electronic recruitment in nigeria: problems and prospects

7/28/2019 ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS.

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ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT: PROBLEMS AND

PROSPECTS

(A Case Study of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission)

BY

MUSA ABUBAKAR

KPT/CBMS/10/3709

BEING A PROJECT SUBMISTTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

MANAGEMENT STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THEREQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF HIGHER NATIONAL

DIPLOMA IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES

KADUNA POLYTECHNIC

KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA.

SPETEMBER, 2013

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CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Today, the internet as well as other information and communication technologies has

changed many business and private life and continues to do so. For the young

generation of developing countries like Nigeria, these changes are taken for granted.

It is already known that computer and internet are being used to automate most of the

related tasks of Human Resource department of many organizations.

Electronic recruitment is a concept that has gained enormous popularity in recent

times. It is one of such tasks in the field of Human Resource Management that has

been transformed greatly by ICT. According to Gill (2001), electronic recruitment is a

way of recruiting that provides organizations with an exceptionally cost-effective way

to manage and monitor their entire recruitment process, from categorizing and

tracking candidate applications to ensuring security in all candidate communications

and keeping logs on all correspondences for future references. The concept is

synonymous and can sometimes be used interchangeably with online recruitment,

cyber-recruitment or internet recruitment (Ben, 2010). The growth of electronic

recruitment has being fuelled by the adoption of the new technology. It forms one of

the central pillars of a smart staffing for organization in almost every economic

sector. It provides current information to a broad audience and improved

communication in an efficient and timely manner. It bridges the gap between the

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employers and job seekers. It also provides a wider scope, choice and opportunity for

both parties (Lee, 2005). In spites of all these advantages, electronic recruitment

appears to be unpopular in Nigeria and other developing countries.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

It is undeniable that changing from manual to electronic recruitment of many

recruitment functions and job search resources has vastly expanded the scope,

accessibility, ease and efficiency of the recruitment process. However, the long ever

implications of this trend remain shrouded in ambiguity (Gill, 2001). Regardless of

the widespread growth and inherent advantages of this new technology, there exist

significant shortcomings from both demographic and technological perspectives in

Nigeria which include; limited access, usage problems and flawed infrastructure

(Ben, 2008). Even when it is abundantly clear that electronic recruitment has

inexorably altered the hiring process its impact upon the practices and principles of

Human Resource Management are not yet fully defined. It seems the primary change

at this time has been a technological one, in which the newspaper help-wanted ads

and snail-mailed paper resumes of the past have been neatly replaced with their

electronic successors (Lee, 2005). In other words, although the tools we use have

changed, most of the underlying principles that govern the recruitment process have

remained basically unchanged.

Today in Nigeria, the Human Resource profession stands at a critical junction. We

have been presented with the unique and formidable opportunity to help usher in a

new paradigm that combines the best world- the efficiency and unparalleled reach of

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the internet with the high- touch, intuitive and exceedingly human focus of traditional

recruitment.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study sets out to assess the Nigerian recruitment situation, its constraints, challenges

and its prospects. It intends to suggest a possible way of recruiting electronically or

otherwise that would bye pass those constraints and challenges in order to make it

suitable and more accessible to the prospective applicants in particular and organizations

and recruitment agencies in general.

1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

According to Osuola (2010), hypothesis can be defined as a conjectural statement of

relationship between two or more variables.

In this research, hypothesis will be formulated as follows:

Ho= Electronic recruitment is not a favourable means of recruitment.

Hi=Electronic recruitment is a favourable means of recruitment

Where Ho = Null hypothesis

Hi =Alternative hypothesis

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1.5THESIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research work will be of great importance to the following sections of the people:

To students, the study will serve as their reference or guide in pursuing a great

career particularly in Human Resource Management;

To teachers, the study will help them to have a deeper understanding of the

subject matter and will be an aid for teaching students.

To future researchers, the study will benefit and help them as guide to develop

and expand the subject matter.

Lastly, the study will also provide organizations and recruiting agencies with

relevant information that will help them to select and design effective and

efficient ways of reaching prospective employees.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research is focused on the problems and prospects of electronic recruitment

system using Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) as a case

study. The study covers all staff of the Commission irrespective of their hierarchical

position.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

There is no achievement without hurdles and same goes with this research. In the

course of this research work, a number of unavoidable constraints and obstacles were

encountered and these are as follows;

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Limited or very few numbers of organizations that use electronic recruitment and

same goes with recruiting agencies particularly in Kaduna.

Non-availability of certain information regarded as sensitive information in the

Commission.

Also, the time limit was very short due to the fact that the time of writing this project

coincides with the time of examination.

Lastly and most importantly is the financial constraint. Writing a genuine and

comprehensive project need a lot of money and as a student, the researcher found it

very difficult to be able to do what he dreamt to do. Nevertheless, the aim and

objective of the study has been achieved.

1.8 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY

The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission was established pursuant to the

provisions of section 197(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of

Nigeria, 1999. Before 1999, what existed was the State Electoral Commission which

was established under the State Electoral Commission Law cap.50, Laws of Kaduna

State 1991; which eventually metamophorsized into SIECOM with the promulgation

of the 1999 Constitution.

The constitution vested in the Governor of a State to nominate the Chairman and

Members of the State Independent Electoral Commission subject to the confirmation

of the Sate House Assembly. In pursuance of the power, the Chairman and Members

were nominated by the Executive Governor of Kaduna State Dr. Ahmed Mohammed

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Makarfi and confirmed by the House of Assembly in September 2000. The Chairman

and members of the commission were sworn in on the 11th October, 2000.

The same 1999 Constitution clearly spells out the functions of the Commission which

are:

(a) To organize, undertake and supervise all elections to local government

councils within the state; and

(b) To render such advice as it may consider necessary to the Independent

National Electoral Commission on the compilation of and the register of voters in

so far as that register is applicable to local government elections in the State.

The Commission comprise of the Chairman and six other members, who not only

formulate policies, but perform assigned duties. One of such duties is supervisory in

nature. In this regard each member is performing supervisory functions over a Zone

(group of Local Government Areas).

The Chairman presides over the meetings of the Commission provided that one third

of the total membership is in attendance. Each member shall be entitled to one vote,

the Chairman shall have casting as well as deliberative vote.

In order to facilitate action and or decision, the Commission has appointed the following

committees:

i. Finance Committee

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ii. Establishment Matters Committee

iii. Logistics Committee

iv. Public Affairs Committee

iv. Legal Affairs Committee

Each of this Committee is being headed by a Commissioner, and memberships

include some Commissioners. The Commission has staff strength of 165 although it

has authority to build a staff strength of 236.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

These are terms that are conceptually and operationally defined for better

understanding of the readers.

Internet: It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public,

academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope,

that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical

networking technologies.

ICT: Information and Communication Technology - This is an umbrella term that

includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio,

television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software,

satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications

associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.

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Recruitment: Thisrefers to the process of attracting, screening, selecting, and on

boarding a qualified person for a job in an organization.

Job Seeker: Is a person who is looking for employment, due to unemployment or

discontent with a current position.

Human Resource: It is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an

organization, business sector or an economy.

Recruitment Agency: It is an organization which matches employers to employees.

SIECOM: State Independent Electoral Commission

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Human resources are the key components of every organization. It represents total

knowledge, talent and attitude, creative ability, aptitude and belief of an individual

involved in the affair of an organization which is an integral part for every concerned

(Armstrong, 2009). It is associated with the people at work and their relationships

within and outside the enterprise.

Recruitment of efficient staff is one of the activities perform by Human Resource

Management department since it performs the essential function of drawing an

important resource in to the organization. It has a strategic aim as it focuses on the

need to attract high quality people in order to gain a competitive advantage (Parry &

Tyson 2008). They further stress that a new development in this domain is the use of

the internet to attract potential employees to an organization, and is referred to as

electronic recruitment. Internet has made an impact on the overall functioning of

human resource department. Also human resource processes and procedures have

been supported by everything from complicated file folder system to automation,

going from usage multiple systems and databases to a single version of the whole

system (Dhamijia, 2010)

2.1THE CONCEPT OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

The concept of electronic recruitment was brought about as a result of the rapid

advance in technology which dramatically changed the way business is conducted

(Erica, 2007). This increasing use of technology is clearly demonstrated by the

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number of organizations and individuals who utilize the internet and electronic mail.

According to Dhamija (2010), in terms of Human Resource Management, the internet

has changed the way of recruitment from both perspective i.e. organization and job

seekers.

Electronic recruitment has been defined as a way of recruiting that provides

organizations with an exceptionally cost effective way to manage and monitor their

entire recruitment process, from categorizing and tracking candidate applications to

ensuring security in all candidate communications and keeping logs on all

correspondences for future uses (Gill, 2001). This definition provides much wider

scope of what electronic recruitment is all about. Gill further said that two trends

which make it compulsory for small and medium sized business to invest in the tools

for a successful electronic recruitment strategy are demographic trend and financial

scarcity. On one hand, better technology and easier access to information produced

between workers and firms is increasing the probability of finding the best match for

a given opening. On the other hand, reduced application cost also encourages

increased application from under qualified job seekers, triggering increased effort by

firms to improve screening mechanism. The internet according to Dhamijia (2010 ),

first emerge as a recruiting tool in the mid 1995 and was hailed by the popular

media as the drive behind a recruiting revolution due to the benefits it could bring to

recruiters .

According to Breagh and Stark (2000), the breakthrough and the lasted trends in

recruitment is the electronic recruitment which is also known as online recruitment.

They affirmed that e-recruitment or electronic recruitment makes the process of

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finding candidates and new business opportunities quicker, cheaper, and more

efficient. It has also caused the largest change to the recruitment process in the past

decade acting as a link between employers and job seekers.

2.2 THE FORMS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

(a) Commercial job boards

Commercial job boards are the most common form of electronic recruitment. Job

boards work like classified ads in the newspaper. These are global and allow a wide

reach to pool of candidate. The job boards greatest strength is the sheer numbers of

job applicants listing resumes. It has been estimated that they contain five million

unique resumes (Gutmacher, 2006). In addition they enable recruiters to operate 24

hours a day, examine candidates from around the world, and are generally quite

inexpensive (Boehle, 2000). A major advantage of the job board approach for an

organization is that many people post resumes and that job boards provide a search

for applicants with the relevant skills and experience. A second advantage is that an

organization can provide extensive information as well as a link to the companys

web site for further information on both i.e. the job as well as the organizations. The

dedicated recruitment websites can take a form of job listing websites that are very

similar to printed classified advertisements, work wanted sites, which emphasize the

prospective employees side and finally online recruiters who makes use of other

websites as a resource for finding clients and customers (Rudich, 2000, Tailor, 2001)

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(b) Corporate websites

Companies websites represent one of the first web based modes or form to

recruitment. Many of these websites also provide the useful information about an

organization as well as the mechanism to apply for available jobs. It is a very

common practice to add recruitment pages to the existing organization site. Its major

advantage is the minimal cost associated with the developing a page on the corporate

sites and put it forward as the smartest way to recruit on the internet (Scheyer &

Mecarter, 1998).

Most applicants would consider a medium to large size company without a

recruitment websites to be somewhat strange. One report indicated that of 62,000

hires at nine large companies in the United State, 16% were imitated at the

companys corporate websites (Maher and Silverman, 2002). With a good list of

benefits, it would result foolish for any organization that does not have a companys

corporate websites

2.3 THE PROCESS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

The recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy where after the

recruiter receives authorization to fill in this vacancy (Chapman & Webstars, 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

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Electronic recruitment process differs from the traditional recruitment in that it uses

the internet and technology to support the process. In the case of electronic

recruitment, vacancy can be published on corporate websites or job boards (Cappelli,

2001). Applicants can apply for vacancies by using the internet. Likewise, further

future correspondence between organization and applicant depends on the internet to

a large extent.

Cappelli (2001) further describes the electronic recruitment process in three steps.

First, candidates need to be attracted. This is concerns with using the organization

reputation, product image, online technology and other methods to draw as many

potential applicants as possible to the organizations websites. Thus, organization 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 candidates, online test to screen candidates,

and winnowing the applicant pool to a manageable number. Third, the contract needs

to be managed quickly. Due to the use of the internet, organizations are able to

respond more quickly to desirable candidates. Organization need to work

aggressively and use automated hiring management system to contact the most

desirable candidates very quickly before they are snapped up by another company.

Chapman and Webstars (2003), describe a similar electronic recruitment process. In

this way, electronic recruitment differs from manual recruitment by making use of e-

enable sources. These steps can also be applied to the traditional recruitment process

as well, yet the distinction lies in the use of e-enabled technologies.

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An electronic recruitment process follows ideally from systematic human resources

planning process, whereby an organization analyses and plans for the flow of people

into, through, and out of the organization (Cappelli, 2001)

Yet there is a forth steps, which does not belong necessarily to electronic recruitment

but to every recruitment process. This is concerns with closing the deal. According to

Chapman and Webstsar (2003), it refers to making the phone call, setting up the

meeting and shaking the hand. From this description one can notice the e-element is

absent. In this way Cappelli(2001), highlights the importance of the human touch at

the end of the recruitment process but remain very crucial.

ELECTRIC RECRUITMENT PROCESS

1. Attracting candidates using the organizations online

technology to draw potential applicants

to the organizations website

2. Sorting Applicants employing sophisticated online test to

Screen candidates and winnow the

Applicants pool to a manageable number

3. Making Contact using automated hiring management

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System to contact the most desirable

Candidates very quickly, before they

are snapped up by another company.

4. Closing the Deal Making the phone call, setting up the

meeting and shaking hands .

The above diagram presents steps taken during electronic recruitment process

(Chapman and Webstar, 2003.)

2.3 THE BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

Gone are the days when electronic recruitment was the exclusive domain of the

technologically savvy, the curious and the ultra-sophisticated. Today, with this

medium tried, tested and proven to be true and more importantly dispensable,

professional recruiters and employers alike rely on job portals as a primary source of

professional talents both on a stand-alone basis and in some cases to complement

traditional hiring methods (Gill, 2001).

So the question is what are the benefits of electronic recruitment that have led to such

meteoric rise in its use and revolutionized the way companys hire and candidates

search for jobs in such a short time span?

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According to Galanaki (2002), there are ten (10) basic benefits of electronic

recruitment which are listed below.

i. Reduced time to hire

ii. Reduced cost to hire

iii. Wider reach for employers

iv. Wider reach for candidates (job seeker)

v. Branding opportunity for employers

vi. Sophisticated management tools

vii. Allows for confidentially

viii. Allows for productivity

ix. Allows for database build up

(i) Reduced time-to-hire

According to Galanaki (2002), a firm that uses electronic recruitment allows real time

interaction and 24 x 7 hiring search activities. Employers can post a job in as little to

add 20 minutes size and starts receiving CVs in response immediately. The posting

typically remain active for as long as 30 days and continues to receive applicant CVs

immediately as job seekers come across it. He later conclude that electronic

recruitment hiring is typically on average 70% faster than traditional hiring method

and the recruitment cycle is specked up at every stage from posting to receiving CVs,

to filtering to managing the contact and workflow.

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(ii) Reduce cost of hire

According to Lee (2005), electronic recruitments have reduced hiring costs by about

87% as compared to traditional recruiting through newspapers and magazines. Also

prominent employers for example Dow Chemical were able to reduce their hiring

cycle from 90 to 34 days while cutting its cost per hire by 26% (Gill 2001).

(iii) Wider reach for employers

Unlike traditional methods which are usually restricted by career level, geography,

industry or other parameters online requirement portals typically have current and

active talent database that cover all career levels, industries and regions. Spraining

business development reams also endure that affiliations are established whereby the

portals are always prominent and top of mind with the relevant candidates and are

visited by the target job seekers regularly (Galanaki 2002).

(iv) Wider reach for candidates

Candidates or job seekers benefits immensely from the wider scope they gain through

electronic job sites (Gill 2001). They are able to access jobs in companies, industries

and locations they may not otherwise have learned of and can apply immediately with

the click of a mouse. This is made possible by posting their CVs online which they

can be contacted by employers directly for opportunities that may not even be

advertised (Galanaki, 2002).

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(v) Branding opportunities for employers

Employers can use their job ads to project a consistent brand and company

image/values to prospective job seekers. With this, top talent candidates can be

conversant about who they work for and these companies descriptions often serve as

a basis for their application decisions (Galanaki, 2002)

(vi) Sophisticated Management Tools.

The entire recruitment process is managed from one location which allows the

employers to post vacancies, receive VCs, screen, prioritize and contact candidates

individually or collectively and track all activities from the confines of a private and

highly functional employers workspace (Lee, 2005). E-recruitment manages and

monitor the entire recruitments process from categorizing and tracking candidate

application to ensuring security in all candidate communication and keeping logs on

all correspondence for future references (Gill, 2001).

Job seekers similarly can track the progress of their application at every stage of the

hiring process from their own functional workplace. This allows for an enhanced user

experience for both employers and job seeker.

(vii) Allows for Confidentiality

Both employers and job seekers can elect to maintain their confidentiality. Employers

can elect to search the database without posting a job if the vacancy is sensitive in

nature, or they can post a vacancy while keeping their names and present employers

name confidential.

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(viii) Allows for Database Build Up

Employers can save high profile or particularly attractive CVs, from an existing

online search to build a priority database of pre-screened star talent for future use.

2.5 THE CHALLENGES OF ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

Adopting online recruitment can be beneficial to organization to a great extent.

However, there are certainly few challenges associated with their successful

implementation.

According to Khosrowpour (2007), there are four major challenges by named:

managerial, organizational, technological and legal challenges that have to overcome

by organizations for making the best use electronic recruitment process.

Managerial challenges

Any technology would remain unused without user acceptance. It is important that

hiring and recruitment managers alike are knowledgeable and comfortable about the

use of electronic recruitment methods (Taylor, 2005). Organizations must hence

conduct a comprehensive training program for HR managers to help them use the

online recruitment tools without any difficulty. The usage online requirement method

has not put an end to the use of other recruitment methods such as employee referrals,

newspaper ads etc. Given the limited financial resources, finding the optimal mix of

various recruitment methods is a challenge for human resources managers. The

success of online recruitment neither does nor relies purely upon the technical

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sophistication of the career website, but upon balanced combination of management

skills and technology. With several available choices, recruitment must imitate to

learn the ways to combine technology into the recruitment practices to prove

strategies and increase their efficiencies.

Finally, electronic requirement has helped companies to retrieve and store talented

applicant faster, but always failed to screen the applicant sufficiently. Therefore

hiring and recruiting mangers have to review each of the applicants manually before

interviewing a candidate and performing assessment (Khosrowpour, 2007)

Organizational Challenges

Most qualified applicants are often passive job seekers, who are presently employed

but strategy to recognized passive job seekers and motivate them to apply must be

developed. Business process redesign is needed across the whole process of Human

Resources Management to realize the online recruitment benefit (Taylor, 2005).

Inefficient and bottle neck tastes must be identified and reconfigured, so that the

whole recruitment moves quickly with an exchange of standardized data and it is

critical to benchmark the best management practice and develop a set of metrics that

measure the effectiveness of various methods of recruitment. There are no important

statistics available at present on the effectiveness of different management practices

of online recruitment tools because of a limited experience with electronic

recruitment.

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Technical Challenges

Lack of confidentiality and security of information discourages the posting of job

applications by job seekers. While security is one of the biggest challenges with job

applications, topmost companies do not specify it explicitly on their career websites.

Combining the process of online recruitment with process of conventional

recruitment is critical due to limited availability of software resources. Paper based

resumes must be converted into a digitized form and stored in the database and

designing a career database is a complex tax. The database of job must be designed to

minimize redundant data and optimize the performance of job search by a candidate.

This can be done by understanding the recruiters and applicants search behaviours.

Legal Challenges

There is need for employers liability for not violating employment discrimination

laws and the laws are similar to applicants background checks and laws restricting

false advertising. Various reporting needs for government would be for global

companies for centralized recruiting (Flyn, 2002). Electronic recruitment is likely to

affect the diversity of an organization if proper efforts are not made. Biased

demographic characteristics can create a serious impact on diversity thereby giving

candidates belonging to minority group less chance to be hired than others.

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2.6 THE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT SITUATION

Nigeria has a high level of unemployment as few employment opportunities exist for

a large amount of qualified citizens who seek jobs daily (Ikechukwu, 2010). And the

government pays little or no attention to combating the problem as no efforts are

made to create employment opportunities for jobless Nigerians (Okecha, 2008).

The Nigerian recruitment practice is characterized by irregularities and malpractices

ranging from corruption to nepotism. Many cases of illegal recruitment of staff are on

the rise in the federal government agencies, subverting a system that is designed to

enhance the unity of the country (sundaytrust.com)

According to investigation by Sunday Trust (2013), illegal recruitment practices are

so wide spread they affect almost all federal ministries, departments and agencies.

The Nigerian senate on Thursday, 17 January 2013 resolved to investigate all the

recruitment exercises conducted by all Federal Government agencies in the last two

years, with a vow to punish perpetrators of employment scam in the country (Wakili,

2013).

As a result of the high employment rate and nepotistic recruitment, exploiters are now

taking advantage of desperation of job seekers thereby further worsening the

recruitment process. According to Okechuku (2010), the followings are examples of

such exploitations.

There are workersengagement centers that scout for firm in need of employees and

advertise their existing vacancies. They demand registration fees from job-seekers,

promising them employment with their clients. When a job is secured , it is usually

agreed between the centre and the employer for the fresh employee to forfeit one or

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two months salary to the centre as payment for its service, and in so doing transfer

the cost of hiring from the hirer to the hired which should not be the case.

Then there are consultants hired by several companies to carry out aptitude tests and

interviews for prospective employees. These consultancies outfits usually have stand-

by candidates who pay huge registration fees and await notice of vacancies anywhere.

These candidates are promptly, notified of any aptitude test or interview the

consultancy would conduct. After such aptitude tests and interviews, these candidates

are mostly among the successful applicants short listed and forwarded to the

prospective employer for recruitment.

In the third group are persons who extort money from job seekers promising to secure

jobs for them. This especially happens when government agencies are recruiting.

These extortionists are either insiders, i.e. employees of the recruiting agency, or

outsiders who have or claim connection to the top management of the government

agency and seldom do they deliver on their promises (Ikechukwu, 2010).

This happens to many federal agencies, particularly those seen to be lucrative such as

the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Custom Service, the

armed forces and financial institutions. Most time they fail and also hardly refund the

money so collected, leaving the applicants disappointed and frustrated. In some state,

people pay up to One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100, 000) to secure a teaching job

in public primary schools. For job in federal bodies, a job seeker may be required to

part with N 150,000. In successful cases, the victims do not complain for, in their

reckoning, the job is worth the price (Ikechukwu, 2010).

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Contributing to a debate, Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno) confessed

that out of compassion, he once paid an amount sum of money for a job offer in a

government agency for one of his constituents.

There was a boy from my constituency who graduated with second

class upper and could not get a job for four years. He had been

driving a taxi for someone in Abuja here before he came to tell me

that one government agency was collecting N200, 000 from each job

applicant. I did not want to give him the money because I couldnt

imagine that kind of thing could be happening, but he was begging

me and in the end, I gave him the money. (Sen. Ndume).

Giving his own personal account, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba said;

For me, it is not a mere hearsay because I was directly approached

severally by my constituents for N500, 000 for job offer in

government agencies, but I declined because I couldnt imagine

something like that happening in our country.(Senator Victor

Ndoma-Egba).

Furthermore, one may liken these three above instance of exploitation of job seekers

to a scenario put forward by the two senators quotes above, to a politician who spends

his money to secure votes during election; of course, the first thing he does after

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assuming office is to recoup his investment and definitely make a profit. The

dangerous dimension is that, a graduate who secures a job however qualified must

first recoup investment setting in motion a vicious cycle of exploitations and

corruption. And before you know it, looting of public treasure becomes a celebrated

evil (Haruna, 2013).

There are also cases where applicants were required to buy internet scratch cards,

apply online, buy sport kits, undergo medical tests and fitness exercise, etc. Not only

did applicants spend much money in the process, some of them reportedly lost their

lives as a result of the fitness exercise. Also applicants incur a lot of costs by buying

air times at cyber caf to access the employers website and apply online. Some travel

from their villages to distant towns to access the internet. For private organizations,

applicants at times discover that their websites are empty of any online application

form. An applicant spends between N500 to N1000 to do this, considering the erratic

nature of internet services in Nigeria. (Gill, 2001)

According to Ben UJ (2010), Nigerias internet market remain extremely under-

served with 70 percent of the internet subscriber base reported by local Internet

Services Providers (ISPs) to account for corporate subscribers while the rest are

home, small office and cyber caf users. Available data from the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) reveals that out of the about 150 million Nigerians

only 11million have access to the internet. But more basically the slow and

exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of the death of the

fixed line infrastructure and poor service quality on the part of ISPs is further

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exacerbated by the fact that only a meager 30 SPMS of bandwidth is available to the

11 million internet users in the country.

Between 2000 to 2006, the percentage of internet users increased from about 0.1% to

about 3%. Then in the three (3) years that followed, 2006 to 2009, the percentage

increased from 3% to 16%. This indicates a somewhat exponential growth rate which

is good for electronic recruitment in not so long run in Nigeria (Ben, 2009).

2.7 APPLICATION OF POSSIBLE ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT

SYSTEM TO SOLVE NIGERIAN RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES

So how do we electronically recruit the best people putting into consideration the

Nigerian situation that is mentioned above?

In the Nigerian recruitment system there are limited amount of avenues through

which undergraduates can be seen by organizations. This is especially wrong since it

is in the best interest of the organizations that they are able to recruit the best to do

industrial training, which is free labour, with them so as to nurture them into graduate

employees made for that specific company. So in other words these organizations

would have employees that are suitable to them and experienced at the time they

graduate and join that company (Gill, 2010). It is suggested that companies endeavour

to find a way, may be through job boards, to access students that are doing well in

their area of business so as to be able to attract them when it comes time for industrial

training.

As the vacancy arises, sometimes due to the creation of new job, or may be because

an existing member of staff has been promoted or is retiring, a job description and

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employee specification is written or updated, whichever is the case. The job

description lists the duties of the job while the employee specification gives detail of

qualifications, the experience, skills and abilities necessary, to carry out those duties

listed in the job description. This should be carried out by the department seeking to

fill the position (Lee, 2005)

Once this is done it is imperative to send the job description and employee

specification to an outside Human Resource firm that would then search out others

that are doing that kind of job; as detailed in the job description, very well in other

companies so as to have a discussion with them to find out if they might be interested

in working in the company which is currently hiring. It is important to note that it

would be difficult to move this people from their old jobs without a package that is

more than the package they were formerly receiving (Gill, 2001).

While this is going on, a vacancy advertisement should be written that corresponds to

the job description and employee specification and circulated via at least three

different medium, i.e. the internet, TV, radio, newspapers and magazine. This is done

so as to reach both the electronically savvy and the not so electronically savvy (Gill,

2001).

It should be noted that this is a marketing endeavour; as brands and reputations are

crucial in large, open and competitive product and services markets. They are also

crucial in the labour market so much so that all the companys promotions,

advertising and other marketing efforts influence the perspective employees. So

companies should always make sure that they are viewed in the best possible light by

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the public. When this is advertised it is imperative to also states where the interested

applicants would be able to apply.

Even thought internet has not proliferated in Nigeria it should be noted that most blue

collar and white colour jobs require the applicants to be computer literate. So it would

be wise to post that applicant should apply electronically. This do not mean by

sending a CV to an email box but by filling out electronic application forms online

(Cappelli, 2001). Once these applications flood in to the database through the

electronic forms, each application would be given a number (Number 1), indicating

that they actually applied for the job. Then the database screens the applicants, pick

the best prospects which would then be given a second number (Number 2).

Electronic screening drastically reduces the amount of time that is spent when

screening manually.

After the initial screening, a further screening is done by testing the applicants, this

would be done by either the company hiring or a consultant. Without number 1 and 2,

it would be impossible to sit for the test or get graded electronically, implying that the

test could be either an electronic paper test or a computer test.

Furthermore, it is imperative that each applicant that was successful screened through

the database system would be given a number (Number 3) that is generated by the

database.

After the above, a shortlist would be compiled by the database of applicants, with

number 1, 2 and 3, who are going to be invited to attend for interview, and without

these numbers an interview would not be administered. The interviewers would

comprise of sound professionals in the hiring field both from inside and outside the

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organization. These professionals would generate the questions in a meeting prior to

the interview, and these questions would be used for each of the interviewees.

Feedback can be provided (upon request) and unsuccessful applicants have the right

to complain if they feel that they have been unfairly treated. Thereafter, the successful

candidates would be appointed and then inducted (Gill, 2001).

Applicant Acquires

Applicant Acquires

A diagram of

Applicant Acquires Recruitment System.

By Gill J. (2001)

Applicant Acquires

30

Apply by filling

electronic applicationform. Number 1

Screening of application

through database.

Number 2

Electronic Testing andScreening.

Number 3

Interview of those with

number 1, 2, and 3.

Number 4


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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The success of every research work depends largely on how well the entire process is

defined and planned bearing in mind the terrain the researcher would be operating in.

The researcher has carefully and logically designed and planed every aspect and stage

of the research including the timing to facilitate and articulate the gathering of data

from the field.

Apart from obtaining all the necessary and relevant information concerning the

problem at hand there was the need to clarify the problem. This was done to ensure

that survey did not prove a failure. All the information needed was obtained from

Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, in order to reveal the problems and

prospects of electronic recruitment.

3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION

All the employees of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission constituted the

research population. The organization had total staff strength of One Hundred and

Sixty Five (165) staff according to the boards payroll.

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3.3 SAMPLING SIZE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

Out of the total population of One Hundred and Six Five (165) in the case study, the

researcher determined the sample size using Roscoe (1975) formulae.

The formula is computed as follows:

10% Rule of thumb

Using the total population of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to

compute for the sample size.

10/100 X 165

1650 / 100

16.5

: Sample size is 17 approximately.

3.4 METHOD OF GATHERING DATA

Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used in gathering data. The

sources however, which include materials got from the Kaduna State Independent

Electoral Commission was used for the background of the study as well as materials

from text books, magazines and newspapers were used for the literature review.

For the instrument used in the gathering of raw facts(data) for the research proper, the

questionnaire was strictly used throughout the entire process of the research.

3.5 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE METHOD USED

The reason which prompted the used of questionnaire as the instrument for gathering

data for the research proper include the following:

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i. The questionnaire allows for much time for thought by respondents before

answering the questions i.e. not impromptu.

ii. It promotes wider coverage of the research population at relatively blow cost

iii. Virtually all potential respondents are literate and so, could respond to the

questions in writing through the questionnaire.

iv. Because anonymity was ensured, respondents could be most likely willing

and ready to express their opinion on the issues rose.

v. The questionnaire can be easily kept for reference purpose.

The secondary source of data was also used because it enabled the researcher to

choose relevant materials among several authors whose works were considered

relevant to the research work.

Secondary sources enabled the research to compare different authors past work.

They specifically

i. provides diagrams for the researcher.

ii. told how far researches have been conducted on that particular project or

research topic

iii. helped the researcher to view the research topic from the universal point of

view, and

iv. it is based on some certain tested hypothesis.

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3.6 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

The data collected from the respondents in the field through the use of questionnaire

would be presented in tables and figures and analyzed using simple percentages. In a

similar vein, the researcher deemed it fit due to the nature of the hypothesis to use the

Chi-Square to test the hypothesis. The formula is presented below:

X2 = (O - E)

E

Where = Summation

O=Frequency observed from the table value

E=Frequency expected

3.7 JUSTIFICATION OF INSTRUMENT USED

The choice of Chi-Square for the analysis of the data gathered among other reasons is

that:

i. Most importantly is that it shows relationships between variables.

ii. It helps to present complex quantitative information in a neater and

simplified form for easy comprehension.

iii. Interpretation can be easily done without necessarily needing a guide.

iv. It covers all aspect of data gathered for the research.

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electronic recruitment in nigeria: problems and prospects

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