Everything you need to know about the sources of recruitment. Recruitment is the next step in the procurement function of human resources of the organization.
It involves encouraging qualified people to make application for employment with an organization. It is not only a matter of satisfying an organisation’s need but it is an activity which influences the shape of the organisation’s future because the successes or failure of an organization is dependent on the potential of the employees working therein.
Recruitment is a positive process because it stimulates people to apply for jobs to increase the “hiring ratio”, means the number of applicants for a job.
The sources of recruitment may be internal or external.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Some of the sources of recruitment are:-
1. Promotion 2. Transfer 3. Retired or Ex-Employees 4. Job Posting
Some of the external sources of recruitment are:-
1. Advertising in Newspapers and Journals 2. Employment Exchanges 3. Internet (E-Recruitment) 4. Educational/Professional/Technical Institutions 5. Executive Search Firms 6. Union as a Source 7. Unsolicited or Walk-in Applicants
ADVERTISEMENTS:
8. Direct Recruitment 9. Casual Callers 10. Campus Recruitment 11. Placement Agencies and Management Consultants 12. Recommendations of Employees 13. Labour Contractors 14. Web Publishing
15. Job Fairs 16. Personal Contacts 17. Poaching and Raiding 18. Service Commissions 19. Nepotism 20. Leasing 21. Data Banks.
Sources of Recruitment in HRM: Internal and External Sources
Sources of Recruitment in HRM – Internal and External Sources
Internal Sources of Recruitment:
Internal sources of recruitment are those where the vacancy is filled from within the organisation. It is desirable to look for applicants from within the organisation, if they have requisite qualifications needed to fill a vacancy. The internal sources of recruitment include personnel already on the payroll of an organisation. It also includes personnel who were once on the payroll and wish to return or whom the company may like to rehire.
Recruitment from internal sources include the following:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
1. Promotion:
Promotion involves shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher responsibilities, higher status, and more pay. This promotion may be based upon both the seniority and merit. Further, it is a vertical shifting of employees or the upward movement of the employees. The promotion may be temporary or permanent in the organisation. The promotion without the increase in salary is called dry promotion.
There is always a conflict between the two options that, if the promotion should be based on merit or seniority.
Both the methods have their own merits and demerits:
Merits of Promotion Based on Seniority:
(i) It is the simple and easy method of promotion of employees.
(ii) This method of promotion creates the discipline and respect for the senior personnel in the organisation.
(iii) As the promotions are acceptable to all, this method creates the peace in the organisation.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(iv) Right of senior persons for promotion is recognized in this system.
(v) The employees become aware of the future prospects of their job.
(vi) The existing manpower can be used to an optimum level by giving them training and preparing them for higher jobs.
(vii) It is the cheapest system of recruitment.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Merits of Promotion Based on Merit:
(i) The competence, knowledge and initiative of employees are recognised and rewarded.
(ii) Employees feel that their performance will be rewarded which leads to improvement in their performance.
(iii) Competent and efficient personnel are retained in the organisation.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(iv) It is a logical and scientific system of recruitment.
Both the methods have their own advantages, so the organisation should develop such a system where a combination of both should be followed.
A transfer refers to the shifting of the employees from one job to another without a drastic change in the responsibilities and the status of the employees. It is the horizontal shifting of the employees. Transfer of employees is made from one place to another place in the interest of work, worker, and the organisation.
Sometimes the organisation retrenches due to lay off and whenever there is vacancy in the organisation, it is filled with these ex-employees. Sometimes the retired persons are re-employed for the token of their loyalty to the organisation.
External Sources of Recruitment:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
External sources consist of:
The labour market which can be tapped by way of job advertisements in newspapers and journals; employment exchanges; and notifying vacancies to educational, professional, and technical institutions. Currently, the Internet (online) has become another very potential external source of recruitment. Recommendations of employee unions may also be included in this category.
1. Advertising in Newspapers and Journals:
This is noted to be a popular source for recruiting skilled, supervisory and managerial cadre personnel. Managerial positions are filled up through open advertisement in most of the companies. Clearly, higher the category of employees, greater is the use of advertising to invite external candidates for recruitment. Before advertising the job, an analysis of the job is a must.
If the right type of person is not prompted to apply, no amount of interviewing or testing can ever lead to proper recruitment. Interviewing and assessment of candidates serve to eliminate unsuitable candidates. These cannot be expected to improve the quality of candidates.
While preparing a job advertisement, one must keep in view the type of candidates who will best fulfil the job requirements and the features of the work, which will be attractive to persons who have the required qualifications and experience. The media for advertising have to be chosen in that light and should differ with the position advertised.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
For certain categories of positions, it may be necessary to indicate the size and nature of the company and the prospect which goes with the job. The job description must be reflected in the advertisement. The image of the company as an employer (apart from its product image) directly influences the quality of the personnel it attracts. While the salary offered is an important factor for job seekers, it is not necessarily the main consideration. This is particularly so with technical personnel.
The facilities for research and opportunities to develop their talent and make their mark in a chosen field are very important to them. This is where the image of the company helps. That is why some companies mention in the advertisement the company’s technical achievements and plans for development, as well as working conditions and facilities available.
2. Employment Exchanges:
Employment exchanges have been set up by the government for bringing together job seekers and employers who are looking for employees. This is one of the non-traditional sources of recruiting workers in India. The primary function of Employment Exchanges is that of registration of work seekers and their placement against demand notified by employers.
The enactment of Employment Exchanges (compulsorily notification of vacancies) Act, 1959, was aimed at rationalizing the system of recruitment and meeting the requirements of employers from a pool of registered candidates. Under the act, notification of vacancies is compulsory for all the establishments in the public sector.
In the private sector, vacancies need to be notified only by such establishments as those notified by the appropriate government. The notification of vacancies has to be done to the concerned employment exchange before the vacancies are filled.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
But compulsory notification of vacancies cannot be deemed to impose any obligation upon the employer to recruit persons through the employment exchange merely because that vacancy has been notified. For workers and non-supervisory personnel, this is noted to be the most preferred, and for managerial personnel the least popular source of recruitment.
3. Internet (E-Recruitment):
Revolution in the field of telecommunications has added a very importance source of recruitment through internet. Major companies currently use their websites to list jobs and attract candidates for recruitment. In addition to their own sites, companies use other popular sites where they frequently list the jobs. This source of recruitment provides the advantage of speed to employers and applicants alike. A job can be listed on one day and resumes may begin reaching the organization overnight by e-mail.
4. Educational/Professional/Technical Institutions:
Recruitment of managerial, executive, and supervisory personnel (technical and professional) is widely attempted through notifications and interviews in the professional, management, and technical institutes such as the IITs, IIMs, Universities, and other technical and management institutes. This has been popularly termed as ‘campus recruitment/campus placements’.
For technical staff and similar other categories, employers may enter into an arrangement with the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) of the Directorate General of Employment and Training, under which the ITIs will supply trainees in accordance with the specifications of the employing organizations. Professional, technical, and educational institutions also run formal or informal placement services to match those offering their services with those looking for them.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Campus recruitment has relatively been a less popular source for public enterprises in India. The institutes of management, the institutes of technology, and other premier institutions provide some of the best material for recruitment at junior management level. However, it is seen that much of the good resource turnout by these organizations are not attracted to the public sector, where the need is greater. The reason for this is stated to be the better remuneration that is offered by the private sector.
5. Executive Search Firms:
Executive search firms, popularly known as head hunters, specialize in the recruitment of technical, professional, and managerial personnel. Such firms maintain databanks of persons with their qualification, skill, and experience, and recommend them to their client organizations. They even advertise the jobs for their clients to recruit the right type of personnel. A few examples of popular executive search firms are A. F. Ferguson and Co., ABC consultant, Godman’s International, etc.
6. Union as a Source:
Workers’ unions are likely to play an important role as a source of labour supply (sort of formalized ‘union shop’ or ‘closed shop’ practice). This was noted by the National Commission on Labour. Where unions do not actively engage in providing employment information services to their members, they invariably take an interest in seeing that members laid off are given preference in rehiring. Union contracts sometimes contain a reference to the responsibility of the employer to rehire former employees, usually in some order of seniority.
7. Unsolicited or Walk-in Applicants:
Those looking for jobs apply on their own initiative when they come to know the likelihood of certain vacancies from reliable sources or just apply for suitable jobs without any reference to advertisement or intent to recruit on the part of the employer.
8. Others:
This included recruiting daily wage rated workers at the factory gates.
An analysis of the external sources of recruitment shows that for supervisory and managerial positions advertising through newspapers and journals is the most popular method of inviting candidates in Indian Companies. Notifying technical and professional institutes is the next common source for supervisory and managerial personnel; employment exchanges and unsolicited applicants could be next in order of preference for supervisors.
Unsolicited applicants happened to be the most preferred source for managerial recruitment; as regards workers, notifying the employment exchanges is the most widely used source, followed by unsolicited applicants. The use of e-recruitment is currently gathering momentum. Unions played an important role in the case of workers’ recruitment.
Recruitment is usually the responsibility of the HR department. The department should be notified whenever a new vacancy arises or workers resign or employees retire or it is felt that the volume of work in the organization justifies employment of extra staff.
The recruitment procedure would require analysing jobs, drafting of job specification/description, preparing job advertisements, notifying vacancies with employment exchanges or putting them up on the notice board of the organization in case of internal promotion/transfer, and filling the vacancies.
Sources of Recruitment in HRM – Internal and External Sources of Recruitment (With Merits and Demerits)
(1) Internal Sources
(2) External Sources
Internal Sources:
Sources of recruiting the required number of personnel from within the Organization for filling the vacancies are called internal sources of recruitment.
Following are important sources of internal recruitment:
i. Transfer- It involves the shifting of an employee from one job of another, from one department to another or from one shift to another shift of the same level.
ii. Promotions- It refers to shifting an employee to a higher position carrying higher responsibilities, prestige, facilities and pay.
iii. Lay Off- To recall the temporary worker for work is called Lay-off.
Merits of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
(I) Employees are motivated to improve their performance.
(II) Internal recruitment simplifies the process of selection & placement.
(III) No wastage of time on the employee training and development.
(IV) Filling of jobs internally is cheaper.
Demerits of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
(I) The scope for induction of fresh talent is reduced.
(II) The employee may become lethargic.
(III) The spirit of competition among the employees may be hampered.
(IV) Frequent transfers of employees may often reduce the productivity of the Organisation.
(V) A new enterprise cannot use the internal source of recruitment.
External Sources:
Sources of recruiting the required number of personnel from outside the organization are called external sources of recruitment.
Following are the different sources of external recruitment:
I. Direct recruitment- Under the direct Recruitment a notice is placed on the notice board of the enterprise specifying the details of the job available.
II. Casual callers- Many reputed business organizations keep a data base of unsolicited applicants in their office. This list can be used for recruitment.
III. Advertisement- Advertisement in newspaper is generally used when a wider choice is required. It is the most widely used external source of recruitment.
IV. Employment exchange- Employment exchanges run privately and by government regarded as a good source of Recruitment for both unskilled and skilled workers. Employment exchanges help to match personnel demand and supply by serving as link between job seekers and employers.
V. Campus recruitment- Recruitment made from various educational institutions of repute is known as campus recruitment. It has become one of the main sources of external source of recruitment in modern days.
VI. Placement agencies and management consultants- Placement agencies provide a nationwide service in matching personnel demand and supply by charging fee from both sides. Management consultancy firms recruit technical, professional and managerial personnel for the middle and top level executive placements.
VII. Recommendations of employees- Candidates introduced by existing employees, or their friends and relatives is also a good external source of recruitment.
VIII. Labour contractors- Labour contractors provide the required number of unskilled workers at short notice which seems to be a good source of recruitment at some circumstances.
IX. Advertising on television- The practice of advertising of-vacant posts over Television is gaining more importance now a day.
X. Web publishing- Over the internet, certain websites specifically designed and dedicated for the purpose of providing information about both job-seekers and job-providers, turned to be a good source of recruitment in modern days.
Merits of External Sources:
i. Qualified personnel- By using external source of recruitment the management can attract qualified and trained people to apply for the vacant job in the organisation.
ii. Wider choice- The management has a wider choice when selecting the candidates using external sources of recruitment.
iii. Fresh talent- External recruitment brings new blood in the organization i.e.; new employees with updated talents and technology.
iv. Competitive spirit- If a company taps external sources, the existing staff will have to compete with the new staff for better performances and results.
Demerits of External Sources of Recruitment:
i. Dissatisfaction among existing employee- Recruitment from outside may cause dissatisfaction among the existing employees. They may feel that their chances of promotion are reduced.
ii. Costly process- A lot of money has to be spent on advertisement, tests, interviews etc. therefore this is costly process.
iii. Lengthy process- External recruitment takes more time for giving notification, receipt of applications, conducting tests, interviews etc.
Sources of Recruitment – Various Sources of Recruitment
An on-going organization has two categories of sources from which candidates may be attracted for selection- internal sources and external sources.
I. Internal Sources:
Filling organizational positions through internal sources is rearrangement of the existing employees as there is no increase in number of employees.
There are two ways in which internal sources may be used- transfer and promotion:
i. Transfer:
Transfer involves shifting an employee from one department to another, from one shift to another or from one place to another without changing his nature of job. Transfer is a very common practice in government administration. In business organizations, transfer is used to rationalize workforce (transferring surplus employees of one unit/department to another having shortage of employees or lack of competent employees) and to develop multi- skills through cross-functional transfers.
ii. Promotion:
Promotion involves upward movement of an employee in organizational hierarchy. In this case, there is change in job contents of the employee — more authority and responsibility, more compensation and higher status. Promotion is very common in organizations. It leads to motivation to employees and they put hard work for getting promotion. It serves the organizational need of having competent persons at higher positions’ who are well-versed with organizational functioning.
iii. Job Posting:
Job posting, also known as internal advertisement, involves recruiting persons from within either from the organization concerned or organizations belonging to a business group. The positions to be filled are notified through organization’s intranet. Intranet is a website of an organization which is accessible by members of the organization concerned only.
In response to such a notification, the employees forward their resumes for consideration. Selection process in job posting follows the selection process used for selecting candidates from outside. In many industrially-advanced countries, this method of filling organizational positions is very common.
In India, some organizations have adopted this practice, for example, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, etc. At the level of business group, Kumarmangalam Birla group has adopted this method.
Advantages of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
Internal sources of recruitment have many advantages which are as follows:
a. Internal recruitment is motivating to employees as they see opportunities for future growth in the organization, particularly in the case of promotion.
b. It leads to simplification of recruitment and selection process as candidates are available internally and simplified selection process may be followed in place of rigorous process used in selecting candidates from external sources.
c. It leads to reduced training and development efforts as many training and development efforts are not required, for example, orientation, understanding of organizational culture and practices, etc.
d. It leads to workforce rationalization by transferring employees from those units having surplus employees to those units having shortage of employees.
Limitations of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
Limitations of internal sources of recruitment are as follows:
a. Internal recruitment leads to inbreeding filling organizational positions with employees having the same mind set which brings inertia (a kind of rigidity in organizational functioning). This leads to adoption of same organizational practices even though these might be faulty. In fact, this is the most crucial limitation of internal recruitment.
b. It leads to almost assured time-based promotion. It makes employees lethargic.
c. It results in elimination of competitive spirit among employees which is a very significant ingredient for higher performance.
d. Frequent transfers, which internal recruitment follows, tend to reduce employee productivity.
II. External Sources:
External sources of recruitment add to number of employees, for example, adding new employees to fill organizational positions created due to expansion or may change only the nature of employee composition, for example, filling an organizational position vacated by an employee due to his retirement or any other reason. External recruitment brings new bloods in an organization.
There are different external sources of recruitment which are as follows:
a. Advertisement:
Advertisement is the most common method used for contacting the prospective candidates for various positions in business and non-business organizations. In business organizations, advertisement is used for attracting managerial and technical personnel, both experienced and inexperienced.
In the case of recruitment of personnel, advertisement is the medium for informing and persuading the prospective candidates to offer themselves for employment. Such an advertisement can be put in newspapers (most common), professional journals, magazines, television, radio, and Internet.
What media for advertising should be used depend on the target audience? For example, advertisement in newspapers has much wider coverage and high retention value as compared to other media. For highly specialized recruits, advertisements may be placed in professional/business journals.
There are various factors which influence the response of the prospective candidates to an advertisement. These are identification of the organization, quality and coverage of information in the advertisement, and the conditions of human resource market. An organization may not have control over the last factor but it can use other two factors to make its advertisement more effective.
Therefore, let us discuss these two factors:
i. Identification of the Organization:
There are two types of advertisements so far as the identification of advertising organization is concerned- open advertisement and blind advertisement. In an open advertisement, the identity of the organization and its other features are disclosed. Most of the organizations prefer this form of advertisement. In a blind advertisement, the identity of the organization is not disclosed.
Such a blind advertisement has certain positive aspects, though more negative aspects. When an organization does not wish to publicize the fact that it is seeking to fill a position, or seeking to recruit a person to displace the present incumbent with whom it is not satisfied, blind advertisement is more appropriate.
Sometimes, blind advertisement is used to test the position of availability of personnel even though the position is not available, to build application pool, or just to identify those current employees who are likely to fly away.
ii. Quality and Coverage of Information:
A job advertisement is a medium for informing and persuading the prospective candidates as well as creating the favourable image of the organization; it is a medium of selling the concept of the organization. Therefore, it should be properly drafted. It should neither oversell, nor undersell the concept but a perfect-sell.
In drafting the job advertisement, the concept of attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA) should be applied. It must include- (a) information about the organization, (b) job contents — primary tasks and responsibilities, (c) realistic description of working conditions, (d) location of the job — at present and prospective, (e) compensation including fringe benefits, (f) job specifications, (g) growth prospects, and (h) whom to apply.
b. Internet Recruiting:
With the expansion of Internet connectivity, Internet recruiting, also known as cyberspace recruiting or e-recruiting, has become quite popular. In USA, nearly 89 per cent companies currently use the Internet to recruit new employees — increasingly by adding a recruitment section to their websites. Besides, many companies have developed dedicated websites specifically designed for recruitment.
In India too, many companies have resorted to Internet recruiting. In addition to these, there are many job portals. A portal is a website that serves as main entry point on Internet to a specific area of interest. Thus, a job portal is a website that contains information about jobs. In India, there are many job portals. Prominent job portals are naukari.com, monster.com, timesjobs.com, shine.com, etc.
Internet recruiting involves putting advertisement of vacancies through Internet giving all the details about the vacancies and the method for applying against these vacancies. Generally, the companies which opt for Internet recruiting invite applications from the prospective candidates through the Internet. After short-listing the eligible candidates, they are informed about selection test and/or interview through the Internet.
An alternative to putting advertisement through the Internet, the Internet can be used to pick up candidates who offer themselves for employment through it. There are various websites available on the Internet which provide resumes of prospective candidates.
Thus, the Internet can be used as a two-way traffic— inviting candidates to apply according to advertisement put by a company; or the company itself can recruit candidates who offer themselves for employment.
Internet recruiting has shortened the time frame of the life cycle of recruiting which not only results in quicker process of recruiting but reduced cost per employee hired. Cost saving in Internet recruiting results because of saving on account of communicating with candidates.
Communicating with candidates through hard copies is many more times costlier. Thus, the Internet has made recruitment process easier for both organizations as well as candidates. This is the reason for increasing popularity of Internet recruiting throughout the world including India.
c. Walk-Ins:
Walk-in interviews, popularly known as walk-ins, have become quite popular method of recruiting in recent years. In walk-ins method, an organization puts short advertisement in newspapers, particularly in local newspapers or local editions of national newspapers, the latter medium being more popular.
In the advertisement, details of positions to be filled, required qualifications, date and venue of interview, etc. are given. Candidates who meet the eligibility criteria are advised to report on the venue on prescribed date and time. They are also advised to bring their bio-data, testimonials, photographs, etc. along with them. The candidates are interviewed, and those selected are offered employment on the same date.
Walk-ins are very common for recruiting personnel in call centres and other business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Apart from these, many dot com companies, finance companies, and industrial companies adopt walk-ins method for recruiting personnel for junior level managers or personnel relevant for information technology. Walk-ins method has become popular because it shortens the time frame of recruiting cycle.
Thus, those organizations which are in need of employees immediately opt for walk-ins method. Further, walk-ins method is much more economical as compared to usual recruitment method involving advertisement, receiving hard copy applications from candidates, short-listing these applications, and engaging in selection process.
d. Campus Recruitment:
Campus recruitment programme (CRP) is quite popular particularly for recruiting fresh MBAs and engineers. Such programmes are organized by placement bureaus of educational institutions for placing their students. These bureaus make arrangements for conducting selection tests and interviews by visiting companies on the campus, provide resumes of the students, and make them available for selection tests and/or interviews. In fact, most of the IIMs and IITs place their students through this method.
The usual procedure adopted by recruiting organizations is as follows:
i. Short-Listing Campuses:
Most of the companies which go for campus recruitment are quite choosy. This is the reason that many institutes are able to place their students in a day or two while the students from other institutions go for job search for a long period.
Most of the companies shortlist the academic institutions to be visited on the basis of institutions’ education standards, class-room education process in terms of learning pedagogy used, strengths of the faculty members, support systems such as libraries, computerized references, etc., and the methods of entrance test and selection of candidates for admission.
ii. Choosing Recruiting Team:
Generally, each company selects a team of recruiters/consisting of the senior line managers of the functions in which recruits would be required and personnel from HR department. The basic idea of constituting such a combination is that these people are well aware about the company and the jobs that the recruits would be required to perform in the company.
iii. Visiting Campus and Making Initial Contact:
The team visits the shortlisted campus on day/s which is convenient to both, the recruiting organization and the academic institution. The recruiting team makes the initial contact with the students in a group through the placement bureau of the institution.
In the initial contact, the team presents the detailed information about its company, its work culture and values, and the job contents for which the recruitment is being made and the promotion avenues, etc. For example, P&G’s cover page of its brochure contains a blank chart showing the career path, and the concerned students mark their own career path.
Likewise, Nestle presents case examples of career development to demonstrate as to how new entrants grow in the company. Students are encouraged to ask questions about the relevant aspects of the company which may be of their interest.
iv. Conducting Tests/Interviews:
After the preliminary contact process is over, the team conducts tests/interviews of the students. In the case of IIMs, only interviews are sufficient. In many other cases, tests are also conducted. Based on the scores of interviews and/or tests, either the candidates are shortlisted for final interviews or they are offered positions straightway after finalizing the terms and conditions of employment.
Where the positions are offered at the campus itself, other formalities such as filling-up of application forms for record, signing of employment agreement, etc. are also completed there itself.
e. Job Fairs:
Job fairs are a kind of variant of campus recruitment in which there is a centralized recruitment programme of various institutions located in large cities and surrounding areas. In this case, either a participating institution or an independent institution acts as host. In such a programme, prospective students have to pay a nominal fee of Rs 200- 500 per head to meet out the expenses.
Companies intending to participate in such a programme are fixed in advance on the basis of the placement brochures of various institutions. Rest of the process of recruitment is carried out as discussed in campus recruitment process. This method has one advantage that a company is able to meet the students of a number of institutions in a single campus.
f. Consultancy Firms:
In many cases, the companies do not conduct the recruitment exercise themselves. Instead, they take the help of consulting firms. In India, there are many consultancy firms which offer this service, the prominent ones are ABC Consultants, Human Resource Consultants, Head Hunters, Watson Wyatt, Quest Consultants, Oman Consultants, etc. with ABC Consultants being the most prominent.
These consulting firms offer recruitment services to their clients. Dining the last one decade, there has been mushrooming growth of human resource search firms because of increased competition for personnel at all managerial levels. These search firms provide recruitment services for middle and higher levels of management by charging fees in terms of percentage of the annual basic salary for the job varying between 15-20.
In choosing a recruitment consultant, an organization should consider the following points:
i. Verify the reputation of the consultant from other users.
ii. Attempt should be made to look at the advertisements of different consulting firms with a view to understanding the quality of consultancy service and obtaining an idea of the type and level of jobs with which it relates.
iii. Care should be taken to assess the special expertise of the consultant.
iv. Discuss with the consultant to understand as to how it is qualified to deal with a particular assignment.
v. Although other considerations are more crucial, compare fees.
vi. While engaging a consultant, care should be taken to agreed terms of reference.
vii. Attempt should be made to brief him vis-a-vis the organization, where the job fits in, why the recruitment is to be made, and special requirements, if any.
viii. As much as possible, help him in defining the job and the personnel specification embracing special demands for success; it would be more useful if he has a comprehensive understanding of what is required and what type of person is likely to fit in the organizational culture.
ix. Assess adequately the purpose of recruitment programme and draft the text of advertisement.
x. Examine the basis upon which fees and expenses are to be charged by him.
xi. Care should be taken that arrangements are made to deal directly with him.
Ronen Puri, Director of Executive Access India Pvt. Limited, a part of Access Asia consulting firm based at Hong Kong, has observed that search firms must be made accountable for the performance of the personnel they select. According to him, “Search firms so far have been charging fees for placing a candidate.
There has been no accountability on the most important factor — the performance of the candidate on board. Whether the candidate performed or not, the search firms got paid. Therefore, we have introduced a new concept for the payment of the fees. When the company places someone, it takes a percentage of the fee upfront. The rest is made a variable component which is paid if the candidate is able to meet certain pre-determined targets set for him.”
g. Personal Contacts:
Personal contact method is a good source of recruiting managers, particularly at higher levels. The target candidates for personal contacts may be persons who have opted voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), retired managers from other companies, retired government officials or defence personnel, etc.
Retired professors from universities and management/technical institutes can also be recruited through personal contacts. These are the personnel who may not like to apply for positions which suit them but may be willing to work on those positions. Therefore, personal contacts, if maintained effectively, can be a good source of recruiting good personnel from the above category.
h. Poaching and Raiding:
Poaching and raiding method of recruiting is like personal contact method but its nature is quite different. Poaching and raiding method involves personal contact but the process is slightly cumbersome. The literal meaning of poaching is to intrude on another’s preserves in order to take an undue advantage and raiding means an unauthorized invasion.
In poaching and raiding, the company following this practice contacts competitors’ employees secretly or otherwise and woos them to join its force. For example, at the global level, Microsoft, the most renowned IT Company of the world, relies on this method to a very great extent. Microsoft maintains full-time staff of 200 recruiting experts.
This is Microsoft’s ‘strike team’ whose sole job is to ferret out the industry’s most talented people, then build and maintain a relationship with them through telephone calls at discrete intervals, invitations for dinners, etc. Members of strike team employ every means to keep the lines of communication open with the potential candidates. Even Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, hosts occasional dinners for these potentials.
Through this way, Microsoft has been able to hire many IT talents. In India, Reliance Industries adopts this approach to some extent. It’s CEO and directors maintain a large networks of friends and associates around the world to tip them off when they find attractive talent. The company woos them through persuasion to join its force. However, Reliance does not concentrate only on its competitors’ employees but looks beyond those.
Poaching and raiding method is adopted in indirect method too. In indirect method, a company engages a hiring consultant, known as on-demand recruiting services (ODRS) vendor. Such a vendor is a specialist in poaching and raiding and keeps records of key employees of different industry sectors.
When any assignment is given to the vendor, it searches prospective candidates from the industry concerned. Often a vendor approaches the key employees of the nearest competitor, followed by others. Unlike the regular HR consultants who charge fees after recruiting and selecting employees, ODRS vendors charge fees on the basis of time spent on poaching and raiding.
In the age of this war for talent, poaching and raiding method of recruiting is very important, particularly for those organizations which want to be at the top of the ladder based on the strengths of their human resources though ethical issue in poaching and raiding is raised from some quarters albeit without much force.
All these methods are relevant for recruiting managers or would-be managers at different levels of the organization and technical personnel.
For recruiting personnel at the operative levels, the sources are as follows:
I. Public Employment Exchanges:
Public employment exchanges, or simply known as employment exchanges, have been set by government all over the country in deference to the provisions of the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act of 1959. The Act requires that all industrial undertakings must notify their vacancies up to supervisory levels to employment exchange concerned before these vacancies are filled-up.
The job seekers get themselves registered with the employment exchanges. The major role of the employment exchanges is to find a match between jobs notified by various industrial undertakings and the job seekers, and to inform the job seekers accordingly.
Thus, an employment exchange acts as a link between employers and job seekers. The various positions for which the exchanges provide link include blue-collars, technicians at lower levels, and white-collars. However, the role of employment exchanges in India is not as effective as was envisaged at the time of their establishment.
II. Labour Unions:
In many organizations, labour unions are used as a source of recruitment of personnel at the unskilled or semi-skilled level. Sometimes, these labour unions are asked to make recommendations for employment of people as a matter of goodwill and cooperation.
The union leaders maintain contacts with outside personnel and, in many cases, they keep the records of the people who make contacts with them with a view to supply the records whenever the organization looks for that. In this case too, the recruitment is limited to employees at lower levels.
III. Gate Hiring:
The concept of gate hiring is to select people who approach on their own for employment in the organization. This happens mostly in the case of unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Gate hiring is quite useful and convenient method at the initial stage of the organization when large number of such people may be required by the organization.
It can be made effective by prompt disposal of applications by providing information about the organization’s policy and procedures regarding such hiring and providing facilities to such gate callers.
IV. Labour Contractors:
Labour contractors supply labourers, particularly the unskilled ones, by charging a nominal fee per worker. These labourers may be appointed for certain specified period as casual workers in an organization. Normally, construction companies depend on labour contractors to a very great extent for the supply of construction workers.
V. Employee Referrals:
Sometimes, employees also recommend the names of some persons from their family members, friends, and other acquaintances from whom the organization can select the candidates. The idea behind using employee recommendations as a source of potential candidates is that the present employees may have specific knowledge of such candidates.
If the present employees are satisfied with their jobs, they communicate these feelings to many persons. Though this source may be used to fill managerial/technical position as well as operatives, this source is more common for recruiting operatives.
Advantages of External Sources of Recruitment:
External sources of recruitment have many advantages and limitations.
Advantages of internal sources of recruitment are as follows:
i. Through external sources of recruitment, more qualified and competent people may be attracted for selection.
ii. External recruitment leads to selection of suitable competent personnel as selection alternatives available are quite wide.
iii. External recruitment leads to infusion of fresh bloods who may think in innovative ways. This may result in development of newer ways of working. In fact, many organizations which experience downward turn in business because of management practices, resort to bring new talents at higher levels from external sources.
iv. External recruitment leads to develop competitive spirit among employees and they develop relevant competence for higher positions.
Limitations of External Sources of Recruitment:
Limitations of external sources of recruitment are as follows:
i. External recruitment leads to develop dissatisfaction among employees as they develop a feeling that higher positions are almost reserved for outsiders.
ii. It is a lengthy process and involves much higher cost than internal recruitment.
iii. Sometimes, external recruitment leads to disruption of organizational practices because of mismatch between organizational values and values of new recruits.
Combining Internal and External Sources:
Internal and external sources do not exist in ‘either or’ situation, rather, these exist in terms of a continuum. Every organization has to resort to both sources; every organization has to fill-up its vacancies through promotion; in the same way, every organization has to take people from outside.
Therefore, it is a question of combining both sources and determining the proportion of internals and externals at various hierarchical levels of the organization. Normally, at the lower levels of managerial hierarchy, called as entry levels, there is high proportion of externals.
As the chain of hierarchy goes up, the proportion of internals increases at the cost of externals. However, the pre-requisite of this pattern of recruitment is the highly developed training and development system in the organization.
In order to combine internal and external sources of recruitment, following factors should be taken into account:
I. The policy of taking candidates from internal and external sources affects the attitudes and actions of people in the organization. Filling-up of positions through internal promotions has a favourable reaction among people. They are likely to associate themselves with the organization as they see their future secured in the organization through promotion. However, this may result in complacency. Therefore, the organization must develop systems to ensure that complacency does not develop as a result of guaranteed promotion.
II. The level of socialization required and time taken in this process determines the extent of internal and external sources. If the socialization process in the organization takes substantial time, it is preferable to use internal source.
Personnel selected from outside take time to socialize themselves with the organization. For certain jobs and people, it may take considerably longer time. For example, marketing executive of a consumer product company takes lesser time in socializing with another consumer product company but takes more time with a capital goods company. Same is the case with production personnel.
Finance personnel may take almost same time in spite of differences or similarities in the product lines of the organizations. Apart from product lines, there is need for socialization with the organization’s culture, work ethics, and values. If the organization differs on these counts from other organizations from where the candidates come in, they will take more time in socialization.
III. The need for originality and new ideas also affects the recruitment from internal and external sources. The organizations which feel the problems of inbreeding and stagnation of ideas may opt for external sources. Similarly, the organizations which grow through diversification, particularly unrelated one, have to place more emphasis on external sources as existing personnel may not be fully equipped to handle new businesses.
Sources of Recruitment – Different Sources of Recruitment
Broadly, sources of recruitment are internal and external. With the expansion of information technology, many organizations adopt e-recruitment. Recruitment from all the sources has its advantages and disadvantages.
Source # 1. Internal Recruitment:
Recruiting individuals to fill particular posts within a business can be done internally by declaring the vacancy on the notice board. Internal recruitment is the process of filling the vacancy from within its existing workforce. Internal recruitment refers to internal mobility of employees.
Internal mobility of personnel at higher position in organizational hierarchy is referred to as succession planning. Providing adequate internal career development opportunities is a key factor in employee motivation and job satisfaction. Promoting internal recruitment is also critical for any organization since it helps in retaining top talent and ensures future business success.
Internal mobility provides an opportunity for personal development and thus employees are encouraged to take personal responsibility for their own professional growth and competence development. Internal mobility has the components like time in one position, open communication, transfer period, internal transfer within a country, and internal transfer between countries.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment:
The advantages of internal recruitment are manifold, some of which are as follows:
(a) A firm can save substantial recruitment cost in this recruitment. Individuals with knowledge of the firm will need shorter periods of training and time for ‘fitting in’. The process of induction is not required at all. Only brief about the higher position must be given.
(b) Disruption in the organization will be minimal as the promoted or the transferred individual is used to work with others in the organization.
(c) Internal promotion acts as an incentive to all staff to work harder within the organization.
(d) From the point of view of the firm, the strengths and weaknesses of an employee stand assessed. There is always a risk attached to employing an outsider who may only be a success ‘on paper’ without actually having a good track record.
The disadvantages of internal recruitment are listed below:
(a) The firm will have to replace the person who has been promoted. In other words, the promotion can create a ripple effect in the organization.
(b) An insider may be less likely to make the essential criticisms required to get the firm working more effectively.
(c) Promotion of one person in a company may upset someone else. This happens when one competent person expects promotion but does not get that due to shortage of vacancies.
Source # 2. External Recruitment:
External recruitment is the process of hiring talent from outside the organization. External recruitment makes it possible to draw upon a wider range of talents from the vast markets. This source provides the opportunity to bring in new experience and ideas into the business.
Disadvantages are that it is more costly and the company may end up with someone who proves to be less effective and an underperformer in practice than they did on paper and in the interview situation. This happens due to ‘select error’ during the selection process.
Advantages and Disadvantages of External Recruitment:
Like internal recruitment, external recruitment has its advantages and disadvantages as well.
With the intensification and popularization of information technology, electronic recruitment (e-recruitment) has become a common and popular practice of recruitment. The extensive growth of information technology has opened up panorama for organizations trying to acquire talents through an entirely different gateway.
There are many ways to use the Internet, and increasingly, organizations are inclining and refining their use of this medium. In fact, e-recruitment is an evolving face of recruitment and possibly may replace the advertising in newspaper.
The Internet penetration in India is increasing and has tremendous potential. According to a study by NASSCOM, jobs are among the top reasons why new users will use the internet, besides e-mail. There are more than 18 million resumes floating online across the world.
The two kinds of e-recruitment that organizations generally using are as follows:
(a) Job Portals:
It means posting jobs along with the job description and the job specification on the job portal which also searches for the suitable resumes posted on the site corresponding to the needs in the organization.
(b) Creating a Complete Online Recruitment Section:
It refers to the creation of complete online recruitment/application section on the companies’ own website. The company adds an application system to its website. Some job seekers can submit their resumes into the database of the organization for suitable positions. The company considers such application as and when the need arises.
Resume Scanners:
Job portals provide the ‘resume scanner’ tool which is a major benefit of online application and recruitment. These scanners enable the organizations to screen and filter the resumes through defined criteria and requirements (i.e., skills, qualifications, requisite experience, and pay information) of the job.
The job sites provide recruiters with a round-the-clock access to the database of resumes. Added to this, the jobs can be posted on the site almost immediately and this process is also cheaper than advertising in the mass media, for example, employment newspapers.
At times, companies can get valuable references through the ‘passers-by’ applicants. Online recruitment helps the organizations to computerize the recruitment process and save their time and costs on recruitments.
Monster(dot)com (www(dot)monster(dot)com), HotJobs(dot)com (www(dot)hotjobs(dot)com), and Career-Builder(dot)com (www(dot)careerbuilder(dot)co(dot)in) are some well-known job sites which attract a vast array of applicants, who submit standardized resumes that can be electronically searched using key terms. Recruiters can search for suitable candidates and job seekers can search organizations in the same way.
II. Other Common Sources of Recruitment:
The source of human resource or manpower depends on the level at which employees are being recruited. For lower levels, internal recruitment is done. However, for recruitment at upper level, companies generally take on external recruitment when they search talents from open market with requisite qualifications, experiences, and proven track records in the present companies.
For recruitment, the most common sources of human resource are notice board, employment exchange, state and union public service commissions, educational institutions, recommendations of present employees, labour unions, etc.
i. Notice Board:
A company’s notice board is used for putting up notice boards showing the appraisals of the employees such that they can tell family members, friends, and other known persons about the position that has fallen vacant. The applications are received, scrutinized, and short-listed, and eligible candidates are called for selection tests. In this case, the recruitment is minimal.
ii. Internal Job Market:
Internal Job Market (IJM) is another tool to search potential candidates within the same family for various lucrative positions. It is an electronic tool extensively used by multinational companies. The IJM facilitates worldwide search for them. The principal purpose of IJM is helping internal mobility system and the process career development of the employees.
iii. Employee Referral:
Some companies ask its present employees to recommend prospective candidates. This is widely practiced in information technology companies such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and other companies. The recommended candidate passes through the screening process. On selection, the employee who recommended gets some honorarium as he/she saves the recruitment cost.
iv. Employment Exchange:
Employment exchanges established in various cities as per public policy are an important source of recruitment.
v. Service Commissions:
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), State PSC, College Service Commission (CSC), etc. especially for professional and managerial positions.
vi. Placement Agencies:
Some recruitment agencies and associations establish and maintain database of job-seekers. When a company approaches such an agency, it refers to the database, fetches the candidates with requisite backgrounds, and provides the list to the company who carries out the selection process. In some cases, companies desire the agency to recruit on their behalf. This is also a good source for recruitment as the process is smooth and lead time of recruitment is minimum.
vii. Educational Institutions:
The placement cell of business schools and engineering colleges/ institutions approaches organizations and invites them for campus recruitment. Some companies make special efforts to establish and maintain constructive relationships with management and engineering colleges, universities, and institutes to get the suitable qualified human resource.
viii. Labour Unions:
Unions look after the welfare of the employees. As a part of the welfare measure, many organizations provide employment to the next-of-kin of the deceased person on compassionate ground in consultation with the labour unions after due verification about the movable and immovable assets.
ix. Nepotism:
In family-owned organizations, there may not be definite recruitment policy. They would rather recruit their family members having the capacity to perform the tasks.
x. Leasing:
To meet short-term requirement, people can be taken ‘on lien’ or ‘lease’ basis for a period of one, two, or three years. The organization gets experienced people and is not required to bear any obligation. People working in the government sector are seen to frequently proceed to some government organization on lien.
The main advantage is that if the person finds the new organization not very promising for some considerations, he/she may return back to the parent organization within the lean period.
III. Attracting the Human Resource:
Getting more applicants makes it possible to get good candidates. Multi-stage selection processes, in each stage, help in screening of candidates. Only few ‘extremely good, suitable, and fit’ candidates reach the interview stage. Finally, the board selects the best of the lot and prepares the panel of selected candidates.
Organizations must initiate proactive approach in order to get more number of applicants. You must remember that readers of your advertisement are your prospective employees. Marketing people have a simple and effective method called AIDA (i.e., attention, interest, desire and action) for creating good advertisements.
AIDA emphasizes on the following:
A — Attract the reader’s ‘attention’
I — Generate ‘interest’ in the vacancy
D — Create ‘desire’ for the job
A — Stimulate the reader to take ‘action’
In order to attract attention of the human resource, an organization should briefly mention in the advertisement about the evolution of the company, group of dependable suppliers, its renowned customers, value and belief, image, modern technology in use, awards it has bagged, strategy of development, etc. In order to attract interest, it should communicate quickly and clearly the essential points.
Interest in the vacancy may be generated mentioning the career growth and progression, career anchors, succession planning, etc. You must also communicate a very clear and realistic picture of the organization to ensure that the organization’s values match those of any potential candidate. Moreover, this would reduce probability of attrition.
The desire of prospective candidates or talents may be created mentioning few challenging projects which would be required to manage chance of visiting abroad, scope of attending management development programmes in reputed institutes, opportunity for self-development, and so forth.
Government departments, while advertising, specify the job requirements and request the candidates to send the duly-filled form via post with a demand draft or any other mode of remittance. Many prospective candidates feel lethargic going through this process.
On the contrary, the prescribed application format may be uploaded to the website, making the process of filling the form easy. Further, the scope of remitting the requisite amount online may also be provided using debit card or credit card. Providing the provision of uploading the photograph would accelerate them to apply smoothly. This will simulate the reader to take ‘action’, that is, applying.
Sources of Recruitment – With Merits and Demerits
I. Internal Sources:
i. Promotions
ii. Transfers, and
iii. Response of employees to notified vacancy and
iv. Re-employment of ex-employees- It is one of the internal sources of recruitment in which employees can be invited and appointed to fill vacancies in the concern. There are situations when ex-employees provide unsolicited applications also.
Merits of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
1. The internal sources of recruitment have the advantage of absorbing people already acquainted with the company culture.
2. Our employees are tried and tested people and we can depend on them.
3. It is a useful signal to employees and assures them that their services are recognized and this helps in maintaining their motivation and morale.
4. It reduces labour turnover as it gives employees a sense of job security and opportunity for advancement.
5. Our employees are fully acquainted with the organization. Hence, job training can be reduced.
6. Internal sources of recruitment are less costly than the other sources of recruitment.
7. It is a return of investment in human capital.
Demerits of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
1. It limits the choice to a few employees only.
2. The likes and dislikes of the superiors play an important role in the selection of an employee.
3. It creates frustration among those employees who are not selected.
4. Creates inbreeding of ideas.
II. External Sources:
i. Advertising in newspapers, trade journals and magazines – The advantage of advertisement is that it covers a wide area of market and scattered applicants can get information from advertisement.
ii. Employment exchanges – There are certain employment exchange which are run by Government. Most of the government undertakings and concern employ people through such exchanges. Now-a-days recruitment in government agencies has become compulsory through employment exchange.
iii. Campus recruitment – There are certain professional Institutions which serve as an external source for recruitment fresh graduates from these institutes. This kind of recruitment done through such educational institutions is called as Campus Recruitment. They have special recruitment cells which help in providing to fresh candidates.
v. Labour contractors – These are the specialist people who supply manpower to the Factory or Manufacturing plants. Through these contractors, workers are appointed on contract basis, i.e. for a particular time period. Under conditions when these contractors leave the organization, such people who are appointed have to also leave the concern.
vii. Private Employment agencies/Consultants – There are certain professional organizations which look towards recruitment and employment of people, i.e. these private agencies run by private individuals supply required manpower to needy concerns.
viii. Professional Associations
ix. Data Banks
x. Casual Applicants
xi. Similar Organizations/Competitors
xii. Trade Unions
xiii. Walk-in
xiv. Consult in
xv. Head Hunting
xvi. Body Shopping
xvii. Mergers and Acquisitions
xviii. Tele recruitment
xix. Outsourcing
Merits of External Sources of Recruitment:
1. Fresh talent and skill comes into the organization.
2. New employees may try to change old habits.
3. New employees may be selected at the terms and conditions of the organization.
4. Highly qualified and experienced employees may help the organization to come up with better performance.
5. Since persons are recruited from a large market, the best selection can be made.
6. External sources provide the requisite type of personnel for an organization, having the required skill and standard.
7. External sources of recruitment are economical because potential employees do not need extra training for their skills.
Demerits of External Sources of Recruitment:
1. External sources of recruitment reduce the morale of employees.
2. External sources of recruitment deny career advancement for employees.
3. Proper evaluation of outside candidates may not be possible because of time availability, this may result in faulty selection of employees.
4. Outsiders are not fully acquainted with the policies and procedures of the organization. Therefore, may need expensive training.
5. According to Yoder, ‘the hiring process is of one or many ‘go-no-go’ gauges. Candidates are screened by the employer and the short-listed applicants go on to the next hurdle, while unqualified ones are eliminated.’
Sources of Recruitment – What are the Sources of Recruitment
Whether you are replacing an employee who is leaving, or you need to hire new staff as the business is growing, you need to use the most efficient method to find the right people. There are many ways of conducting a search —each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Your search could range from in-house recruitment to reviewing unsolicited resumes. You need to assess each option and then choose the one or more ways that work best for you.
Effective recruiting requires that you know where and how to obtain qualified applicants.
It is difficult to generalise about the best source for each business, but a description of the major sources follows:
Source # 1. In-House:
The most qualified person may already be working for you. Some of the benefits of hiring from within include a boost in employee morale, efficient succession planning as you are identifying those ready for a new challenge, and less time spent on orientation and training. Other benefits include fewer turnovers, as employees can see that they can have a career with your company, and it is cheaper as there are no advertising costs.
However, there are some disadvantages to hiring in-house. You may have a limited number of applicants, you will reduce your chances of hiring from diverse communities, and you may miss the new energy and ideas that come from hiring outside your company. Internal hiring may also cause a ripple effect of promotions and vacancies in your firm. As one person moves up a new vacancy is created, a process which can continue all the way down to an entry level job.
Source # 2. Word of Mouth:
Putting the word on the street that you are looking for people can be an effective and efficient way of finding employees. By tapping into your networks you may readily find the experienced professional that you need for that new contract with very limited cash expense.
Outplacement companies maintain job boards free of charge and can be a good source of skilled workers. Do not overlook referrals from employees. They have a vested interest in seeing a friend or relative hired and perform well. Evaluate all word of mouth referrals the same way as you would other applicants. Do not feel that you have to hire them because they were recommended to you.
Source # 3. Internet Job Sites:
This is fast becoming the preferred way for both employers and employees to find each other, especially if you are looking for staff who are younger or comfortable with information technology. To reach a small select group of candidates, you can post the job on the career section of your own web page or to websites. To reach a larger audience you can post your job on general websites such as those run by the newspapers. They may charge you for doing so.
Source # 4. Newspaper / Trade Journal Ads:
Most jobs are filled by the methods listed above. There may be times when you need to place and ad in a newspaper or trade journal. You can reach the largest pool of applicants locally, nationally or even internationally. The disadvantages to this method include price—it can be very expensive to place a decent sized ad that potential applicants will see as they scan the career sections. This method is also time-consuming, as you need to write the ad and let it run for some time. You also need to plan how to handle the volume of applications. One company placed a small ad for a junior biologist in their regional area.
Source # 5. Colleges and Universities:
This is a very effective way of filling junior positions with people whom you know are already qualified for working in the industry. Campus recruitment is also helpful if you need staff with specialised skills.
Source # 6. Unsolicited Applicants:
Small businesses receive many unsolicited applications from qualified and unqualified individuals. The former should be kept on file for future reference. Good business practice suggests that all applicants be treated courteously whether or not they are offered jobs.
Source # 7. Schools:
High schools, trade schools, vocational schools, colleges and universities are sources for certain types of employees, especially if prior work experience is not a major factor in the job specification. Schools also are excellent sources for part-time employees.
Source # 8. Private Employment Agencies:
These firms provide a service for employers and applicants by matching people to jobs in exchange for a fee. Some fees are paid by the applicants, and there is no cost to the employer; for highly qualified applicants in short supply, the employer sometimes pays the fee.
Source # 9. Employee Referrals:
References by current employees may provide excellent prospects for the business. Evidence suggests that current employees hesitate to recommend applicants with below average ability. Word of mouth is one of the most commonly used recruiting sources in the small business community.
Source # 10. “Help Wanted” Advertising:
Letting people know that the business is hiring is a key element in gaining access to the pool of potential employees. At its simplest, this type of advertising may take the form of a Help Wanted sign in the window. More sophisticated methods involve using local media, primarily print sources such as daily and weekly newspapers.
The classified pages of newspapers are frequently consulted by active job seekers, including currently employed individuals who may be tempted by a more attractive position. Other advertising media include radio and television. These tend to have a wider appeal than the newspaper; however, the price of an advertisement is correspondingly higher.
Speciality media publications, such as trade association magazines and newsletters, may also produce quality job applicants. There are efforts in some parts of the country to offer small business employers access to cable television community bulletin boards. Another high-tech opportunity is to list positions on computer network bulletin boards.
Prices for help wanted advertising vary and the small business owner approaches them with caution. A well-placed, high quality advertisement will attract good people, whereas, an expensive advertisement in the wrong medium may get no results. Some experimentation is worthwhile to most small businesses. Another suggestion is to ask other small business people in the area about their success with help wanted advertising. Learn from others’ successes and mistakes.
Source # 11. Other Methods:
There are a few other ways of finding the right employees. These include people you meet at environmental conferences, seminars and trade shows. You can attract them by either setting up your own recruitment booth or through informal meetings. Private employment agencies are also a source, although they do charge a fee. Finally, you may find staff if someone just happens to be making the rounds of potential employers by visiting your office or by sending you an unsolicited resume. Whatever your source of employees, you should screen and select those for interviews using the same rigorous methods.