Recruiting Sites, Research Paper Example

Abstract

Recruiting for consulting firms takes on a form that is very similar to marketing a product to a targeted consumer base. Consulting firms needs specific talent and want to attract a specific candidate that will fill the need within the organization. The career and career progression information on the consulting firm’s recruitment page defines the type of candidate that is required for the position by not only stating the key requirements but also the type of individual that is required. This could range from an individual performer that is focused on goals and objectives established by leadership or a collaborative team effort that requires contributors that work well in an open group setting. These key attributes are presented in multiple ways on the consulting firms recruitment page.

Recruiting Sites

When a candidate is looking to transition careers or looking for other opportunities, the first thing that he or she may do is to research the market to better understand the conditions, look at interesting aspects of prospective employers or research the companies or industries that may intrigue them. When a person searches for a company, the organization’s web site must provide the appropriate impression to attract the type of candidate the company is seeking. The focus of a transition of an employee could be the move to a consultant at a firm dedicated to providing a service of expertise and experience in implementing new systems or creating opportunities in the market place. When a company looks toward a consulting firm they are trying to fill a specific need or desire that would benefit the company in either creating a revenue opportunity or taking a chance at creating a competitive advantage. The consulting firm would fill a void that the company does not particularly excel in and would potentially never need to retain the type of expertise that the consulting firm provides. An example of this type of consulting opportunity would be a large one time implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning system that not only implements new information technology systems but also transforms business processes at the same time. These types of opportunities to travel and implement new systems would intrigue an individual to seek employment opportunities through a consulting firm.

The first impression of the consulting firm’s website could determine if the candidate is willing to delve into the company’s opportunities or move away to other firms. The online presence is a marketing tool that attracts candidates just as the marketing plans of companies attract buyers of their product (Williamson,Lepak, and King, 2003). The image, whether a prim and polished site which exudes corporate excellence or an artistic flowing image that focuses on creativity, presents what type of people the company wants and needs for their business vision. Attracting talent and employing the talent into the workforces are the bookends to the consulting firm’s business model and the website can be a driving factor in achieving a successful start to the process.

With the influx and dependence upon instant information by those gathering data, the host’s career center on their website would need to impart a sense of belonging and attraction between the user searching for a consulting position and the company presenting the information. The first critical step in attracting a potential candidate is putting the best foot forward and presenting out an aura that is in correlation with the business model. For example, if the company is seeking hard charging A-type personalities, the site would promote its leadership, achievement and career enhancement opportunities. These individual focal points would feed into the desire of the candidate. A consulting company that is dependent upon individual contributors in a collaborative environment where everyone is equal and the hierarchy is flat would need to present out an impression of equality and team focus activities. In order to better illustrate the recruitment efforts in regard to a company’s web site and their ability to provide their organizational attractiveness, a group of three companies, each of which are providing consulting services for a large scale implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning tools that will be used in a manufacturing environment. The consulting companies are providing the services of implementation of the entire system in respect to providing the expertise of the implementation in regard to key business processes and system functionality.

Consulting Firms

The consulting firms are focused on the ERP implementations and each of their websites is promoting a core functionality that is similar in the capability to implement a specific solution. This solution is based on providing an answer to an already established set of issues. The key comparison of the websites’ recruiting techniques can be experienced through the individual’s perception of the site and what is gained from the presentation. The comparison can be made by taking the different companies and reviewing their organizational attractiveness based upon their career site’s web presence.

The three consulting companies include that of Oracle, SAP and ERP Guru. Each company has an expertise in implementing an ERP solution but each varies in their technique to procure talent to consult for their companies. The first two, Oracle and SAP, not only provide consulting opportunities but also provide software as a major business function. The tactics they use to build their expertise base for their consulting firm focuses on not only building talent internally through growing their employees through implementation projects but also recruiting experts in project implementation specific to their products. The third company is an independent firm that is smaller than the first two and focuses on project implementation, leadership attributes and overall they are searching for a candidate that is a catalyst for change. The three organizations all have career sites for their consultants and each take a different tactic in their reach for new acquisitions of consulting talent.

The first area to compare is that of Oracle. Oracle is a large company that promotes independence and success based upon the basis that the harder you work and put into your career at Oracle the more you can get out of the experience. The first dynamic experience of the user of their career site is the ability to understand the breadth of the Oracle community, their desire for motivation, flexibility and expertise (Oracle, 2013). The key candidate here is one that is not afraid of traveling, long hours to accomplish specific goals, and in return the expectations of higher salary, promotion opportunities and an expanded knowledge base. Oracle is looking for leaders that are going to take care of their own career by utilizing the Oracle network. The impressions of the site is that Oracle’s recruiting effort will get the right candidate in the door and the success or failure of the consultant is ultimately up to his or her own discretion. The company provides outlines to the basic job search based upon experience and location but they also go further into providing their inherent capability as a large company to instantly increase the ability for the consultant to have access to a professional development network and strategically traced out careen development opportunities. The structure and standard operating procedures that define their product also defines their human resource layout and function. This is obvious in the direct impression used on their website’s recruiting page. The initial impression of independent contributor that manages their own career and takes advantages of networking opportunities as well as profession development is obvious based upon the career tools presented on the recruiting page. The careers available as well as the correlated career paths are defined on the page as well. A candidate that is goal oriented and knows what they want to achieve can garner the information needed from the website and build a plan to achieve specific career goals. One of the key areas that falls in line with the goal oriented focus of Oracle is that fact that even before the candidate applies for a job, there is a place that shows not only the milestones in the career progression but also how the candidate could expedite the process to achieve those milestones more efficiently. This information provides the baseline that Oracle is looking for a candidate that is willing to take on difficult tasks and find unique solutions to achieve those objectives.

SAP takes a different approach to how they present themselves on their career recruitment page. While Oracle presents a very forward career driven, highly motivated, goal oriented focus, SAP focuses on the lifestyle and experience that a candidate would become apart of when joining the SAP team. The SAP site brings a person into the inner workings of what it is to be part of the SAP team and is focused more on working as a unit in achieving goals and objectives as opposed to being a single unit driving change. SAP shows examples of people conducting business, provides office spotlights, employee interviews and a stream of tweets regarding their company. The environment is friendlier and more engaging. The directed behavior that SAP is engaging in is that of an outward expression of team focus, group dynamics, open communication and work/life balance. The company presents itself in a way that they provide ample information on why they are the company for a specific type of candidate and they present information in such a way that also dictates the type of employee that would be successful in such an environment. The careers on the SAP career site are broken down in such a way that they are exciting to search for. Some opportunities are presented as “Job of the Month” and this highlights a specific need on the company and makes the candidate immediately feel needed in the organization (SAP, 2013). The feeling of inclusiveness seems to be a critical component for success at SAP. The career progression based upon the information is broken down into two distinct opportunities. The first is the ability to move laterally as well as horizontally within the organization and both seem to be accepted and promoted. By moving horizontally the employee builds a breadth of knowledge that will ultimately help them become more valuable to the company and moving vertically will increase the leadership capability of the employee and also provide value to the company. This flexibility allows the employee to seek opportunities that fulfill those basic desires of achievement, increase knowledge and ability to seek opportunities throughout the organization.

The third company is slightly different than the first two. This company is not only primarily focused on consulting for implementation, they also do not have preferred software nor do they develop solutions based on a core package of software. ERP Guru is specifically purposed to provide guidance and direction on the implementation of the appropriate ERP solution for the specific needs of the organization (ERP Guru, 2013). ERP Guru is in a position that is unique based upon the fact that they are a startup company with limited experience as a company in implementations. The career site for ERP Guru is focused on building the credibility of the company by presenting facts, figures and awards for their previous work. The tactic of this company is to sell not only their past performance but instill the understanding that they are a sustainable and viable option for ERP implementations. The impression gained from their career site is that not only do they want consultants but they are still trying to move past their initial proof of concept phase of the company and establish themselves as a viable option for any company looking to implement the solution. The career site is fairly rudimentary especially when compared to the established sites of larger companies. The career progression is not evident on the page nor is it available anywhere else on the site.While the company is looking for new candidate’s the information is not available to fully understand what is expected by the company or how to be successful in this environment. With the other sites a feeling of the culture of the company is infused into their career site but the site for ERP Guru is lacking the basic fundamentals of recruiting effort or marketing rhetoric.

Through the search for the three company’s career information and career paths, it is apparent that companies are infusing their culture into the outward appearance of their websites in order to attract the type of candidate that is needed in their company’s environment. The tone, colors, descriptions, graphs, key points and other information on the page takes on multiple functions. The first is the transmittal of the information and the second is to set a level of expectation for the candidate. By reading the page, understanding the career progression and interpreting the information presented there is an understanding of the type of culture presented. This could be the culture of results driven individuality or that of a team work oriented implementation culture. The candidate recruiting websites vary as do the companies that are utilizing them but all present a message to the candidate that will help them decide if the two are a right fit for each other.

References

ERP Guru.(2013). Careers.Retrieved: http://www.sourcingline.com/careers.

Oracle.(2013). Oracle irecruitment, a complete, end-to-end hiring solution. Retrieved: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/careers/irecruitment-faq-366142.html

SAP.(2013). Next Step. Retrieved:http://www.careersatsap.com/

Williamson, I., Lepak, D., and King, J., (2003). The effect of company recruitment web site orientation on individuals’ perceptions of organizational attractiveness.Journal of Vocational Behavior.63.