Today, information technology (IT) is helping human resource management step on its working pace because of the possibility of submitting curriculum vitae (CV) online in comparison with the traditional posting or handing over.

Rubaiyath Sarwar of Swiss Contact, a successful online job seeker, said: "It's basically about making a change. Five or six years back we had to send CVs via snail post system and wait for a month to get a reply."

Another two weeks would go past before the candidate was called for an interview, and so continued the process, he added.

"Today we can submit our CV though the online sites of specific organisations or through portals like Bdjobs.com, jobsBD.com and grameenjobs.com. Whether there is any vacancy available or not, the organisation will be on the lookout for the job seeker who applied," he further said.

AKM Fahim, CEO of Bdjobs.com, told Star City that there were about 7,000-8,000 job postings in the last six months.

"We started operations in April 2000 and 7,500 candidates were successful in the last four years," he said.

"We usually keep the applications in our database for six months. We leave provision to update the applications and this service is free of charge," Fahim said.

"At the beginning we received applications only from IT students, but the applications now pour in from students of other disciplines as well," said Mohammad Riad, project manager (content development and executive search) of Bdjobs.com. "Once Internet facilities are available in other parts of the country, the number of applicants will certainly increase," he added.

Many comment that this is an easy and convenient way to be updated.

Abdur Rahim, a North South University (NSU) graduate, said: "Anyone can submit a resume at will from any part of the world. Students residing abroad can apply directly to multinational companies stationed in Bangladesh."

Organisations looking for efficiency in human resource management are seeking to develop the online system and use it more effectively. The British American Tobacco Company (BATC), GrameenPhone Limited and Lever Brothers have completely restructured their recruiting system on the Internet.

Job seekers from home and abroad fill in online forms and information is stored for future reference.

"We have around 8,000 CVs in our database and it's the online system we prefer the most. Whenever recruitment is needed, we browse through our information base and call up prospective candidates for interviews. We do not accept hard copy of CVs," Imtiaz Faruque of BATC's Human Resources department said.