This document presents an internship portfolio wherein the internship was completed through a company called ARN Consulting. ARN Consulting is an established specialist recruitment firm catering to the needs of primarily the mobile and digital platform industries. The company is based in Central London, where it aids the recruitment processes throughout all levels across the UK as well as on an international basis. ARN Consulting puts in all its efforts to greet new applicants and tries to make the traditionally hassle-laden job-seeking process a trouble-free and pleasant experience for those candidates who choose to work with them. The firm claims to go beyond the trivialities of an applicant’s CV and devotes itself to comprehend his / her background, experience, qualities, individualities, and aspirations and does its best to take care that it provides appropriate career opportunities to them, concentrating not just on the job profile, but also highlight on the type of the company and compatibility factor about the group of individuals the applicant would be working within future.
Company background
ARN devotes itself to specialized recruitment processes in service relevant to the mobile and digital platform segments. The company has been operating within the Mobile & Digital Platform market segment from the time of its foundation in the year 2004. Presently, already having gained more than 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry in conjunction with 12 years of valuable experience in the mobile and digital arena, the company aspires to emerge as one of the market leaders with a vision of building and nurturing a healthy and strong relationship with their clients and patrons in the long run. The company highlights that right from the commencement of a relationship, representatives of the company physically interact and communicate extensively with every client on a prearranged timescale to assess and steer the course of their associations and enhance their ability to provide customized and personalized offerings. They believe that such measures would make sure that they are working towards a long-term collaboration with industry players as well as job seekers which would, in turn, help them to understand the individual needs of the clients to come up with the most appropriate solutions and guidance, which would take care of their needs.
Learning outcome through an internship experience
For centuries business has operated across national borders. However, it is widely acknowledged that we now live in an era of unprecedented global economic interaction and interconnectedness. The increasing globalization of business, the emergence of developing economies allied with the growing popularity of organizations forming strategic alliances and engaging in joint ventures present international organizations with many opportunities and challenges. Current literature suggests MNCs divide global managerial interventions into either three or four categories. In addition to the company-specific program, MNC’s managerial training interventions take the form of global talent development seminars and cross-cultural initiatives for expatriate assignees or those engaged across the organization’s globally dispersed business divisions. This study considers the cultural factors which must be addressed when designing and delivering managerial training and development interventions.
Despite literature being dominated by authors informing practitioners on the appropriateness of certain HRM practices being transferred from one country to another, an in-depth understanding, as to why effectiveness differs, remains elusive. It is hoped the forthcoming study will contribute to the existing knowledge, by combining a thorough review of literature and primary data gathered, which may enable a framework to be developed to assist MNCs in managing their people globally. On the personal ground, as a Russian working in the UK, I can say that there are differences among employees in the context of cultural barriers but it is hardly ever visible, even though I am not always comfortable in groups and mostly feel like an outsider. Thus, I feel his study is of most importance to me.
About global managerial training and development programs, Black and Mendenhall (1989), reflecting the work of Hofstede, coined the phrase ‘Cultural Novelty’ referring to the extent to which the culture of a participant is similar or different from that of the training professionals and other participants. They argue that organizations will be required to recognize these differing work-related values and identify the implications for the content and delivery of training programs. Cultural Novelty is based on the premise that where significant cultural differences exist, the effectiveness of training may be compromised on account of the ability of participants to absorb the content of any training, due to conflicting beliefs, attitudes, and values. In addition, the content of training itself will also be affected by differing job content, what Black and Mendenhall refer to as ‘Job Novelty’. They state that job novelty refers to differences in job content and context between those operating in similar job areas but in different countries. Job novelty highlights that participants may be faced with varying demands, constraints, and choices in respect of differing job tasks, performance criteria, operating procedures, and levels of personal involvement, in addition to different resource limitations, market conditions, legislator requirements, level of technology, work organization and scheduling, (Utroska, 1992 and Thornhill, 1993). Furthermore, many commentators (Francis, 1995; Johnson, 1991 and Geber, 1989) highlight the existence of cultural and institutional differences resulting in participants with varying perceptions regarding the very purpose of training, status and role of the trainer, the degree of interaction and differing expectations of training and development methods, which have profound implications for the host country trainers preferred techniques.
Despite significant improvements in the design and delivery of cross-cultural training programs over previous decades, there still exists room for improvement, (Bennett et al 2000 and Mendenhall and Stahl 2000). Literature abounds with prescriptions as to the best methods for developing global managers; travel, multicultural teams, formal training, and transfers, (Black et al, 1999), and short-term development assignments. However, a growing number of authors, hold expatriation to be the most effective method, representing not only a physical adventure but also a challenge for assignees to develop their self-awareness and revise their identity.
When we talk about culture, we mean the values, customs, rituals, behaviors, and beliefs which we share with others to create a relation being as a group. On the other hand organizational culture deals with shared values though there also find assumptions, beliefs, and customs here it creates a relation with the organizational members. Hayward, (1997) while quoting Hofstede (1980) mentioned that culture is the collective programming of the human mind which makes one group different from the other. With no offense to my employee in the UK, it can be stated that understanding the problem regarding values, customs, rituals, behaviors, and beliefs are the factors that my associates in my workplace lacked.
Hofstede (1980) identified four cultural dimensions. First, Power Distance refers to social inequality and the amount of authority one person has over others. From a behavioral perspective, a strong Power Distance is observed which manifests in the form of reluctance to challenge the choices and activities of leaders regardless of their appropriateness. Second, Uncertainty Avoidance relates to how a culture deals with conflict, especially the creation of beliefs and institutions to deal with disagreements and aggression. Those cultures which score high in the dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance (Rules and Order) strongly believe that all rules and regulations must at any cost be abided by, even in cases when it may be conflicting with a company’s interests or security circumstances. They also hold that well-documented procedure should be in place for all circumstances and in addition, stringent time constraints must be applied to all activities. Low Uncertainty Avoidance score indicates that those cultures are more likely to transgress Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs). However, this may be advantageous when dealing with unprecedented circumstances using adopting new and innovative means to tackle the same.
Third, the concept of Individualism & Collectivism denotes a bipolar construct wherein cultures tend to be individualistic or collectivistic. Cultures that tend to be more individualistic are formed by individuals who are more concerned only about themselves or their closely related associates. On the other hand, in more collectivistic cultures, it is observed that people tend to form in-groups or cooperatives wherein caring for others is valued and loyalty is expected in return. Those belonging to individualistic cultures pay more attention to self and individual gains whereas compliance with the group ideals is often observed in people belonging to collectivistic cultures. High Power Distance scores are often observed in collectivistic cultures, indicating disposed approval of unequal status and respect towards leaders. Lastly, Masculinity and Femininity stand for a bipartite construct that signifies two very dissimilar sets of social principles. From the masculine perspective, the most significant ideals are related to accomplishment and wealth. From the feminine standpoint, the better quality of life and care and concern for others are looked upon as fundamental values.
Culture is also a major factor that affects behavior. A conceptualization of the total situation is summarised in Lewin’s formula, B=f (PV x C), where B represents behavior, a function of the interdependence between performance value (PV) and cultural background (C) (Yamamori and Mito, 1993). If a person’s cultural background does not agree with this person’s performance value, then the person’s behavior will be affected. In aviation, there must be some kind of compromise between performance value and cockpit culture to get the behavioral results that will produce the safest and most efficient working environment in the organization.
National culture corresponds to the collective elements of national heritage. These take account of behavioral aspects, thoughts, and ideals. A few features of national culture which are acknowledged as significantly relevant to the aviation sector are Individualism / Collectivism, Power Distance, and Uncertainty Avoidance or reverence for Rules and Order (Hofstede, 1980; Helmreich & Merritt, 1999). In a pertinent survey initiative carried out by Merritt (2000) in the course of his research, information was gathered from a sample constituted by 9400 male commercial airline fliers across 19 different countries. The initiative was a replication study concerning Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture. The evaluation discounted the element of item equivalence. This turned out to be a better and more effective approach both on paper as well as in practice to appraise Hofstede’s indexes and was more applicable to the formulae as stipulated. The effort brought out vital replication correlations about all indexes. Following was the outcome of this effort:
Individualism/Collectivism -.96; Power Distance -.87; Masculinity/Femininity -.75; and Uncertainty Avoidance -.68.
The productive replication corroborates that national culture has profound implications in terms of cockpit conduct in addition to the professional customs exhibited by pilots. In addition, it also substantiates that the axiom “one size fits all” cannot be applied to procedures when it comes to the issue of training.
Further, interaction amongst individuals of varying national cultures is frequently weakened by language-related obstacles in addition to the traditional values of the different cultures. Language-oriented difficulties are although undesirable but a very much existent feature of culture. English being the principal means of communication may aggravate the difficulty. While individuals from various cultures have a multi-lingual background, those belonging to Anglo cultures commonly converse only in English and may not be able to comprehend the difficulties experienced by those belonging to different cultures in grasping communication techniques in English. A straightforward answer to the difficulty based on lingual grounds is nonexistent but the reality needs to be confronted.
There is also a strong professional culture that is associated with being a member of a profession such as a pilot. The good thing is the pride in a profession: when people love their work and are strongly motivated to do it well, then this can help aviation organizations work toward safety and efficiency in operations. There could be a negative component in the pilot profession: they believe that their decision-making endeavors are as productive under critical circumstances as ordinary situations, that their effectiveness is not dependent on individualistic predicaments, and that they are not more erring in a state of high strain. Next, establishments create and act according to their conventions which closely reflect the day-to-day activities of their affiliates. Though national cultures are greatly opposed to alterations as they encompass a person’s societal traditions throughout growing up, professional and organizational cultures can perhaps be tailored provided strong motivations are underlying such a transformation. An organization presents the carapace contained by which national and professional morals function and are a key causal factor of behavioral features. The most optimized impetus can be provided at the organizational plane to shape up and preserve a safety culture. However, a determined and well-perceived dedication of the top-level management in addition to effective policies fostering overt communications and interactions must be requirements for the development and sustainability of safety cultures, whereas refutation of issues and disregard of risks can be detrimental to the same. Progressively, organizations are leaning towards a multi-cultural approach to a much greater extent. Individuals with various nationalities, operating in concert in the organization can give rise to language-related problems inside the organization and can also hinder the communications between the aircraft and the external facilities. Finally, because of widespread failures and mergers, individuals from very different organizational cultures may find themselves working together in a new organizational culture. On a personal ground, it can be mentioned that I worked under different organizational cultures in Greece and UK and I found it very difficult to adjust. It is nobody’s fault in particular but the fault remains.
In this context, Johnston (1993) explained that the correlation between socio-politico-economic factors and accidents in the less-developed regions of the world hides several distinct influences: 1) an absence of investment in infrastructure and training, 2) a lack of regulatory expertise and independent monitoring of operators, and 3) a lack of suitable corporate and operational management expertise. Further, SOPs themselves are subject to cultural and sub-cultural variation. Hofstede’s central argument was that given the distinctive cultural breakdown in work-related values, efficient work practices, and group processes are likely to vary from country to country (Hofstede, 1980b, 1983, 1991). One of the most important sustainability issues that the organization (ArnConsulting) has been facing is shaping up and nurturing varied but competent employee strength. ArnConsulting’s People Strategy concentrates on drawing in; developing and maintaining a talent pool by creating a gender and ethnically varied, multi-generational personnel base. This makes certain that the company is well equipped to contend with threats and vulnerability related to human resources, like an aging staff and skill deficiencies, at the same time as sustaining economical labor expenditure.
The key to managing miscellaneous personnel is increasing character awareness of and understanding of differences of age, gender, and race. There are quite a lot of ways by which the differences among personnel can be handled. Language exercise is a way to encourage a multicultural organization. Martha being the minor group can be made to undergo language training which prompts her to understand and communicate with the local employee. Martha’s exposure to the local language and her understanding of the local customs and culture would let out a large number of frictions between the two groups. Being able to communicate in the local dialect would wipe out a lot of tensions between the two groups. Martha’s efforts to understand and communicate with the locals would also prompt the locals to conform to her needs and expectations. (Zimmerman 2006)
It is a well-known fact that the basic ideology of a company is to make a profit but each company develops its identity based on its vision and goal. It is here the aspect of amalgamation of vision and goal with system dynamics or ability comes into play. It is necessary to analyze and evaluate the potential of the company. It is also important to make the employees aware of the strategies to be incorporated by the management. The most effective and creative approaches and problem-solving strategies best used with a given problem are based on a complete understanding of the problem and its related scenario. It is the full knowledge on a certain problem that makes it possible for managers and employee to device methods that is creative and effective at the same time. However, the managers and employees must be allowed to think freely.
Freedom of thought and expression is the most effective strategy that a company can implement to encourage the “outside the box” procedure. To achieve this goal a company must encourage its staff to sit together under informal scenarios and chat on different elements not necessary on a specific official topic. This would encourage creative ideas and understanding and ultimately the measure of “outside the box” thought process would develop. A creative worker always possesses the ability to bring out ideas, effective or ineffective, but it would reflect the active mind behind the day-to-day work schedule. A creative worker would follow the laid down policies of the company but at the same time would be energetic enough to formulate strategies that would be motivated towards the benefits of the company. This freethinking and creative approach would create a vibe of cultural openness that would accommodate all cultures, races, and colors. As a result, there would hardly be any real conflict at all. However, there would be competitiveness and it is a welcome note as long as it is creative (Black & Mendenhall, 2003).
Observation, learning, and experience of cross-culture communication during the internship
Globalization has indeed led employers to push for the implementation of fewer directives of industrial relations, less standardization of the employment affiliations, and a greater focus on the workplace as the center of gravity of managers. However, a manager can act as a counterforce against resistance to change. However, the manager can channel this resistance into constructive mode by changing positions or shifts and not necessarily axing personnel. Thus, a manager is a person who maintains the equilibrium of a company through various phases. However, leadership is that part of a manager that is responsible for the art of creating industrial relations of any kind, between people engaged in the industry, such as the relation between employers and employees, relation between individuals entering into commercial contracts, relation between investors and debtors, etc, to maintain true cooperation of all concerned along with motivating the entire deal into a positive favor. On a personal ground, it can be mentioned that there were occasions of this positive favors in my workplace but sustainability was missing in this part for the lack of proper cross-culture leadership.
Thus, it could be suggested that in this context leadership or mentoring would be a better option from the point of view of HR managing principals. HR Management, in this context, can be defined as the art of creating industrial relations of any kind, between people engaged in the industry, such as the relation between employers and employees, relation between individuals entering into commercial contracts, relation between investors and debtors, etc, to maintain true cooperation of all concerned. The efficiency of management lies in not only making the employees work but to make them work willingly, sincerely, and consciously, by employing new knowledge, new methods, new designs, new machines, and novel techniques of production and by allaying mistrust and antagonism.
The relation between the management of the organization and Human Resources present in the organization plays a crucial role in not only expansion and development of the organization however as well for quandary free performance of the organization. The emphasis should be on good relationships and sound terms and conditions of employment between employees and the organization with the consent of both parties. Determining the work-pay relationship with the method of Collective bargaining is too backdated and should be removed from the organizations. It is required by the organization to reveal its gratitude and recognition of the efforts of its employees. Individuals and groups of employees should be rewarded properly for their particular contributions to the organization. The package rewards may include both tangible and intangible rewards. Working in a renowned and progressive company, which can be the pride of an employee can be a significant reward element. The participation of the whole staff in the process decisions making in the workplace can boost up the interests of the employees. This authorizes the employees in their duties and emphasizes teamwork, creativity, innovation, and discretion in solving problems, improvement in quality of production, etc. As the purpose of any organization is to thrive and be persistent in its endeavors, every employee of the organization must appreciate it, realize the competitive nature of the business, try to solve a problem, and take possession of their contribution to presentation and quality, which is focused on customer service. Managers must be efficient and intelligent. Let us take the example of Peters and Waterman, who in “In Search of Excellence” thought of “being visible” and “management by walkabout”. The dexterity and expertise of managers should support the endeavors of the Staff. Staff should feel that they are guided by the managers in perusing their duties. By sound management techniques, the ambitions of participative leadership and the human relations school can be achieved. (Cunningham, 24-5) According to the assumptions of the modern approach in management, organizations should have the capacity to influence their members as well as bind them together in a composite unit, as a family or a community. Few guidelines prescribed by the unitary approach are: Management should have recognition towards the efforts of the workers, and have co-operative attitudes towards them. The emphasis should be on working together as a team to achieve the ultimate purpose. TO pursue this goal management should compromise and understand the purposes and values of the employees. Disagreement and unconcealed divergences between management and employees, disruptive behavior and even strike action of the employees, and such problems in an organization can be alleviated using the “unitary” frame of reference. This approach helps cure unnecessary, deviant damage to the organization. The staff of a suffering organization should be made to realize that stoppages and obstructions are meaningless. The benefits of lingering useless momentary disagreements and conflicts disturb the environment of the organization (Dollard, 116-7).
Misinterpretation and Passions that procreate conflict are indeed enhanced by detrimental, marginal splinter groups and provocateurs. The unitary frame of reference portrays management as a perfect guardian of the employees, having the paramount interests in well being of the staff, at heart. Decisions are taken with the consent of the employees Of course misunderstandings and incongruity may arise from time to time but these are not helped by marginal splinter groups and provocateurs who distort the efforts of management.
The effectiveness of the management can be judged by its capacity to bind the workers and at a time keep them satisfied, to accomplish a greater cause of the success of the business. Efficient and participative management can keep the employees satisfied and interested in the progress of the company. With goodwill, rationality, and sensitive communication, the organizations can keep trade unions away and survive securely. Because of poor and irrational practices of the management and lack of communication between the employees and the management, workers unite against the managements to form a trade union, which can fight for their causes and interests (Dos, pp. 47-48).
Of course, misunderstandings and incongruity may arise from time to time but these are not helped by marginal splinter groups and provocateurs who distort the efforts of management. The effectiveness of the management of this company can be judged by its capacity to bind the workers and at a time keep them satisfied, to accomplish a greater cause of the success of the business. Efficient and participative management can keep the employees satisfied and interested in the progress of the company. With goodwill, rationality, and sensitive communication, the organizations can keep trade unions away and survive securely. Because of poor and irrational practices of the management and lack of communication between the employees and the management, workers unite against the managements to form a trade union, which can fight for their causes and interests. On a personal ground, it can be mentioned that I often felt very down as I was unable to share or convey my feeling with the rest because being from a different culture the others were not able to understand my gestures during an unfavorable period.
However, the goals of a company are simple, such as speed, equality, and competitive price. Commodities have become international for this company and the impact of engineering is significant. In this company, the learning curve in engineering has become an unaffordable luxury. Competitive market pressures mandate finding ways to reduce the total time required to introduce new products in the market. Competition along with more complex production and distribution environments requires identifying and reducing necessary costs, such as costs associated with development, manufacturing, distribution, and service.
Most organizations are in some way determining the competence and/or effectiveness of the human resources (HR) function. These measures, on the other hand, are by and large output-oriented, concentration on internal human resources (HR) processes and behaviors, and are used to make enhancements to human resources (HR) unambiguous course of actions and procedures. As human resources (HR) refocuses its behaviors to broader organizational concerns, human resource management measures as well need to be stretched out to determine the impact human resource management has on organizational goals and assignments. Then, the measured data can be utilized in informing organization-level decisions. The association between human resources (HR) and administration is growing more collaborative.
Human resources (HR) executives are beginning to occupy seats at the management table. Human resources (HR) offices are becoming additional advice-giving and concerned in day-to-day line management behaviors. On the other hand, there remains still a long way to go if human resources (HR) are to become a strategic associate at all levels. To do so, human resources (HR) are required to develop its in-house competencies to take care of organizational concerns, edify itself on the concerning organization and program organizational assignments, and discover ways to put forward creative and ground-breaking solutions to organizational issues.
Strategic human resource management has been described as the connecting of human resources with strategic objectives and goals, in turn, to improve the business presentation and build up an organizational culture that promotes innovation and suppleness. Strategic human resource implies accepting the human resource activities as a strategic associate in the formulation of the organization’s policies over and above in the accomplishment of those strategies through human resource actions such as appointing, selecting, training, and gratifying personnel. While strategic human resource makes out human resource’s partnership function in the strategizing procedure, the expression human resource Strategies refers to definite human resource courses of action the organization plans to practice for the attainment of its aims.
Human resource management can occupy itself a role in environmental scrutinizing, that is recognizing and investigating external opportunities and intimidations that may be vital to the company’s success. In the same way, human resource management is in only one of its kind position to make available competitive astuteness that may be constructive in the strategic planning procedure. Human resource also involves itself in the strategy formulation procedure by supplying information on the subject of the organization’s internal potencies and weaknesses. The strengths and limitations of a company’s human resources can have an influential consequence on the feasibility of the company’s strategic options.
Human resources have come to dominate and employees are again being viewed as a cost to be managed rather than an asset to be effectively deployed. By the contemporary organizational design the perspective stress that human resource managers become strategic associates in business procedures playing potential roles instead of being passive managers reacting to the necessities of other business functions. Strategic human resource managers have required a change in their mindset from considering themselves as relationship managers to resource administrators knowing how to make the most of the full potential of their human resources.
The new class of Human resource managers is required to recognize and know how to determine the financial impact of their dealings, to be competent to make obvious the value-added contributions of their jobs. Human resource professionals turn out to be strategic partners when they involve themselves in the course of action of defining business approaches when they put forward questions that set in motion plans to action, and when they formulate Human resource practices that bring in line with the business plans. By satisfying this role, Human resource professionals augment the competence of a business to carry out its strategies.
The Human Resources Management (HRM) purpose take account of several activities, and the most important among them is making a decision what staffing requirements one have and whether to use autonomous contractors or take into service employees to meet these needs, appointing and training the most excellent employees, making sure that they are better performers, handling performance-related problems, and ensuring that the human resources and administrational practices do the accepted thing to a various set of laws. Actions also take account of supervising the steps taken towards employee benefits and reimbursements, employee accounts, and personnel guiding principles. But everything should be done with compassion and understanding the basic psyche of the employee. On a personal ground, it can be mentioned that this was exactly the process to be maintained but unfortunately for me such management principles were not operational in the workplaces I attainted.
Analytical case study of the website Digimobjobs Online created during internship
The internship consisted of developing a website for Digimobjobs Online in the form of a Digimobjobs Search & Selection site which will be the subject for an analytical case study presented in this document. The website opens up in a simple-looking index page prompting the viewer to choose amongst two options: Digimobjobs Executive Search and Digimobjobs Mobile and Digital Recruitment.
Clicking on the executive search option leads the website viewer to the Home page of the website. This page describes the nature, vision, and goals of Digimobjobs Online. It states that Digimobjobs Search & Selection is a professional recruitment consultancy with its operation primarily based in the mobile and digital platform market segment. It is claimed to be the established recruitment division of Digimobjobs Online, which is a mobile and digital platform-based job searching website and operates from Central London. It goes on to state that the firm does all it can to greet new aspirants and attempt to transform the traditionally tiresome job-seeking process into an uncomplicated and pleasant experience for those aspirants who choose to work with them. The firm claims to go beyond the trivialities of an applicant’s CV and devotes itself to comprehend his / her background, experience, qualities, individualities, and aspirations and does its best to take care that it provides appropriate career opportunities to them, concentrating not just on the job profile, but also emphasizing on the type of the company and compatibility factor about the group of individuals the applicant would be working within future. Through the website, the firm provides information about its relationships with a wide range of collaborators which include newly starting companies as well as long-established multinationals each with commonality in the form of ardor for mobile technologies, digital advances, and social networking. The firm aspires to facilitate its clients with services that would help them built and sustain a significant competitive advantage using effective acquirement, maintenance, and enhancement of their workforce. The rationale underlying the instantiation of Digimobjobs Search & Selection was based on the gradually growing and evermore evident requirement for a specialized, knowledgeable, and erudite consultancy firm which could direct its efforts towards first-rate execution and delivery process. The fact that referrals are responsible for nearly 80% of the company’s total business speaks for the success of the company. This page also provides links to other pages, each dedicated to blogging, jobs, candidates, clients, events, and finally for contact information.
Through the blogging section, the company provides information to the website viewers about the happenings in the industry, up-to-date industry news, recent moves by industry players, and payment scenario surveys or unprecedented episodes for example the global economic turmoil and its impact on the mobile and digital industry. By insightfully evaluating and assessing key industry growth patterns and major development segments the firm provides valuable information that helps the job seekers and other industry contributors to build and grasp awareness about the essential skill sets which are in demand at the moment and trends that may be implicative in the future. Once in a while, the company interacts with key market decision-makers and industry professionals who offer their valuable thoughts and perceptions about major activities in the sector.
The link to the Jobs page redirects the viewer to a comprehensive search engine. The Job seeking search engine is a web tool that is contrived to seek job-related information by the use of the Internet. The output of the search operation is called the search results and is displayed in the form of a list commonly known as hits. The categorized list information is comprised of the overall job description providing a generalized view consisting of information such as Job title, Category, Location, Country, and Salary. Clicking on each result provides the viewer with a detailed summary of the Job profile. Here, in addition to the above-mentioned information, the details page consists of other information such as Salary Details, Reference, Contact name, Job Description, Requirements, and Company Details. This search engine fetches data available in the company’s jobs databases. In contrast with Web directories that are created and controlled by human editors the job search engines function algorithmically programmed using PHP technology. The search engine is well designed and supports a selection-based search pattern wherein the search query can be generated by mouse clicks. The search query parameters used in this search engine are keywords, category, location, country, and minimum salary. The searching web application also provides the user with a result sorting option to facilitate a personalized view.
The Candidates link provides information about the target audience of the job recruitment service that the company offers as a product. The company claims that it makes every effort to make sure that its consumers are delivered with a complete and first-rate service experience. One of the most central factors that resulted in the foundation of Digimobjobs Search & Selection division was the exasperating dearth of specialized and well-informed professionals to provide valuable counsel to those who require it in a rapidly developing market environment. Several types of research indicated that job-seeking applicants suffered a great deal on account of inadequate quality of counseling service and the existing counselors working in the recruitment industry lacked proper awareness about the scope of the market. Thus the company set out with an aspiration of building and nurturing a healthy relationship with its consumers on a long-term basis, grasping a thorough understanding of the career objectives and skill sets of the candidates and providing them only with appropriate and lucrative career opportunities. To do so it was vital that the firm properly gained awareness about the candidates’ background records, aspirations, principles, and ambitions and adopted an approach through which they could interact and communicate with their consumers and clients on a personal level. The target audience in the case of applicants for Digimobjobs Search & Selection can primarily be categorized into two different groups: passive and active. The Passive Candidates category is constituted by those individuals who are at the moment satisfied with their current job profiles, but at the same time are keen on learning about other lucrative job prospects available in the market. In turn, the company also shows a keen interest in interacting with such customers to talk about new and better job opportunities and advances in the industry and provides them with germane and the latest market updates. On the other hand, the Active Candidates category is comprised of those people who are energetically looking for their first or next employment openings. In this regard, the firm promises to adopt a down to business approach without delay as clients require immediate assistance in their job searching endeavor.
The other client segment of the company is formed by the various companies, including small, starting companies, medium-sized firms as well as multinational giants, looking to induct candidates to fill vacant positions in the organizations or to expand the strength of their workforce. Making the best of their valuable amount of experience in the market the firm claims to have built and sustained a strong bond with many professionals working in major organizational positions across a variety of business segments. These professionals usually are also on the lookout for prospective employees who are proficient and competent enough and would be able to add value to their organizations. Thus they are also benefited when contacted by the recruitment company which has a valuable stack of information about such promising talents. The firm offers helpful advice to the employers with regards to their recruitment processes through committed and conversant consultants who understand the needs of, give advice to and source the most proficient candidates from the talent pool available in the markets on a permanent as well as a contractual basis.
Clicking on the events link redirects the user to a utility page through which the company helps the contributors of the industry to stay informed about the upcoming industry events such as fairs, exhibitions, networking events, and conferences held. The rationale behind providing such a utility is that it is essential in the mobile and digital industry to be aware of the latest happenings. Thus to save precious time the website provides an events diary to keep the clients updated.
Finally, the contacts page provides the website viewer with information about important communication channels through which they can interact with the company.
The other section of the website – Digimobjobs Mobile and Digital Recruitment link is purely dedicated to the services provided by the Digimobjobs Search & Selection wing of Digimobjobs Online. The home page of this section provides a comprehensive overview of the services offered by the company. It separates the two customer bases of the company namely Job seekers and Employers by providing separate links for each category. Under the Job seekers category the services offered by the company are:
Posting of Resumes, Search through available job profiles and providing job information through emails. Under the Employer category, the services offered by the company are: Posting of new job profiles, browsing through submitted resumes in the company’s database, and accessing information about candidates through their resumes via emails.
In both cases, the service users have to sign up through a register module with the company either as a job seeker or an employer. Each user can maintain his/ her/ their accounts by accessing the various services. This section also provides a customized search engine for job seekers and employers. Overall it provides a common platform for the two different sections of the company’s client base to interact in an effective manner making use of the advantages web-based interaction offers such as time and location independent communication.
From the marketing perspective of the website, there are a few technical aspects that have been taken care of by the website developers. Firstly, they divide the entire content of the website into two different sections: Digimobjobs Executive Search and Digimobjobs Mobile and Digital Recruitment. The former provides a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of the company and some Service utilities. However, the content here is pretty much static except for the service utilizes such as the search engine and the events diary.
The later section is a more pure service dedicated and more sophisticated and dynamic. The most appealing thing in this section from the usability perspective of the website is that the services have been divided according to customer categories that tend to ease the navigation process. Such an effort is made to make it trouble-free for website viewers to hit upon information that is more important for them. This, in addition, facilitates the company to interact more directly with the most significant target audiences.
Furthermore, a few techniques have also been implemented to make sure that search engines index the website more efficiently, to be accessed more easily among the vast amount of information that is available on the Internet. The usage of keywords is a significant factor as explained later. The keywords used for this website are: digimobjobs, Digi, mob, jobs, specialist mobile recruiters, mobile recruitment, wireless recruitment, digital recruitment, new media recruitment, digital platforms, not online, not, are consulting, VOIP recruitment, jobs in mobile, mobile jobs, broadband recruitment, broadband jobs, new media jobs, wireless jobs, digital jobs, and VOIP jobs.
The use of keywords has been noticed to appear frequently in the text, particularly in the initial paragraphs of the page. Other things that can be noted which help the exposure of the website are Titles and Meta-tags. Title tags are of a lot of significance given that they are the first elements looked at by search engines on a web page. The usage of clear and pertinent titles helps the website achieve a better page rank in search listings. The website also includes keywords when feasible on titles (e.g., Job Search; Jobs; Executive Search – DigiMobJobs) which also help the website to get a better page rank. Apart from that, the content of the title tag is the text which manifests as the link name in the context of presentation in the search result listings. Thus by being as implicative as possible has allowed the company to provide its website viewers with a hint of where the link might redirect them. On the other hand, Meta-tags are unique HTML tags that offer key information in terms of the elements of a Web page. In contrast to typical HTML tags, meta-tags do not affect the presentation aspect of the page. They are used to supply information like developers of the page, updating frequency, subject of the content, and keywords used. The meta-tags which are most frequently used by search engines to properly index Web pages are the ‘keywords’ and ‘descriptions’ which have both been included in all the pages.
Bibliography
- Black, J. S & Mendenhall, M 2003, “A practical but theory-based framework for selecting conflict management training methods”, Human Resource Management, vol. 28, no. 4, pp 511-530.
- Hayward, B. (1997). Culture, CRM and aviation safety. ANSASI: Asia Pacific Air Safety Seminar.
- Helmreich, R. L., Merritt, A. C., & Sherman, P. J. (1996). Human Factors and National Culture. ICAO Journal, 51(8), 14-16.
- Hofstede, G. (1980a). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
- Hofstede, G. (1980b, Summer). Motivation, leadership and organisations: Do American theories apply abroad? Organisational Dynamics, 7(5), 42-63.
- Hofstede, G. (1983, Fall). The cultural relativity of organisational practices and theories. Journal of International Business Studies, 5(1), 75-89.
- Hofstede, G. (1984, January). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 6(3), 81-99.
- Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organisations: Software the mind. Maidenhead, England: McGraw-Hill.
- Merritt, A.C. (2000). Culture in the cockpit: Do Hofstede’s dimensions replicate? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(3), 283-301.
- Yamamori, H. & and Mito, T. (1993). Keeping CRM is Keeping the Flight Safe. In E. L. Wiener, Kanki, B., G., and Helmreich R. L. (Eds.). Cockpit Resource Management. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Zimmerman, D. (2006). On the Path of Success: Facts and Fictions. IBL & Alliance Ltd, Auckland.