CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Research

The task of managing applicants’ records and processing is quite an arduous one, because of the high data turnover, strenuous processing operations and requirements for speed and accuracy in matching a potential applicant to the right job. The increasing complexity and highly dynamic nature of applicants’ records management processes has made it necessary to embrace the use of Computer and Information Technology (CIT) to facilitate the process. By applying computers to these functions, the strength and versatility of the computer will be effectively utilized to address the problems associated with recruiting applicants. (Patrick, 2004).

Human Resources Management (HRM) is concerned with the effective use of people in order to attain organizational goals and enhance the personal dignity, satisfaction, and wellbeing of employees, thus making it a network of inter-related processes.(Daramola and Akinyede, 2013).The understanding of Human Resources Management is important to anyone who works in an organization; and wherever people gather to work, personnel issues become important, such as decision making concerning recruitment, leaving, compensation, performance evaluation, employee discipline, promotions and transfer are of great and paramount importance.

In the past years, the personnel recruitment in corporate organizations has been based largely, on the traditional unstructured interview method. The conventional recruitment exercisemethod involves a process, which starts with a requisition from the head of each department of an organization who is charged with the responsibility of evaluating, monitoring and controlling his departmental budget. The requisition is passed onto the personnel department, whose duty is to schedule appropriate recruitment, selection, placement and training programmes as shown in Figure 1.1

		Figure 1.1: Human resources model

It was reported (Canon and liern, 2004)that businesses rely on effective HRM to ensure that they hire and keep good employees and that they are able to respond to conflicts between workers and management. HRM specialists initially determine the number and type of employees that a business will need over its first few years of operation. They are then responsible for recruiting new employees to replace those who leave and for filling newly created positions.

In addition, Daramola and Akinyede (2013), also reported that HRM involves the use of both quantitative (structural) and qualitative (unstructured) information. Decisions are largely based on the organization’s principles and experience. Now that the effort is to build intelligence into computing system, whereby the computer can be used to process large volumes of quantitative and qualitative information for decision making is becoming a reality. Product innovations can be duplicated, but the synergy of a firm’s workforce cannot be replicated. Therefore, HRM is a critical input in enhancing the business results.

According to Daramola and Akinyede (2013), recruitment exercise involves hiring of people in an organization. They also, posited that personnel recruitment’s role has changed greatly from one that has been based, largely, on the traditional unstructured interview method to one that is recognized as highly strategic and imperative to the overall success of the organization. It was added that, the role of the HR strategist is now squarely focused on mechanisms to streamline the HRM function in order to contribute to the overall organization’s success. Computer, which has remained one of the most powerful tools, has served as an aid to decision making in recent years, mostly because of its efficiency in terms of speed, accuracy, reliability, mass processing, cost and security, among others. These technological advancements have allowed HRM professionals to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with employees or employing candidates. It is therefore, not uncommon today, to find some organizations (Mobil Plc, PZ Nig Ltd, Philips Consulting, etc) in Nigeria and most especially in developed countries, employing the use of computing system for their personnel recruitment and to an extent, selection exercises. With such a system, the applicant just feed his resumes into the computer wherever he is, by responding to questions on the screen by sending his/her answer via the keyboard and receives his employment information. Straightaway, the resumes are fed into the organization’s central data bank, where they can be quickly processed.

Hence, this research focuses on an Online Recruitment System, which will allow applicants to visit WaziriUmaru Federal Polytechnic (WUFP)BirninKebbi, employment website before they can enter their data. It also, outlines the benefits inherent in online recruitment system to streamline processes, outsource administrative activities, and improve efficiencies. With its user friendly and technologically advance solution.