Whereas finding a job used to mean pounding the pavement with resume
in hand and perusing newspaper want ads with a red marker, it now
means uploading your qualifications into a computer database and
waiting for the phone to ring.
More than 8,000 Estonians have taken advantage of the new method by
posting their resumes on CV Online, the leading Internet recruitment
and employment database here, and company executives say that number
increases by 1,000 each month.
On Nov. 9, CV Online launched the same service in Latvia and the
database has already registered over 200 resumes.
The company plans on expanding to other Central and Eastern European
countries in the next few months, including Lithuania. The goal is to
offer companies that want to enter new markets with a comprehensive
database of potential employees, said CV Online's director of
international development.
"Actually, we are translating the database right now," Juri Kaljundi
said. "It should be about one or two months for Lithuania."
Currently about 400 domestic and international companies, from banks
to hotels, tap into the database to find new recruits. Resumes are
posted by applicants seeking senior level positions as well as those
who are entering the job market for the first time.
Most career placements are in the information technology sector and
customer service area, Kaljundi said.
Other Internet employment and recruiting databases, such as Jobs.ee
and Vara Employment Online, also post resumes on the Web, but their
databases do not have nearly the number of resumes as CV Online. Each
company keeps about 1,000 resumes on-line.
Reet Kaarelson, consultant at Arko Reserv, the executive search
company that oversees the Jobs.ee database, said her company's
strategy differs from CV Online's leaving the market open for both
types of headhunters. Companies looking to recruit senior management
target firms like Arko Reserv, not CV Online, Kaarelson said, because
a more exclusive search is necessary for those positions.
She said the biggest competitors of Arko Reserv are not on-line
databases, but other executive consulting firms, both Estonian and
international.
Despite having a large database of educated and experienced
personnel, Kaljundi agrees with Kaarelson in that senior executives
are more commonly hired by in-house company recruiters or employment
consulting firms like Arko Reserv.
"Our applicants are educated, they all know computers, they all know
the Internet. About a third of the people on our database are tech
people," Kaljundi said. "Executive hires are sought at from firms not
Internet-based."
CV Online and the other Internet databases compete with newspapers
because newspapers generally attract the same clientele, namely sales
and technology job applicants, Kaljundi said.
The hardest competition is from newspaper ads. Some companies have
said that they do not have to post in the newspapers anymore, so we
are taking money away from them," he said.
Lower cost is one reason companies choose to advertise their
available positions on-line. The service is free for job-seekers and
around 5,000 kroons ($330) for a year's subscription for company
clients.
The ability to pay one subscription fee for access to a database of
thousands of qualified applicants is another advantage to the on-line
system. No more sifting through piles of resumes, say company
managers who have used CV Online, rather the applicable resumes are
delivered directly to the company's e-mail.
"The price to quality relationship is very good. It is much more
expensive to advertise in newspapers," Katrin Tiitus, personnel
manager at Grand Hotel Mercure Tallinn said. "For a better price you
get access to the entire database."
Newspaper advertising managers do not feel like their days are
numbered quite yet, though.
"It is no secret that the Web is developing a lot," said Erika
Saarmets, advertising director at Eesti Paevaleht. "But, I would
argue against the general understanding that the Internet will drive
out traditional publications."
Saarmets said that although employment advertising could move
exclusively to the Internet, advertising in a newspaper reaches
people who are not in the market for a job, which is beneficial to
the company.
"Advertising in the newspaper is part of a company's image building
because it has a dual purpose," she said. "People can read and learn
about the company even if they are not looking for employment."
For job applicants, CV Online is an easier and faster way to get
their resumes distributed to a wider audience. Kaljundi said many job
seekers find positions the day they post their resume on-line.
"I liked it very much because I could look by myself and somebody was
also looking for me," Piret Rootalu, secretary at the real estate
firm, Ober Haus, said on her experience using CV Online.
"The only thing is that you have to have a computer and access to the
Internet. I don't, so I used a friends' computer," she said.
According to a survey by Baltic Media Facts in the spring, 15 percent
of Estonians use the Internet regularly, 5 percent of Latvians and 2
percent of Lithuanians. However, in the past few months Internet
usage has risen in the three Baltic states, but survey results will
not be released for two weeks, a BMF Gallup Poll representative said.
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