market. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added, "It would appear that Internet users in Taiwan are much more </p><p>likely than those in Hong Kong or PRC to look for jobs, or to hire, </p><p>online." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>