The Phenomenon that Is Online Recruitment

As the number of employers looking to recruit increases, more and more are turning to the Internet to advertise jobs. In 2007, 27% of businesses were actively recruiting new staff with 25% of all filled job vacancies advertised online. The proportion of overall vacancies now being advertised through the Internet has increased with one in every eight employers surveyed confirming they had used internet websites to advertise a vacancy in the last 12 months.

80% of jobseekers look online before anywhere else. The volume of online applications is also rising. More than half of those polled had applied for a job online, while a third had applied for between one and five jobs within the past month. The report also gave an insight into exactly who was using the Internet to find work, revealing an increasing trend towards more experienced and professional jobseekers using the web. Some 41% of online jobseekers are now at managerial level or above, an increase of 5% since the last report. (Total Forum, Sept 07).

Growing number of jobseekers only rely on the Internet. A poll of 40,000 online jobseekers shows nine per cent exclusively use the Internet to search for work - a figure that has increased by 50% since last year. Applying for jobs is the 15th most popular activity to do online according to a recent survey of 12,500 people by Enhance Media.

Jobseekers vary in their preferences of what they want from online jobsites; some prefer the variety of a generalist site, others prefer the niche approach of a sector specific site. The niche sites offer benefits to those candidates who prefer searching for their next role on a specialist site as they feel they are receiving a more tailored service.

The Oil & Gas sector is a very specialist industry, where both the candidates and the recruiters demand niche market knowledge as standard from their job boards. Both candidates and recruiters expect the same quality experience from niche job boards as they do from long-standing generalist job boards. They want to be able to enter specific search criteria and be shown a variety of relevant jobs with leading employers. They also expect to be able to have the latest jobs emailed to them and to be able to save a CV to make applying for vacancies quick and easy. Candidates want their details to be held securely and to have access to a customer support team if they have a query or problem. Similarly, recruiters expect quality account management to ensure that their vacancies are reaching the right candidates.

Facilitating recruitment for the Oil & Gas Industry

Launched in 1999, the Oilcareers website (www.Oilcareers.com) is now an internationally recognized website dedicated to providing jobseekers with the means to search and apply for new roles within the Oil and Gas industry, as well as some areas of alternative energy.

Based in Aberdeen, Scotland the Oilcareers site provides instant job advertising to both a local and worldwide audience, bringing employers, agencies and candidates from across the globe together efficiently and confidentially.

The site receives around ~340,000 unique user visits per month and we have been awarded the highest search engine ranking (Google PR6).

Currently there are around 9,000 new candidates registering with Oilcareers each month and we are a truly global site with our candidates distributed across the world:

(accurate as of Sept 2008)

Candidate options

If you are looking for a full time, part time or contract/consulting position in the Oil and Gas Industry we can help. Search for oil jobs or gas jobs in our database and enter your resume, in complete confidence, into our database of oil and gas experts. You control whether your identity and contact information is displayed on your resume and you specify which companies to block from viewing your details. Within your account you can activate your email job search agent to alert you of any suitable jobs as soon as they are posted. This is available at no cost to you.

A typical comment from an individual that has successfully used our service (name withheld);

"Oilcareers.com provide a fast, efficient way to find perfect job opportunities on-line. With automatic notification of new positions, applying for the job you want is both easy and stress-free. Thanks to Oilcareers.com I was able to find the perfect job quickly and effortlessly."

If you really want to take your job search process to a new level of efficiency, then register to set up your free account with Oilcareers. All information submitted is confidential; no one else will be able to access your account information without your express wishes. The benefits to you are:

• Enter your personal information only once. No need to re-enter every time you want to apply for a job.
• Activate your Job Search Agent that will keep a constant lookout, 24 hours a day for a job that matches your resume. If a suitable job is found an email is immediately sent to you detailing the position and including a hot-link to the full job advert where you can make an on-line application. No more missed opportunities. You could have applied for a job within minutes of the advert going live.
• Job Applications couldn't be easier. Simply click "Apply for this job", select which resume you wish to send, type or paste a cover letter, click "Apply Now" and that's it. You've made a job application that goes straight to the recruiter in seconds.
• Enter your resume into the database and gain access to the hidden job market. In fact you may enter multiple resumes for different job applications. You can also choose to have your resume made available to recruiter searches if you wish. You can control how much of your resume the recruiter will be able to see and whether your identity is revealed on your resume.
• Block any company you want from accessing your resume. If you wish, no one will be able to identify you from your resume. When a recruiter needs to contact you they use a confidential contact system that does not reveal your identity or email address to them. Only when/if you apply for a job (your identity can even be withheld from your initial application) or accept an invitation to interview will your contact details be made available to the recruiter, if you agree.
• Your own personal home page where you can review and edit your resumes.

Recruiter Options.

For employers Oilcareers offers recruiters one of the industries most visited websites on which to display their vacancies. The site already helps some of the biggest and most reputable employers in the Oil & Gas industry to advertise their vacancies quickly and efficiently.

Oilcareers.com offers recruiters the opportunity to post job adverts and search our extensive resume database. Both of these can be done on either an ad hoc 'pay as you go' basis or by subscribing to one of our various package options

We have a number of tools and services that allow you to find the right person quickly and simply:

-         Vacancy Advertising

-         Desktop Headhunting via our resume database

-         Targeted emails

Once you have posted a job advert all candidates that match your requirements will immediately and automatically receive an e-mail of the job details. You can control which contact details are displayed on the advert and what the contact methods should be. It is possible to accept job applications directly through Oilcareers or off-line via your own website or bulk posting service. For applications received online our automated application handling system software can be tailored to your own needs and formatted tables will filter and sort applicants based upon a range of variables.

Our candidate database currently exceeds 460,000 registered users and with over 267,700 searchable resumes, Oilcareers is uniquely positioned to provide recruiters with an invaluable means to access a huge talent pool of specialist jobseekers from across the globe.

Registering with the site automatically gives you access to our extensive database. You can run an unlimited number of searches, enabling you to match your specific requirements to a pool of potential candidates. By saving key searches and creating agents within your account, the site will automatically send an e-mail alert each day, containing the details of those newly registered candidates, matching your specific requirements.

We can also send emails to a target group of candidates selected from the database. These emails are created based on your requirements and preferences, and sent out in HTML format.

The entire process is real time, performed on the secure Oilcareers system, which means:

• You save time and focus on who to employ.

• Automatic mailing systems means you can potentially contact new candidates before anyone else.

• You can pick a package option that best suits your needs at any particular time.

• Cost of using the various services available is significantly less than traditional methods of recruitment.

• There are no hidden charges or fees.

In addition to our main job posting and resume search tool it is possible to advertise your company and direct traffic to your own website by placing a company logo or banner on the Oilcareers site.

Oilcareers has recently become part of the Jobsite Group of recruitment websites, one of the pioneers of online recruitment in the UK. The Jobsite Group is itself part of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) - one of the largest and most successful media companies in the UK.

The future

The job boards that will survive and grow in the increasingly competitive online recruitment market are those that can provide a great service to both candidates and clients. Candidates and recruiters will increasingly expect sites which are easy to navigate, have sophisticated search technology and offer comprehensive account management and customer support. With more choice than ever before candidates and clients won't stay long with a site that doesn't cater for their needs.

Candidates will expect access to a wider choice of vacancies and will be looking for a jobsite which does more to help them find the perfect job, for example suggesting vacancies to candidates based on the previous choices they have made. Similarly, recruiters will expect their vacancies to reach more candidates that are relevant to the roles in question. They will be looking for new innovations with job boards, which help them achieve brand exposure; for example widgets and applications on your desktop or integrated within social networking sites.