NForum: Digital platform an increasingly important part of the recruitment mix

The panellists were Tidarat Kanchanawat, country manager of Adecco Group Thailand, Chutchapol Youngwiriyakul, human resources manager at Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand), Pinkamol Ruckpao, marketing manager at Nation Multimedia Group who oversees the Nation eJobs project, and Chantra Thongiead, director of human resources at The Siam Bangkok and Siam Hotels & Resorts. The panel was moderated by Vowpaillin Chovichien, second secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Kongdej Keesukpan, blogger at Kafaak.com.
Tidarat said the digital platform is now playing a key role in recruitment. The share between online and offline channels for recruitment at present is around 85:15 – a total change from the years before 2008 when 15 per cent of recruitment was on online channels and 85 per cent on offline.
“Lifestyles of people are dramatically changing, everything is at a finger’s click. As a recruitment agency, we need to adapt to utilise all online channels such as website and social media, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. We use each in different ways and for different purposes,” said Tidarat.
For example, the company mainly uses a website, improved to be more interactive, as the recruitment platform. The company also uses LinkedIn for seeking professional and management level resources. “Online channel is important for us in job matching, but we do not rely on all online information or social network profiling of candidates. We have a verification process such as behavioural interviews in order to make sure we recommend the right person for our customer,” said Tidarat.
Chutchapol said P&G has a global policy to use social networks, both Facebook and Twitter, as communication channels to promote the corporate brand and to encourage people from the social network community to the company’s recruitment website. The company set its website as the main channel for recruitment.
“The digital platform is already a part of community life. Both job-seekers or freelancers and employers have to adjust themselves. They have to know where the jobs they seek are, while employers have to know where to tap into the resources the company needs,” said Chutchapol.
Chantra said that in the hospitality business, the need is for service-minded people. She said hotels use a digital platform for recruitment for both management and operation level.
“We use LinkedIn to seek professional or management level people, while we use our website as the key recruitment channel, and the social network such as Facebook and Twitter to get connection with potential candidates,” said Chantra.
Pinkamol said the company has launched Nation eJobs on social network, which is designed to be an online social community for jobseekers and employers.