Online jobseekers on the rise

Online job vacancy postings have seen robust growth over the last several years, mainly due to quick responses from job seekers and increasing internet usage, officials of two jobsites said.
Bdjobs.com and Prothom-alojobs.com, the country's two leading jobsites, posted 62,799 jobs together in the 10 months through October, up 12.83 percent from the same period last year.
Bdjobs.com, the country's largest jobsite, posted 43,977 job vacancies in 2011 and 35,641 in 2010.
Prothom-alojobs.com, the second largest jobsite, uploaded 22,813 jobs in 2011, 35.09 percent higher than 2010's 16,887 entries.
“The number of online vacancies is on the rise as employers get quick response against the vacancies,” said AKM Fahim Mashroor, chief executive officer of bdjobs.com, adding it is cost- and time-economic method.
“It takes around one month to complete the entire recruitment process with the use of traditional media, while the process can be finished within a week,” said Mashroor, who started the country's first job portal in 2000 from his living room.
Around 80,000 jobseekers visit the site a day and nearly 2 lakh people have been employed through it in the last 11 years.
Currently, bdjobs.com has 6,500 registered employers and a CV bank of around 5 lakh.
Mashroor, who is also the president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, said higher internet awareness is another reason for the growing popularity of online job portals.
Around 60 lakh people now use the internet daily, he said.
“Online job searches have become very popular among all the working and non-working population as it is the easiest and most economical way to send applications for jobs,” said Saumitra Das Showmo, head of recruitment solution and services at Prothom-alojobs.
He said online job posting saves time and money for both job hunters and employers, and also attracts more applicants for a vacancy.
“People can link the advertisement for vacancy to their friends and become the hiring company's HR managers indirectly. Internet accelerates the process of recruitment,” said Showmo.
According to Bdjobs.com, the highest job postings were made for positions in: garments and textiles, marketing and sales, IT and telecommunication, engineering and architecture, accounting and finance, non-government organisation and development, and general management and administration.
In recent times, garments and textiles has become the top employing sector for graduates, while accounting for 14 percent of the 29,783 jobs created in the last nine months, as per bdjobs.
Posting for sales and marketing, IT and telecommunications and engineering and architecture, were not far behind.
Bangladesh has around 5 jobsites in operations, but around 90 percent of the online job vacancies are posted on Bdjobs and Prothom-alojobs.
The job portal companies charge Tk 3,500 to Tk 8,000 for spotlight position on their sites and Tk 1,500 to Tk 1,900 for regular postings from employers.

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