The Guardian

London

In the good old days, using a recruitment agency to find work involved people. Having phoned or visited one of their branches, you’d have a chat with a consultant, who would put you through a test or two and subsequently find you a job suited to your skills and personality. Those days are gone. At least, that’s how a fast growing number of jobseekers see it.

Thanks to the Internet, jobseeking is increasingly becoming an online experience. “It seems that everything can be done on the net,” says Adam Mason, a jobseeker from north London. “Registering, looking for work, applying for work and doing the tests.”

Dan Ferrandino, MD reed.co.uk, rebukes the view that only the agencies benefit from the trend. “The move towards online recruitment is generally assumed to be motivated entirely by saving agencies money. But there are advantages for users too, notably convenience, accessibility and time saving — all of which are results of jobseekers no longer having to trawl up and down high streets or, alternatively, having to call each one individually. Let’s remember that a lot of people looking for jobs are currently in another job, so these benefits are valuable.”

Ferrandino also points to the unique features of job searching made possible by the Internet. “At reed.co.uk, you can have relevant jobs sent direct to your mobile phone, for example, and you can store targeted versions of your CV and covering letter online.”

Going global is a further motivation for agencies encouraging job applicants to use the net. “Our user feedback revealed that people were getting fed up of both not knowing what jobs were available outside their local area, and being encouraged to commit to a particular line of work before knowing exactly what we’d got on offer,” says Ferrandino. “Our online service overcomes these problems because it’s centralised — listing jobs available from every branch — with considerable detail on each one.”

Meanwhile, Lisa D’Ambrosio used Kelly Service’ website to find work in England whilst still living in Canada. “I felt I couldn’t make the decision to move to London without quite a bit of knowledge about the job market. I’m no computer buff, yet I found the website clear and friendly and was easily able to find this information out. It also helped me make up my mind about which area of London to move to, based on job availability.”

Equally useful, she says, are the descriptions of jobs provided on the net. “You get a detailed breakdown of what you’d be doing in each job, rather than just, say, ‘receptionist’, which I knew would help me make up my mind when it came to applying. Since arriving three months ago, I’ve had several temporary jobs and every one has been right for me.”

The fact is that jobseekers have come to expect an online service from agencies, says Anna Durbridge, web administrator at Kelly. “If we don’t meet this expectation, we’ll pay the price for failing to keep up with our competitors. If we do, then we get to reach a wider pool of talent than ever before,” she says. But not everyone is impressed with the results. “I’ve walked into several agencies in the flesh with my CV and have been told, ‘No, it’s not done that way any more,’ in tones usually reserved for dim children,” explains Mason.

“Pigeonholing” is another aspect of “netting” jobs which Mason objects to. “On many sites, you must focus on where you want to work and exactly what you want to do, all the time reducing the number of jobs available to you. I’ve also found that websites invest too much in your past experience. In my case, I’ve done a lot of work in law, but it’s an area I no longer want to work in. Despite pointing this out, computers can’t seem to process this information and therefore scan my CV only to bung it in the ‘law jobs’ pile. If I had a face-to-face consultant, I could explain. It’s so frustrating.”

Irrelevant applications are a further potential pitfall of recruitment agencies moving online, something that many agencies are quick to admit to.

Because applications often require no more than the click of a mouse, some candidates apply without checking if they meet the criteria.

Anna Durbridge of Kelly Services claims this is a key aspect of its website’s success. “We never place anyone in a job without meeting them first and we make it quite clear that job applicants are still as welcome to use branches as the website. Alternatively, they can use both methods — perhaps search for a job online and apply in person.” Adecco is so confident that it is creating an impressive service that it now carries out core testing online for those who want it, as an extension of its online recruitment service. And at Manpower, online training is becoming increasingly available.

“Through our Global Learning Centre, which was launched in 2000, we now provide over 1,000 courses, which are free to everyone registered with Manpower and cover subjects as diverse as leadership, communication and customer service, as well as a wide range of IT skills,” explains a spokesperson.

Among the common mistakes of online applications is the tendency to be too informal, recruitment agencies report. Because the Internet invites an informal tone, people sometimes ignore conventional rules for application forms. The fact that technology has created a culture of immediacy means applicants can also be too brief, whereas the volume of online applications makes it more important to spend time perfecting your submission.