Recruitment Websites Research Articles

Privilege and prejudice in private online English teaching: Discourses in school-owned recruitment websites

Abstract Numerous studies have analyzed various aspects of English language teaching to uncover discriminatory employment practices within the field. However, there is a gap in the research regarding the discourses present in school-managed teacher recruitment websites (TRWs), particularly in the field of private online language education (POLE). This study aims to address this gap by investigating how the preferred online English teacher is characterized and what benefits they are promised when visiting these webpages. Using critical discourse analysis, the author analyzed the textual elements of 32 TRWs of online English schools operating in six major markets in Asia. The findings reveal that although a few schools show signs of relatively fair policies and emphasize professional qualifications, most of them appear to exploit native-speakerism through their application requirements and compensation policies that often favor only some groups. The implications emphasize the benefits of creating equitable employment opportunities and professionalizing POLE by leveraging the qualifications and experience of teachers from diverse backgrounds, while ensuring fair compensation. Finally, this study provides practical strategies for present and prospective online teachers on how to take advantage of the opportunities of digital language work while contributing to the attainment of equity in the industry.

Factor analysis of impulsivity in gaming disorder and internet gaming disorder

BackgroundResearch suggests that a two-factor model of impulsivity predicts Substance Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder. We aimed to determine whether a similar factor structure was present for Gaming Disorder (GD) and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).MethodsSecondary data analysis was conducted on survey responses from 372 participants who had completed a series of questions on facets of impulsivity and their involvement in gaming. Participants were sampled from gaming forums and an online recruitment website. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the measures of trait impulsivity, and the identified factors were then analyzed against measures of Gaming Disorder and Internet Gaming Disorder. A confirmatory factor analysis was then run to confirm the model.ResultsThe exploratory results suggested a five-factor model of impulsivity, with gaming being related to all five factors. Interestingly, only two of those factors (Urgency (Positive Urgency, Negative Urgency, Delay Discounting) and (Impaired) Inhibitory Control (False Button Presses on Go/No-Go Tasks)) predicted symptom counts above the clinical cut-off for IGD. In addition, Urgency was related to symptom counts above 7/9 criteria for IGD, as well as symptom counts above the suggested clinical cut-off for GD. The confirmatory factor analysis suggested that this two-factor model of impulsivity had ‘good fit.’ConclusionsThis two-factor model of impulsivity is similar to those found in established addiction disorders, in that one factor appears to predict more problematic involvement than the other. However, the results indicate that Urgency predicts higher symptom counts than (Impaired) Inhibitory Control. This contrasts with previous findings on substance use and gambling, where (Impaired) Inhibitory Control was the factor predicting problematic use. However, there was evidence to suggest that gaming is similar to alcohol consumption, where socially acceptable, “healthy,” use is related to impulsivity at some level, but Urgency is key in the transition from recreational to disordered behavior.

Fairness in E-Recruitment: Examining Procedural Justice Perceptions and Job Seekers’ Intentions

Corporate websites are crucial in recruitment, as the prospective applicants’ experiences in digital recruitment may influence their intentions. Therefore, understanding how opportunity-to-perform perceptions (OPP) integral to procedural justice experienced by potential applicants while visiting a corporate recruitment website impact their reactions towards the company can be key. This study aims to elucidate the influence of OPP on applicants’ intentions to apply (ITA) via corporate websites. Specifically, it explores the indirect relationship between OPP during recruitment and ITA one month after visiting a company website, mediated by organizational attractiveness and ITA measured immediately after and one week after the website visit. This multi-wave study collected 260 cases from master’s students in psychology who completed a questionnaire across waves. Hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. The findings highlighted a serial mediation pathway, wherein the indirect connection between OPP and ITA after one month was mediated through organizational attractiveness, ITA immediately after, and one week after website visits. The results highlight the importance of enhancing procedural justice corporate websites to influence applicants’ perceptions and intentions positively and improve recruitment outcomes. Future research should explore the effect of long-term justice perceptions as a basis for a sustainable employee–employer relationship.

Effects of gender sensitive language in job listings: A study on real-life user interaction.

The possible impact of gender-sensitive language on readers is among the most controversially debated issues in linguistics and beyond. Previous studies have suggested that there is an effect of gender-sensitive language on mental representations, based on data gathered in laboratory settings with small groups of participants. We add a new perspective by examining correlations of authentic language use with authentic user interaction on a recruitment website. Drawing upon a large dataset provided by the recruitment platform StepStone, we evaluate whether job advertisements using certain kinds of gender-sensitive language in their titles correlate with higher proportions of views by female users. Our results indicate that there are differing effects depending on the type of gender-sensitive language that is used. Overall, the strongest correlation can be found with terms that include the feminine suffix -in.

Recruiting refugees to reduce labour shortages in health care professions: experimental evidence on the potential of foreign-language outreach on social media

BackgroundMany high-income countries are grappling with severe labour shortages in the healthcare sector. Refugees and recent migrants present a potential pool for staff recruitment due to their higher unemployment rates, younger age, and lower average educational attainment compared to the host society's labour force. Despite this, refugees and recent migrants, often possessing limited language skills in the destination country, are frequently excluded from traditional recruitment campaigns conducted solely in the host country’s language. Even those with intermediate language skills may feel excluded, as destination-country language advertisements are perceived as targeting only native speakers. This study experimentally assesses the effectiveness of a recruitment campaign for nursing positions in a German care facility, specifically targeting Arabic and Ukrainian speakers through Facebook advertisements.MethodsWe employ an experimental design (AB test) approximating a randomized controlled trial, utilizing Facebook as the delivery platform. We compare job advertisements for nursing positions in the native languages of Arabic and Ukrainian speakers (treatment) with the same advertisements displayed in German (control) for the same target group in the context of a real recruitment campaign for nursing jobs in Berlin, Germany. Our evaluation includes comparing link click rates, visits to the recruitment website, initiated applications, and completed applications, along with the unit cost of these indicators. We assess statistical significance in group differences using the Chi-squared test.ResultsWe find that recruitment efforts in the origin language were 5.6 times (Arabic speakers) and 1.9 times (Ukrainian speakers) more effective in initiating nursing job applications compared to the standard model of German-only advertisements among recent migrants and refugees. Overall, targeting refugees and recent migrants was 2.4 (Ukrainians) and 10.8 (Arabic) times cheaper than targeting the reference group of German speakers indicating higher interest among these groups.ConclusionsThe results underscore the substantial benefits for employers in utilizing targeted recruitment via social media aimed at foreign-language communities within the country. This strategy, which is low-cost and low effort compared to recruiting abroad or investing in digitalization, has the potential for broad applicability in numerous high-income countries with sizable migrant communities. Increased employment rates among underemployed refugee and migrant communities, in turn, contribute to reducing poverty, social exclusion, public expenditure, and foster greater acceptance of newcomers within the receiving society.

Construction of a competency evaluation index system for postgraduates of educational technology

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the competency characteristics required for the employment of master’s degree students in educational technology.Design/methodology/approachA combined qualitative and quantitative method was used to consult multiple experts through a modified Delphi method. Competency characteristics were extracted from Chinese recruitment apps, national recruitment websites and university training programs. Ten senior teacher experts who teach educational technology master’s students were consulted through a questionnaire consultation to validate the proposed competency model. The weights of competency characteristics were determined through a combination of the analytic hierarchy process and entropy method.FindingsThe results show that when recruiting educational technology master’s students, more emphasis is placed on operational skills. The majority of companies tend to assess practical abilities rather than theoretical knowledge. Relevant knowledge of educational technology, psychology, computer science and education is considered to be the basic knowledge components of educational technology master’s students, while professional skills are the core skills required for their positions. Therefore, universities need to focus on training, educational technology graduate students in these areas of competence. The study also found that professional qualities (such as physical and mental fitness) and personality traits (interpersonal communication and interaction) receive more attention from companies and are essential competencies for educational technology master’s students.Originality/valueA competence model for educational technology master’s students is proposed, which includes aspects such as knowledge, personal skills/abilities, professional qualities and personality traits. The competence elements included in this model can serve as reference indicators for universities to cultivate the competence of educational technology master’s students, as well as reference points for recruiting units to help them select talents. This represents a new dimension in research related to the employment of educational technology master’s students. The study enriches the research objects and competence dictionary in the field of competence research.

Acceptability of self-collected vaginal samples for human papillomavirus testing for primary cervical cancer screening: comparison of face-to-face and online recruitment modes

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the acceptability and attitudes of women towards human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling and compare the effectiveness of two delivery modes utilising face-to-face and online website for cervical cancer screening in Hong Kong.MethodsWomen aged 30–65 years were invited to participate by distributing the study information pamphlets at the specialist clinics of a regional acute hospital. Those who were interested in participating were given the option to join directly face-to-face or through an online website. All participants provided informed consent and received self-sampling kits and acceptability questionnaires either immediately (face-to-face) or through the post after registering at the website (online). All participants were requested to collect their own vaginal samples using a swab which was then brushed on a DNA sample storage card and returned to the hospital either in person or by post. The self-collected samples were tested for high-risk HPV using the Sentis™ HPV assay, a validated isothermal nucleic acid amplification real-time fluorescent detection assay. The primary outcome was the uptake rate of HPV self-sampling.ResultsOf the 1998 women recruited (1200 face-to-face, 798 online), 1377 returned their samples, giving an overall uptake rate of 68.9%. The uptake rate was significantly greater in the face-to-face mode than in the online mode (74.6% vs. 60.4%, p < 0.001). The median age of the participants was 49 years, 43.7% were never or under-screened, and 7.1% had high-risk HPV detected. Overall, 82.1% of the participants reported self-sampling convenient, and 79.3% were not embarrassed when collecting self-samples. However, only 49.8% were confident that they had collected the self-samples correctly. Most (91.1%) of the participants expressed willingness to perform self-sampling again, mostly because it was simple (79.2%) and quick (56.3%).ConclusionsHPV self-sampling can serve as an alternative primary screening method for cervical cancer in Hong Kong, especially for individuals who have not been adequately screened in the past. Both face-to-face and online website recruitment were associated with high acceptability, emphasising the potential benefits of utilising different platforms and strategies for reaching diverse populations.

Analysis of Logistics Curriculum and Recruitment Requirements Based on Text Mining: A Case Study of China

This study aims to explore the logistics curriculum and the recruitment requirements and to compare the relationship between the two systems. Text mining is applied to collect data from an online recruitment website, extract latent topics, and dynamically visualize the extracted latent topics. The online and on-site survey is conducted to collect logistics curriculum syllabi from 29 selected universities in China. This study demonstrates that (1) The logistics curriculum direction in China mostly meets the employment demands; (2) The curriculum distribution does not fully match the employment demands. That is, knowledge areas of general management and logistics IT are over-supplied, whereas knowledge areas of transportation and distribution are under-supplied. It is suggested that to balance the actual talent demands, Chinese higher education should increase the courses concerning transportation and distribution and appropriately reduce the courses related to logistics IT, and universities need to apply course modules into the logistics curriculum revision to meet the changes in the demand of the employment market.

The Effectiveness of e-Recruitment Adoption: A TAM Approach Examining User Perspectives

E-recruitment and its effective implementation is necessary for organizations that focus to channelize hiring, reduce costs, and attract a diverse talent pool in the present era. It is vital to understand and analyse the adoption of e-recruitment websites by job-seekers in India by focusing on factors like perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and perceived ease of use. The main goal of this study is to establish the relationship between these antecedents and the user acceptance of e-recruitment in the Indian context. This cross-sectional study with descriptive research design used purposive sampling. The responses on pre-tested research instrument was collected from 612 respondents that validated the degree of relationship among the chosen factors. Perceived ease of use and pleasure positively correlated with perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness positively impacts e-recruitment website usage. This research examined job-seekers’ acceptance of online recruiting using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study is beneficial for Human Resource (HR) recruiters, research scholars, HR professionals, job seekers, manpower consultants, and those who use technology to recruit employees. The study found that perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness of the technology were two major drivers of job-seekers attitude towards adoption of e- recruitment websites in India at (p&lt;0.001). The research would assist decision-makers understand recruiting website adoption antecedents. The widespread adoption of this technology will help in economizing for both firms and job-seekers, apart from knowing the job-seekers behavioural intent to adopt internet recruitment websites.

Paternal postnatal depression and parenting behaviours in the first year of life.

Paternal postnatal depression (PPD) symptomology has been positively associated with poorer outcomes for children. One mechanism by which PPD is thought to influence child outcomes is through parenting. The current study investigated the association between paternal postnatal depressive symptoms and parenting behaviours. Fathers (N = 213) with an infant (mean age = 7months, 46% female) between 2 and 12 months old were recruited through community and social media advertisements, as well as a paid survey recruitment website. Fathers completed a questionnaire on their symptoms of PPD and how they care for and raise their child (parental warmth, irritability, engagement in enrichment, play and safety behaviours). Fathers experiencing greater levels of PPD symptomatology self-reported higher irritability, lower warmth and fewer safe parenting behaviours but did not report lower enrichment or play with their infants. Overall, findings suggest that PPD symptomology may impact negatively on aspects of fathers' parenting behaviours. Further research using larger and more diverse samples is needed to assess the generalisability of these findings.

CAN‐THUMBS UP: Recruitment in the Virtual Era

AbstractBackgroundThe Brain Health Support Program (BHSP) of the CAN‐Thumbs Up Study is an online, interactive educational intervention designed to increase dementia literacy, self‐efficacy and address modifiable lifestyle risk factors. Recruiting for a virtual study presented both opportunities and challenges. This included the need to attract participants through means beyond referrals from medical clinics, as well as opportunities to reach geographically diverse Canadian population less feasible with in‐person evaluations.MethodsA comprehensive recruitment strategy for a virtual environment was implemented. A central website provided any interested candidate with study information, and a link to register and provide basic demographic information via a secure form. Potential participants were directed to the website via traditional recruitment through CCNA specialty clinics or existing cohorts, through geotargeting mailing to specific target populations throughout Canada, social medial advertising, partner organizations, and a coordinated National press release.ResultsThe study had an 8‐month open recruitment window. During this time 964 participants agreed to be contacted through our online portal. Of these, 18‐81 were consented to enroll in the study per month. A total of 7,569 geotargeted postcards were sent, with 153 individuals agreeing to be contacted for the study (2%). Social media advertising generated 974 clicks, with 6.8% subsequently agreeing to be contacted for more information. The majority of participants enrolled in the study came from existing clinical cohorts, CCNA clinical sites, and partner organizations. The recruitment cohort was from a diverse geographical location, 45% urban, 35% suburban, and 20% rural. Overall, the target cohort of 350 subjects was successfully enrolled by the end of the recruitment period.ConclusionRecruitment for the BHSP intervention demonstrates the value of relatively underutilized clinical trials recruitment strategies, such as geotargeted mailing, and social media advertising. We also show the value of a centralized web site for initial screening of interested participants. While traditional recruitment methods still directed the majority of participants to the recruitment website, geotargeted mailing, social advertising, partner organizations, and earned media can all be scaled up, and will likely play a major role in future recruitments efforts in the broader CAN‐Thumbs Up Study.

Personality correlates of social attitudes and social distance.

Previous studies have shown that personality traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) relate to prejudicial attitudes. However, one of the aspects of prejudice is social distance; its association with personality traits was overlooked by previous studies. Therefore, this study examines the connection between the Big Five personality traits and social distance toward certain social groups. Participants from the general population were recruited through leaflets, the institutional webpage, Facebook, and through the project recruitment website and assessed via paper-and-pencil or online form. A total of 214 participants were included (of whom 68.2% were women and the mean age was 32.65, SD = 11.27, range 18-72) who completed the Bogardus Social Distance Scale and the 44-item Big Five Inventory questionnaire. The results showed a relationship between social distance, agreeableness, and openness to experience. Agreeableness seems to lower the social distance toward all studied groups. In comparison, openness to experience seems to lower the social distance towards groups that evoke more polarized attitudes in the majority (e.g., migrants). Furthermore, the influence of demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education level, and gender) is also significant. This study shows that personality is significantly related to social distancing and expression of prejudicial attitudes. In particular, agreeableness and openness to experience have different effects on social distance and attitudes towards different groups. Further implications are discussed.

Text analysis of job offers for mismatch of educational characteristics to labour market demands

Nowadays, the traditional ways of job seeking have become less popular than digital methods. Recruitment websites are more attractive to job seekers since they provide easy, convenient access to a greater number of job vacancies. The biggest disadvantage, however, is that job vacancies published online are often unstructured and confusing. Studies related to online job vacancies are usually restricted to a short duration and a small number of recruitment websites. Such studies frequently use proxies for skills and occupations, or aggregate them into wider groups. The aim of our research is to provide full educational characteristics of job vacancies in Poland and calculate a complete list of educational mismatches. We introduce an approach that includes stages of source selection; data collection; and extraction of occupations, qualifications, and skills. We describe difficulties with data scraping and ways to overcome them. Thanks to our large dataset, we are able to determine and describe the labour demand. We also show the results of a survey that estimates educational traits of the labour supply. To measure mismatch between education and labour supply and demand, we use structural compliance indices. The paper also offers a case study for chosen occupational groups. Our findings reveal the greatest mismatch is in education and job-related skills, with the least mismatch occurring between geographic regions.

Feasibility and acceptability of a culturally-adapted Women's Wellness After Cancer Programme for Chinese women treated for gynaecological cancer: A pilot randomised controlled trial

ObjectiveTo assess the feasibility and acceptability of a culturally-adapted Women's Wellness After Cancer Programme (WWACPHK) for improving health-related quality of life, anxiety and depressive symptoms and enhancing self-efficacy in engaging in healthy lifestyles among Chinese women treated for gynaecological cancer. MethodsThis pilot randomised controlled trial was conducted from May to December 2018. Twenty-six women aged 18 or above who had completed treatment for gynaecological cancer were recruited from a gynaecology outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Hong Kong. They were randomised into intervention (n = 15) or control (n = 11) groups. All data collectors were blinded to the group allocation. Intervention participants were given access to the WWACPHK website and an online discussion forum facilitated by a trained research nurse for 12 weeks, while control participants received standard care. Trial feasibility was assessed by recruitment, consent, and retention rates and website use. Acceptability was explored through semi-structured interviews. Additionally, we trialed the data collection procedure and collected preliminary data on health-related quality of life, anxiety and depressive symptoms, dietary and exercise self-efficacy. ResultsOf the 26 participants (Median age = 53.5 years) randomised, three participants dropped out of the study. Recruitment, consent and retention of participants and website use were satisfactory. No posting was made on the discussion forum. The intervention participants (n = 13) exhibited significantly greater improvement than the controls (n = 10) in perceived self-efficacy in adhering to an exercise routine at post-intervention (Cohen's d effect size(d) = 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.18, 1.92) and 12-weeks after completion (d = 1.24, 95% CI: 0.32, 2.13). All participants were satisfied with the intervention. ConclusionsThe WWACPHK is feasible and acceptable to Chinese women treated for gynaecological cancer and may improve their exercise self-efficacy. A larger-scale study is required to confirm its effects. Trial registrationhttps://www.isrctn.com identifier: ISRCTN12149499.

1264 AN ANALYSIS OF CONSULTANT JOB ADVERTS IN GERIATRIC MEDICINE IN ENGLAND AND WALES

Abstract Introduction The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) Flexible Workforce Statement supports national policy such as the NHS People Plan in promoting less than full time (LTFT) working.1,2 As LTFT trainee representatives on the BGS Trainees' Council we were interested to know how consultant work patterns are advertised. We analysed job adverts for Consultants in Geriatric Medicine over a two-year period to identify how many were LTFT posts. Method A freedom of information (FOI) request was submitted to online recruitment website ‘NHS Jobs’. The request identified jobs in ‘Elderly Care Medicine’ OR those containing ‘Geriatric’ in their title between 01/04/2019 and 31/03/2021. The FOI data were filtered to only include Consultant posts, grouped by training deanery and analysed using Excel. Regional numbers of LTFT trainees were identified by emailing Training Programme Directors and a FOI request to deaneries for non-responders. The number of LTFT consultants was identified using the online Royal College of Physicians census.3 Results The FOI request returned 7589 jobs; of these 1083 were consultant posts. These ranged from 42 in Thames Valley to 171 in East of England. Twenty-one jobs (1.9%) were advertised as LTFT, the highest proportion was 10.5% in Yorkshire and Humber. Twenty-eight (2.6%) were negotiable, the highest proportion was 15.9% in the South West. On average, 33% of LTFT jobs were advertised as permanent posts. Currently, 37.7% of trainees, and 25% of consultants, work LTFT. Conclusion Number of LTFT job adverts was low compared to the number of LTFT consultants and trainees, although there is regional variation. A limitation was that details of adverts were not seen, which made it unclear whether each job was a fresh advert or readvertising an unfilled post. The latter is likely given there are 1747 consultants working in the UK.3 Further avenues of work include identifying LTFT opportunities for SAS grade doctors and allied health professionals.

Empirical Research on Data Science Talent Training and Enterprise Demand in Colleges and Universities

The advent of the information age has given rise to a huge amount of data, and it becomes crucial to use the data well and bring its value into play. How colleges and universities train data science talents to meet the huge demand of the industry is of great significance. In this paper, the demand information of data science talents from recruitment websites was crawled by a typical web scraper and then carried out pre-processing, statistical analysis, and visual display. Through fully excavating the job information and summarizing the law of enterprise demand, constructive suggestions were put forward for data science talent training in colleges and universities, providing a reference basis for talent training units to develop training programs.

The impact of COVID-19 on the employment status and psychological expectations of college graduates: Empirical evidence from the survey data of Chinese recruitment websites.

Based on the big data and survey data of online recruitment platform, this paper empirically tests the impact of COVID-19 on the employment status and psychological expectations of college graduates. The results show that: under the impact of COVID-19 epidemic, both supply and demand sides of college graduates' employment market are affected, such as the decline of recruitment demand, the rise of the employment supply, and the obvious decrease of employment market prosperity. The impacts of COVID-19 epidemic on college graduates' employment status and psychological expectation in different cities are heterogeneous. In the short term, the epidemic has a negative impact on the employment of graduates, but the employment situation is gradually improving with the support of national policies. Under the influence of COVID-19 epidemic, graduates will change their employment location and expected salary, and they tend to choose "temporary non-employment," and their proportions of getting offers and signing contracts are significantly reduced. This paper suggests: Firstly, we should continue to push forward the action plan of "expanding jobs in graduation season to promote employment," and strengthen the persistence and permanence of employment promotion policies for college graduates; Secondly, encourage college students to change their employment concept and rationally adjust their employment expectations; Thirdly, to promote the development of flexible employment of college graduates, it is necessary to strengthen the propaganda of flexible employment, so that students can understand relevant policies; Fourthly, strengthen employment guidance services for graduates from poor families to ensure the continuity and stability of employment assistance policies.

Analysis and Evaluation of Engineering Job Demand Based on Big Data Technology

This paper carried out an analysis and evaluation research of engineering job demand based on big data technology. By collecting the semistructured or unstructured recruitment information of engineering positions on the recruitment website, text mining technology is used to mine the knowledge model hidden in the market by building a relatively perfect Dictionary of professional skills of engineering positions. Based on the large sample data, a comprehensive, multidimensional and high-precision postdemand characteristic model is constructed. The model can not only interpret the existing recruitment market and elaborate the specific skill needs of different positions but also predict and analyze the model and estimate the required skills in combination with the specific postresponsibility characteristics, which can not only enable candidates to submit resumes reasonably, Moreover, it provides suggestions for colleges and universities or other relevant employment institutions to have an accurate, comprehensive and in-depth insight into market demand and carry out effective talent training for all units. Through the analysis of the experimental results, it is proved that the established engineering postdemand analysis model is consistent with the actual situation, and has certain explanatory significance for the current economic and social recruitment phenomenon, and the model has reference value.

Distress of tertiary education students in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This project sought to characterize levels of distress in Australian tertiary education students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisements were placed on multiple participant recruitment and student run websites associated with various tertiary institutions. Level of overall distress was assessed with the K-10 so that comparisons could be made with previous research. A total of 1072 tertiary education students 18 years or older participated in the study. 70.9% of tertiary education students studying in Australia displayed elevated levels of psychological distress during the pandemic, with 23.01% of the sample reporting extreme levels of distress. More tertiary education students experienced severe distress during the COVID-19 pandemic than adults in the general population, as well as before the pandemic. Services are needed to help tertiary education students cope with elevated levels of distress associated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rethinking recruitment ethically through the lens of corporate social responsibility (CSR)

PurposeTraditional recruitment practices tend to be rigorous, but some of its elements can be improved. The length of applications, missing or unstated salary details and lack of anonymity in some emerging countries' recruitment processes mean that recruitment standards remain questionable and unethical. This paper presents a conceptual discourse on how current recruitment activities can be improved in light of progress made with global Internet infrastructure and CSR standards.Design/methodology/approachThis is primarily a conceptual paper intended to discuss unethical recruitment practices. The author used selected studies and case studies to present the case for improvements in the field of recruitment.FindingsCompared with easy apply options popularised through recruitment websites, organisations continue to favour traditionally lengthy and complicated applications. The incidence of unstated salary, lack of anonymity and poor communication from some recruiters imply that more has to be done in these areas of CSR.Research limitations/implicationsAs with most conceptual papers, this study lacks adequate empirical support. The claims and propositions made are largely based on a scanty number of current research and industry observations.Practical implicationsThis study will have potential application in scenarios where recruiters are seeking to improve their practice; however, the recommendations may not be applicable to all organisations.Social implicationsThe understanding of ethical values and their application to recruitment will vary from culture to culture.Originality/valueThe paper offers a clear path to debating recruitment ethics and improvements in current practices. No known studies have specifically targeted this area of ethical recruitment.