Garrett Penn tells Alan Hosking why ZipRecruiter is slowly turning hiring into a beauty pageant where everyone loses.

What do we need to know about ZipRecruiter?

ZipRecruiter is a recruiting firm that makes it possible for companies and organisations to recruit new staff with seemingly miniscule hassle. Potential recruits need to register with the company through their online portal. Those seeking for employment opportunities need to upload their updated resumé and can apply for the advertised jobs through just a click of a button. The company seeks to eliminate the hassle that employees and employers go through allowing companies and organisations to get recommendations from ZipRecruiter on the positions they seek to fill. Applicants using online applications through ZipRecruiter are able to get an update on the processing of their job applications.

What are the advantages of using ZipRecruiter for job applications?

Although there are many controversies over the role that the company and individuals using ZipRecruiter fill, many benefits accompany it. They include:

• Faster access to job opportunities: It has become difficult for graduates and other job-seeking people to be able to identify potential job openings. ZipRecruiter has filled the gap in job hunting and it has contracts with leading companies and organisations to conduct staff recruitment on their behalf. After registering with the company, you will access a variety of job openings from partner organisations and companies, making job hunting easier;
• Up to date application tracking: ZipRecruiter allows their clients to make a job application through a tap of a button. After application, they take the responsibility of contacting the potential employee and relaying the information to you as soon as possible; and
• It reduces the process of staffing for organisations: Most Human Resource Managers always complain how the process of staffing is cumbersome. ZipRecruiter takes over all the recruitment process through conducting interviews, shortlisting and recommending the best individuals for your firm.

You say that ZipRecruiter has converted recruitment into a “beauty pageant”. Why is this?

Many people have criticised the role of hiring boards that are contracted by organisations to provide staffing services, including ZipRecruiter. There are a number of reasons why I believe ZipRecruiter is slowly converting recruitment into a beauty pageant and why everyone, including employers and potential employees, is losing out.

Some of these reasons include:

• It sucks up the companies’ profits: Many companies are working to increase their profits and reduce their expenditure. Companies that use third parties for their recruitment have to incur extra costs in the recruitment process as compared to the use of Human Resource Managers directly. This has seen companies using ZipRecruiter reducing their profits and this is a huge loss for them;
• Job seekers using ZipRecruiter have to pay to use their services: Some job seekers take so long to get a job and this means that they are losing in terms of the subscription fees. A job seeker gets daily updates from the job boards, making securing a job a challenge. It creates a perception that the job boards are exploiting desperate job seekers using their services; and
• ZipRecruiter does not guarantee the privacy of users using their services: The agency has undermined the human resource profession through adverts as it seeks to convince many companies and organisations to use their services. The job board does not appreciate the role played by Human Resource Managers and this is likely to create a perception that organisations can replace Human Resource Managers with job boards. This will create a crisis in many organisations that they convince to replace Human Resource Managers with job boards like ZipRecruiter, as the agency will not be able to manage the daily activities of their employees.

Nobody should underestimate the role of job boards in strategic IT staffing as it allows Human Resource Managers to get access to pre-qualified candidates. But, with the current job market, Human Resource Managers are still essential for organisations. Job boards like ZipRecruiter need to focus on how their services can complement the work of Human Resource Managers without undermining them.

Profile

Garrett Penn is a freelance writer based in Helper, Utah in the US, with a passion for everything business. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in writing and business administration. He has over eight years of experience as a writer and has over 600 articles published. When he isn’t writing, he mentors young business students on how to make their way as entrepreneurs. He hopes that his writing will answer questions about the business world and help entrepreneurs succeed.

This article appeared in the November 2017 issue of HR Future magazine.