RESEARCH PROPOSAL TITLE

KCA UNIVERSITY ONLINE RECRUITMENT SYSTEM

Table of Contents

1.0 Background 4

2.0 Problem Statement 8

3.0 Proposed Solution 9

4.0 Objectives 11

5.0 Literature Review 12

6.0 Methodology 15

7.0 Data Collection Methodology 16

8.0 Constraints 17

9.0 Resources Required 18

10.0 Budget 18

11.0 Project Schedule 20

12.0 Conclusion 22

References 23

Bibliography 23

Background

KCA University dates back to 1989, with the establishment of the institution as Kenya College of Accountancy by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) to improve the quality of accountancy and financial management training in the country. The college was founded after a study conducted by Chart Foulks Lynch CIPFA services of the UK in 1987/88. The study revealed that the Kenyan economy required an additional four hundred qualified Accountants every year. The output of qualified accountants from the training institutions then was less than one hundred.
To maintain a national outlook, the institution opened satellite colleges in Githunguri, Kericho, Eldoret and Kisumu all now under the School of Professional Programmes.
Abstract
The key HR aims at the KCA University are recruitment, retention and development of the very best academic staff and high quality administrative staff to support its corporate vision of being a World Class Business University of Choice and the leading University for practicing professionals.
The University recognizes that whilst its academic and research staff have a key role in delivering its overall strategic aims, non-academic staff at all levels aim to provide appropriate level of support to enable academic staff concentrate on their core functions.
Recruitment is the act of applying for a job as a result of being unemployed or discontent with a current position. During the recruitment process at KCA University, the Human Resource (H.R) department of the University gathers the necessary details associated to the vacant position some of which include job title, job specification, job requirement, number of required posts and the application deadline date for the job.
The H.R department of the University then selects an appropriate awareness method to advertise the vacancy to qualified and interested individuals. The advertising of the vacancy is usually done through the use of posters if the replacement needed is internal while the media which includes classifieds in newspapers is used to advertise a vacancy that needs an external replacement. The Human Resource department may also out source services offered by employment agencies.

A person searching for a job will have to check from various sources for any job adverts. Some of the job advert sources include the newspaper, posters, approaching job offering consultancies or even visiting several organizational online applications. After finding a desirable vacancy, an applicant takes down the details concerning the particular job and goes ahead to prepare his credentials which include applicant’s résumé, application letter and academic certificates and then apply for the job by responding to the advertisement. This may mean applying through an online application, emailing or mailing in a hard copy of your résumé.

The job applicant has to figure out an appropriate way of delivering his recruitment documents to the University HR Department.

The applicant may also decide to use the postal address to send his application documents; he may also make a hand delivery of the application documents.

Finally the job applicant waits for a reply from the KCA University’s Human Resource department.

2.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The impediments to the smooth and efficient operation of the KCA University recruitment System that have crippled the efforts of the System from providing effective and satisfactory services over the years are as discussed below; • The H.R department spends a lot of time deciding the most effective way to advertise a vacancy and keep track of records concerning the vacancies advertised. Time is spent in choosing among several advertisement options. • When applicants are applying for a job to the University, more time, effort, and money is spent in searching for advertised vacancies from KCA University, the application process is time consuming and also delivering the application documents to the University is hectic. • The H.R department finds it ineffective and inefficient when they are opening received hardcopy application to view their contents and make appropriate decisions out of them. • After selecting the qualified applicants, it is hectic for the H.R department to locate their contacts from their application documents especially if the posts for the vacancy are many. • Chances of misplacing application documents in the H.R department are high or even application documents being destroyed accidentally. • When the H.R department needs to retrieve an already hired employees’ application details, it is time and effort consuming to retrieve the documents from the filing system since the manual way of storing records does not provide a way for the recruitment system to query though stored records and therefore backtracking of employees details pertaining to something or someone specific is difficult. • The current recruitment system is expensive considering that a lot of papers and filing resources are used.

3.0 PROPOSED SOLUTION

The proposed solution will be known as KCA University Online Recruitment System which will be an online application that facilitates the H.R department of KCA University to advertise job vacancies, receive job applications and keep track of hired employees. The system will also enable job applicants to search for vacant positions in KCA University and apply for the vacancies online.

KCA University Online Recruitment System, once operational will solve a considerable amount of the problems facing the current recruitment system. The recruitment system will incorporate the following features.

• Powerful Search Engine: All search criteria, which include Keywords, Text, User Defined Fields, Database Fields and List Files, are entered in one area enabling users to quickly and efficiently produce the desired results. The resulting lists provide considerable facilities for contacting and tracking the appropriate people. • Fast Candidate Creation: The online recruitment import facility allows the creation of candidate records directly from a CV regardless of the source location of the CV. • CV Manager: This module allows the rapid import of large quantity of CV’s in to the system with a very high degree of accuracy and helps you manage your obligations. • Text Messaging: This feature will enable the recruitment system to contact candidates quickly and efficiently by bulk emailing a message to their mobile phones hence reducing the cost and time consumed through phone calls trying to contact them. • Mail Merge: Fully functional mail merge facility allowing the merging database fields into form, letter, and email templates. • Scalable: Using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as its database engine means the system is suitable for every size of operation. This system grows as KCA University grows. • Security: Sophisticated security will be integral to the KCA University Online Recruitment System. User access to parts of the system can be withdrawn and the functionality in the screens they will access can be controlled.
Overall, KCA University Online Recruitment System will make the recruitment process be cost and time effective, reliable and secure and also improve efficiency in data retrieval.

3.1 JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

Performance • The system execution will be fast and this will lead to a high productivity.
Efficiency
• The proposed system will be very efficient in terms of resource utilization, resources such as time taken by the HR department to advertise a vacancy, time taken by applicants to search and apply for a job position and the amount of money spent in the application process.
Satisfaction
• KCA University Online Recruitment System will keep the HR department and job applicants satisfied in terms of the system service delivery.

4.0 OBJECTIVES

4.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE SYSTEM

Job analysis • The system will enable the job applicants conduct various jobs analysis since they will have a variety of job options once they visit the KCA University Online Recruitment System, they will be able choose the best job that suits them after the job analysis.
Well organized records of events and occurrences • KCA University Online Recruitment System will enable the HR department and applicants to organize their events properly since the system will facilitate easy retrieval of needed information from the database.
Efficiency and effectiveness in processes • A lot of paperwork will be done away with; this will reduce the amount of work and the hassle of running up and down for stationery and filing equipment. The system will enable fast and easy access to employees’ recruitment information.
Enhanced Security • Unauthorized access shall also be curbed through effective system security measures such as login windows and the use of passwords. Only KCA University HR department will be allowed to advertise job positions.
Better storage facilities • KCA University Online Recruitment System will offer much better unlimited storage space since most details will be in a database as opposed to the traditional filing system that occupies a lot of physical space. There will also be increased reliability in storage of information in the system database hence querying the database will automatically be done by the system.
Better working conditions • Due to automation of activities, working hours will be reduced; activities such as data retrieval and storage will become easier and consistent resulting to better and faster service delivery.

5.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

Literature review is the analysis of the existing knowledge on a particular line of study. It focuses on the existing studies done by other researchers and scholars and also provides some basic knowledge of the research topic.

Sarawak Government e-recruitment website
The e-recruitment website provides an easy way to search and apply for vacancies in the Sarawak State Government. It allows submission and updates the application, personal details and qualification online, anywhere, anytime. Applicants can view application status and interview details online.
However, the usability problems that are violations towards the usability principles have been indentified. The ineffectiveness of the search engine does not provide any option for job category search. The search engine is limited keyword availability. There are no instructions or hint to highlight the type of job category available. There are no broken hyperlinks provided and the format style of the topic is similar to the format style of hyperlink. This confuses the users to hardly recognize where they are on particular site.
The information and image is always not up to date. The image shown is not attractive to encourage the user to keep on staying. Attractiveness is resulted from matching what user need from website and the design that they expect.
The usable websites are needed to help online job seekers to find job effectively and efficiently.

Online Career Center
The Online Career Center launched in 1993 as a non-profit organization backed by forty major corporations as a system for job hunters to store their resumes within the databases as well as for recruiters to post job openings to the databases.
In 1994 Robert J. McGovern began NetStart Inc. as software sold to companies for listing job openings on their Web sites and manage the incoming e-mails those listings generated. (Peter Behr, David Segal, “High-Tech Turks Lure Big-Buck Backers; Outside Investment Grows but Trails Other U.S. Centers”, The Washington Post, Nov. 4, 1996) he then transported this software to its own web address, at first listing the job openings from the companies who utilized the software. NetStart Inc. changed its name in 1998 to operate under the name of their software, CareerBuilder. The company received a further influx of seven million dollars from investment firms such as New Enterprise Associates to expand their operations. (Rajiv Chandrasekaran,“Tapping Into a Web of Aspirations; NetStart Helps Firms With Online Job Hunts”, The Washington Post, Dec. 30, 1996).
Job boards
Job boards are online applications that facilitates job hunting and range from large scale generalist sites to niche job boards for job categories such as engineering, legal, insurance, social work, teaching as well as cross-sector categories such as green jobs, ethical jobs and seasonal jobs. Users can typically deposit their résumés and submit them to potential employers, while employers can post job ads and search for potential employees.
As of July 2009 and according to comScore Media Metrix, the most visited job boards were CareerBuilder, Yahoo! HotJobs, and Monster.com.
Another increasingly popular niche for online job boards is diversity hiring, aimed at posting job opportunities for minority groups or those who face barriers to employment such as persons with disabilities or skilled immigrants.
Other job search engines index pages only from employers' online applications, such as LinkUp, Indeed, Hound, and Eluta.ca (Canada) choosing to bypass traditional job boards entirely. These vertical search engines allow jobseekers to find new positions that may not be advertised on the traditional job boards.

Employer review online application

An employer review online application is a type of employment online application where past and current employees post comments about their experiences working for a company or organization. An employer review online application normally takes the form of an internet forum. Typical comments are about management, working conditions, and pay. Although employer review online applications may produce links to potential employers, they do not typically list vacancies.

6.0 METHODOLOGY

This project will implement the enhanced water fall development methodology. The waterfall model has separate and distinct phases of specification and development. The principal stages of the water fall methodology include:

• Requirements analysis and definition • System and software design • Implementation and unit testing • Integration and System testing • Operation and maintenance
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7.0 DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGIES
In order to design the system, the following data collection methodologies will be used so as to ensure that the developed system will be user oriented and does what the users require it to do.
Interviews
• Different job applicants and employers at different levels will be interviewed to provide a decisive domain knowledge that will be used to establish the current problems and difficulties that they face. It is also an important channel through which the HR department of KCA University will be probed for clarifications and more information pertaining to various aspects of the system that is under way.
Observation
• Visiting the KCA University Human Resource department with an intent to observe the processes that take place there will provide more knowledge and insight about the current operation mode and this will assist in spotting potential automation areas and it will also assist in understanding the user requirements more clearly.
Questionnaires
• Questionnaires will also be issued to job applicants and also to other stake holders such as the H.R department of KCA University to gather more requirements. This will assist the developer understand more about the problem domain. It will be an avenue through which the developer will ask questions thereby beefing up his understanding of the domain.
Prototypes
• Prototyping will be done frequently as it is also a data collection strategy because the users will provide constant feedback and rectifications together with suggestions that will enable the developer to asses his work and implement the suggested corrections to the system.

8.0 CONSTRAINTS

The following constraints are bound to affect the project

1. Money
The cost of production i.e. the cost of development was high in relation to the resources that were required to be purchased to aid in the successful completion of the System

2. Time
It is essential that deliverable deadlines are met to avoid project delay, however its worth noting that the timeframe I have is small since I have a busy schedule as a student.

3. Availability of resources
Computer resources for system development are scarce

4. Lack of information

Gathering the information from other enterprises become futile as it was difficult to be allowed to see how they manage their operations due to the fear of competitors.

9.0 RESOURCES REQUIRED

The following are the required resources for this project • Software Resources • Hardware Resources • Other Resources

10.0 BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS
|SOFTWARE RESOURCES |
|Item |Minimum requirements |Price in Shillings |
|Operating System |Microsoft® Windows™, including Windows® XP and Windows™ Tablet PC Edition. |7,000/- |
|Microsoft Office &|Ms-Word |14,000/- |
|Database |Ms-PowerPoint for Presentation and Drawing of Gantt charts | |
| |Database: My SQL | |
|Software Resources Total Cost |21,000/- |
|HARDWARE RESOURCES |
|Personal Computer |1 GHz and above, 512 MB, 40GB – Recommended |35,000/- |
|RAM |256 MB either hard disk or in removable disks e.g. flash disks. | |
|Disk space |30 MB (for software and data, depending on the number of tasks) | |
|Monitor |14 Inch | |
|Printer |Laser jet Printer P2015 – Recommended |8,000/- |
|Printing the project’s booklets, binding and transportation to be incurred during this process. |7500/- |
|Hardware Resources Total Cost |50,500 |
|Hardware and Software Resources Total Cost |71,500/- |

12.0 CONCLUSION

The project has will be undertaken with enthusiasm and willingness to learning more about online system and any suggestions are welcomed. As a result in technological advancement, I.T (Information Technology) is providing strategies to business success. Most organizations have seen I.T to be the most strategic way of conducting business transactions and long term growth and development in organizations. The proposed/new KCA University Online Recruitment System, when implemented will accrue more benefits to KCA University since it will be efficient, effective and reliable.

REFERENCES:

• Bosij, (2000) • Gibbs and Keating (1995) • Helms (1995) • Internet(http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/7/Americans_Turn_to_Career_Sites_During_Economic_Downturn) • Internet(http://www.kca.ac.ke/index.php/about-kcau/kcau-at-a-glance-about-kca-university-239) • Kumar and Hillegesberg (2002) • Lilly (1997) • Michael Porter (1980)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Matas, Alina, “Internet becomes an on-line opportunity for employers and job hunters”, The Washington Post, Nov. 7, 1993. • Peter Behr, David Segal, “High-Tech Turks Lure Big-Buck Backers; Outside Investment Grows but Trails Other U.S. Centers”, The Washington Post, Nov. 4, 1996. • Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Tapping Into a Web of Aspirations; NetStart Helps Firms With Online Job Hunts”, The Washington Post, Dec. 30, 1996. • ”Building a Career Path”, The Washington Post, Jan. 19, 1998. • Michael Selz, “Financing Small Business: Computerized Employee-Search Firms Attract Investors”, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 1998. • Sally Beatty (1998, December 4), "News Corp.'s Fox Rejects Big Spot By Hill Holliday on Basis of `Taste'", Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) Retrieved December 12, 2008 • Denise Gellene (1998, December 7) "Monday Business; BRIEFLY / MARKETING; HotJobs' Agency Fired Over Super Bowl Spot:[Home Edition]", Los Angeles Times,p. 2. Retrieved December 12, 2008 • Stuart Elliot, “At $1.6 million for 30 seconds, few commercials proved worthy of their Super Bowl spotlight. ”, The New York Times, Feb. 2, 1999. • Matt Richtel, “Big Stakes In On-Line Job Listings”, The New York Times, Feb. 14, 1999. • Adler, P. A. & Adler, P. (1987). Membership roles in field research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. • DeWalt, K. M. & DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant observation. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. • Fischer, C.T. (Ed.) (2005). Qualitative research methods for psychologists: Introduction through empirical studies. Academic Press. • Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. • Holliday, A. R. (2007). Doing and Writing Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications • Pamela Maykut, Richard Morehouse. 1994 Beginning Qualitative Research. Falmer Press. • Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan, Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, Wiley, 1998. • Wolcott, H. F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. • Ziman, John (2000). Real Science: what it is, and what it means. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

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Requirements Definition

System and Software Design

Implementation and unit testing

Integration and System testing

Operation and maintenance