Recruitment has been regarded as the most important function of personnel administration. Unless the right types of people are hired, even the best plans, organisation charts and control systems will be of no avail.
A company cannot prosper, grow or even survive without adequate human resources. Need for trained manpower in recent years has created a pressure on some organisations to establish an efficient recruitment function. It is not done wisely, every other management function suffers, and costs increase and bottlenecks get worse.
Recruitment is the processes of finding the apt candidates and inducing them to apply for the job in an organisation. The recruitment should be a sound one. If it is not so, the morale of the staff will be very low and the image of the company will be tarnished.
“Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour force upon whom the organisation can draw when it needs additional employees.” —Dale. S. Beach
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The main purpose of recruitment is searching of suitable candidates for filling the vacancies of the organization. It is a process of bringing together prospective employees and employer with a view to stimulate the prospective employees to offer their services in the working organization.
Learn about:-
1. Meaning and Definitions of Recruitment 2. Philosophies of Recruitment 3. Objectives 4. Important Purposes 5. Features 6. Factors Influencing
7. Difference between Recruitment and Selection 8. Sources 9. Methods 10. Policy 11. How to Formulate an Effective and Successful Recruitment Strategy? 12. Challenges and Complexities.
What is Recruitment? – Meaning, Definitions, Objectives, Features, Sources, Methods, Challenges, Factors and Purposes
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Contents:
- Meaning and Definitions of Recruitment
- Philosophies of Recruitment
- Objectives of Recruitment
- Important Purposes of Recruitment
- Features of Recruitment
- Factors Influencing Recruitment
- Difference between Recruitment and Selection
- Sources of Recruitment
- Methods of Recruitment
- Recruitment Policy
- How to Formulate an Effective and Successful Recruitment Strategy?
- Challenges and Complexities of Recruitment
What is Recruitment – Meaning and Definitions Defined by Flippo, Beach and Dale Yoder
Recruitment has been regarded as the most important function of personnel administration. Unless the right types of people are hired, even the best plans, organisation charts and control systems will be of no avail. A company cannot prosper, grow or even survive without adequate human resources. Need for trained manpower in recent years has created a pressure on some organisations to establish an efficient recruitment function. It is not done wisely, every other management function suffers, and costs increase and bottlenecks get worse.
Recruitment is the processes of finding the apt candidates and inducing them to apply for the job in an organisation. The recruitment should be a sound one. If it is not so, the morale of the staff will be very low and the image of the company will be tarnished.
The success of any recruitment depends upon the procedure followed by the company while recruiting the members. Jobs with low salary, uninteresting jobs or difficult jobs cannot be filled up by the company very easily.
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Every company has to recruit its staff members but the quantum of recruitment may vary from one company to another company. The variation may be due to the size of the company, recruitment policy of the company, nature of the job and the like.
Once a determination of human resources requirement has been made, the process of recruitment begins. Recruitment involves the process of searching and attracting potential employees to the organization. In other words, it involves seeking and attracting qualified candidates from a wide variety of internal and external sources for job vacancies.
The main purpose of recruitment is searching of suitable candidates for filling the vacancies of the organization. It is a process of bringing together prospective employees and employer with a view to stimulate the prospective employees to offer their services in the working organization.
“Recruitment as process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation.” — Edwin B. Flippo
“Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour force upon whom the organisation can draw when it needs additional employees.” —Dale S. Beach
Thus, recruitment is a continuous process by which an organisation seeks to develop a pool of qualified applicants for the future human resource needs, even though specific vacancies do not exist at present.
The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process.
In the words of Dale Yoder, “Recruitment is a process to discover the source of man power to meet the requirement of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.
Thus, recruitment is a “linking activity” which brings together those who have a job and those who search a job.
What is Recruitment – 2 Basic Philosophies: Traditional and Realistic Philosophies
There are basically two philosophies of recruitment:
(i) Traditional:
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The traditional philosophy is to get as many people as possible to apply for the job. As a result of this, a large number of seekers apply for the job, which makes the final selection process difficult and can result in the selection of wrong candidates. Wrong selection can, in turn, lead to employee dissatisfaction and high turnover in the long run.
(ii) Realistic:
In realistic philosophy, the needs of the organization are matched with the needs of the applicants, which enhances the effectiveness of the recruitment process. In realistic approach, the employees who are recruited will stay in the organization for a longer period of time and will perform at a higher level of effectiveness.
Two approaches can be used to match the organizational needs with the applicant’s needs:
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(1) Realistic Job Preview
(2) Job Compatibility Questionnaire
(1) Realistic Job Preview:
Realistic Job Preview provides complete job related information to the applicants. It includes both positive and negative aspects of the job. Realistic Job Preview can result in self-selection process.
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Job applicants will evaluate the compatibility among the jobs and their personal needs. They can decide whether to attend the interviews and tests for final selection or to withdraw in the initiative.
The advantages of Realistic Job Preview are lower rate of employee turnover; higher level of Job Satisfaction and performance; more beneficial at the entry level where there are innumerable applicants per position.
The Realistic Job Preview can, however, increase the cost of recruiting by increasing the average time it takes to fill each job.
(2) Job Compatibility Questionnaire:
Job Compatibility Questionnaire is used to determine whether an applicant’s preferences for work matches the characteristics of the job or not. Greater the compatibility between these two, greater will be the probability of employee effectiveness and longer the tenure of employees.
Job Compatibility Questionnaire is designed to collect information on all aspects of a job which have a bearing on employee performance, absenteeism, and turnover and job satisfaction.
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Items in job compatibility questionnaire covers the following factors:
(i) Task Variety
(ii) Task Requirements
(iii) Peer Group
(iv) Physical Environment
(v) Compensation Preferences
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(vi) Customer Characteristics
(vii) Leadership Characteristics
(viii) Work Schedule
(ix) Job Autonomy.
(x) Physical Demands of the Job.
Job Compatibility Questionnaire would be given to job seekers who are familiar with job to be filled.
What is Recruitment – Top 10 Objectives
The objectives of recruitment are:
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(i) To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and experiences those suit the present and future organisational strategies,
(ii) To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company,
(iii) To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organisation,
(iv) To develop an organisational culture that attracts competent people to the company,
(v) To search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills fit the company’s values,
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(vi) To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits,
(vii) To seek out non-conventional development grounds of talent,
(viii) To search for talent globally and not just within the company,
(ix) To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum,
(x) To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.
What is Recruitment – Most Important Purposes
The purpose of the recruitment initiative taken by any organization could be immense.
Some of the most important purposes could be as follows:
1. To determine the present and future requirements of the organization in conjunction with the personnel planning and job analysis activities.
2. To enhance the pool of potential job aspirants with minimal cost.
3. To enhance the success rate of the selection process by reducing the number of, under-qualified or overqualified job applicants.
4. To effectively reduce the probability of job applicants, once recruited and selected, will leave the organization only after a short period of time.
5. To meet the organization’s legal and social obligations regarding the composition of its workforce.
6. To start identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates.
7. To increase organizational and individual effectiveness in the short and long-term.
8. To evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job applicants.
9. To support and form the basis of the manpower retention plan of the organization.
10. To form the basis of the manpower development process by hiring the future talents.
What is Recruitment – Essential Features
Some of the essential features of recruitment are:
1. Recruitment is a searching and attracting function – It is mainly concerned with searching and attracting the potential candidates towards organization.
2. Recruitment is not a selection – Recruitment involves searching the potential candidates and attracting them towards organization to apply for the job. But selection involves choosing suitable candidate among those who have applied for job.
3. It is a process – Recruitment is a process of series of activities like recruitment policy, sources of recruitment, technique of tapping those sources and evaluation of those sources etc.
4. It is a linking activity – Recruitment brings together those who have a job (employer) and those who search a job (employees)
5. It is a pervasive function – This function needs to be performed by all organizations which need human resources.
6. It is one of the functions of personnel management – It is an important function of personnel management as it helps in acquiring different number and types of persons for continued functioning of an organization.
What is Recruitment – Factors Influencing Recruitment: Internal and External Factors
The factors affecting recruitments can be classified as internal and external which are explained below:
1. Internal Factors:
(i) Organization Policies and Practices:
Policies and practices of the organization affect the system of recruitment of the organization. Some organizations may adopt the practice of recruiting from within the organization through promotion, transfer, lay-off etc., and others may go for external sources. Some organizations adopt the practice of recruiting the persons from backward castes and communities, physically handicapped persons etc., and others may give importance to merit irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
(ii) Image of the Organization:
Image or the impression that an organization gives to the public considerably influences on the recruitment process of the organization. Kind of job environment, benefit it provides to its employees, employer employee relation that prevails in the organization enhance the image of the organization. Better the image, better the quality of applicant and vice-versa.
(iii) Wage and Salary Policies:
Benefits provided by the organization to its employees have a great influence on its recruitment system. Higher salaries and wages consistent with the merit and experience of the employees will certainly attract meritorious and experienced employees towards the organization.
(iv) Promotion and Retirement Policies:
Company which provides better promotion prospects to its dedicated and meritorious employees and offers retirement benefits like pension or gratuity to those who are serving in the company for a minimum fixed period also affect the recruitment policy of the organization and in turn attract meritorious and able persons towards the organization.
(v) Working Conditions:
Good working conditions like proper lighting and ventilation, safety provisions, welfare measures like bonus, quarter’s facility, subsidized food, medical facility etc., influence positively on the recruitment system of the organization.
2. External Factors:
External factors like government regulations, trade union restrictions, labour market conditions, legal factors, economic factors, cultural factors, location of the organization etc., also influence the recruitment system of the organization.
(i) Government Regulations:
Government regulations towards Backward Caste, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and women have a direct impact on recruiting practices and hence organisations have to observe these regulations while recruiting its employees.
(ii) Trade Union Restrictions:
Trade union always wants to protect the interest of its members and hence interfere in the recruitment process of the organization. Therefore, while making the recruitment, interest of the trade union should be kept in mind and process should be continued.
(iii) Labour Market Conditions:
Labour market conditions in India are always volatile i.e., changing. At any given point of time there may be a surplus or a shortage of well qualified candidate in a particular category of post for which vacancy is to be filled up. If well qualified candidates are in short supply recruitment becomes difficult and if the candidates are excess with suitable qualification, selection becomes difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to take a note of labour market condition while recruiting the employees.
(iv) Legal Factors:
Legal factors like prohibition of employment of children, prohibition of employment of women in night shift, provision of security to the workers in underground mines, abolition of bonded labour, regulation of employment of contract labour, safety of scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other weaker sections of society, discrimination in employment on the basis of religion, caste, sex, etc., influence on the recruitment practice of the organization.
(v) Economic Factors:
Economic factors like cost of recruitment, capacity of recruiting competent persons, working conditions in other similar organizations etc., also affect the recruitment practice of the organization.
What is Recruitment – Difference between Recruitment and Selection
The recruitment and selection can be differentiated from the following points:
Difference # Recruitment:
(1) Objective – It aims to attract more people for the vacant jobs in organization
(2) Nature – It is a positive process because it attracts people for jobs
(3) Meaning – It is a process of searching for suitable candidates
(4) Process – It involves searching
(5) Procedure – The organization notifies the requirements of manpower though advertisement, etc. and gives prospective candidates forms etc.
(6) Contract of service – There is not contractual obligation to take the candidates who have applied. In fact, it is only a communication to candidates to apply for jobs
Difference # Selection:
(1) Objective – It aims to pick up then most suitable candidates for the job
(2) Nature – It is a negative process as it rejects not so good for the job
(3) Meaning – It is a process of choosing from the lot the best candidates.
(4) Process – It involves comparisons and selection
(5) Procedure – The HR department asks candidates who have applied to pass the tests evolved for selection in stages and then get selected for the job
(6) Contract of service – Selection succeeds recruitment and the selected candidates are given contract of service between the company and the selected employee.
What is Recruitment – 2 Important Sources: Internal and External Sources (With Advantages and Disadvantages)
The source of recruitment is based on the policy followed by the company. The job can be filled up out of the employees of the company or from outside the company. If the job is filled up out of the present employees of the company, it is said to be the internal source of the company.
If the same job is filled up from out of the candidates available in the society, it is said to be the external source.
A clear picture of the internal sources and the external sources is given below:
1. Transfer
2. Promotion
B. External:
1. Advertisement (Company Invitations and Walk-in-Interview)
2. Recommendations
3. Gate Applicants
4. Employment Exchange (Govt. & Private)
5. Personal Consultants
6. Educational Institutions
7. Waiting List
8. Unsolicited Applications
9. Jobbers and Contractors
10. Field Trips
11. Leasing.
A. Internal Sources:
Whenever a job falls vacant, it can be filled up by giving a promotion to the present employee of the company. It is based on the promotion policy followed by the company. In certain cases, a same cadre staff member is deputed to the job by the company. This is called a transfer.
This is also based on the transfer policy followed by the company:
1. It increases the morale among the staff members of the company.
2. Giving promotion keeps the employee happy.
3. It attracts efficient staff members.
4. The training expenses may be reduced, to some extent.
5. A person who has got a promotion, inspires the staff members to acquire a thorough knowledge of his job.
6. Internal promotion helps the staff members to derive job satisfaction.
7. A promoted staff member may make use of his past experience in the new post.
8. It increases the security of the job of the staff member.
9. A new responsibility can be entrusted safely to the promoted staff members on the basis of contents of Service Register.
10. It ensures the continuity of job to the staff members and stability of the organisation.
11. It induces the staff members to work hard to get promotion.
12. The expenses for advertisement, recruitment, test and interview are avoided.
1. If the higher post is filled internally, the company will not be able to get fresh and original ideas and initiative from the staff members.
2. The outsiders do not have a scope to show their ability in the performance of the work.
3. An under-qualified person may be appointed in the higher post.
4. If the promotion is guaranteed to the internal staff members after the expiry of a specific period, the concerned staff member does not care to work efficiently.
B. External Sources:
There are various external sources of recruitment.
They are briefly explained below:
When a company wants to inform the public that it has a vacancy, it puts up an advertisement. The details of the job and the qualification of the candidates are briefly given. The company may receive the applications in response to the advertisement. After that, interview will be conducted.
In certain cases, the walk in interview method may be adopted by the company. In the walk-in-interview method, the applications are received from the candidates. The date and time and place of the interview are mentioned in the advertisement. In this way, a person can be recruited immediately through an advertisement.
Here, recommendation means appointment of a person on getting a recommendation letter from a person reliable and well-known to the company. In certain cases, an employee of the company may bring the candidates to the company for the purpose of being appointed
The educated unemployed youth may contact the company to get employment. These candidates may not have any recommendations. Even the company might not have issued any advertisement for the post. The candidate personally approaches the appointing authority of the company. If such candidate is found fit for any one of the posts which are vacant at that time, the candidate is appointed.
The job seekers register their names with their qualifications with the employment exchange. The company can get a list of candidates who have requisite qualifications to fit in a job. Out of the listed candidates, any one of them can be selected. The employment exchange is of two kinds, i.e., public employment exchange and private employment exchange.
Private consultant is a separate specified agency doing the function of recruitment of the personnel on behalf of the company. In other words, the functions of personnel department of any company are performed by the personnel consultants. It receives the applications from the candidates, verifies the applications, conducts interviews and selects the candidates. The personnel consultant receives fees from the company for its service.
6. Educational Institutions – Campus Interview:
Universities, colleges and institutions are formed to offer specific courses. The educational institutions make an arrangement for campus interview. The business concerns come to the campus of educational institutions to recruit the students for various posts. The selected students are requested to join the post after completing the course.
The business concern prepares a waiting list of candidates who have already been interviewed. But, they are not appointed for lack of vacancy. Whenever a vacancy arises, the vacancy may be filled up by the company out of the waiting list.
Unsolicited applications means the application received through mail from the candidate. The application brings the information regarding the name and address of the candidate, his age, educational qualification, experience, area of interest, etc. If there is any vacancy at that time, the candidate will be recruited for the specified post. Normally, this type of application is considered for the posts at the lower level.
The casual vacancy may be filled up by the company through the jobbers and contractors. Normally, unskilled candidates are appointed in this way. They are available at short notice and for a less salary. This type of candidate is brought by the jobbers and contractors to the place of work and they receive some commission from the company for this service.
A company may send a group of experts to the towns and the cities where the various kinds of candidates required by the company are available. In this case, a prior advertisement may be issued in newspapers. The advertisement contains information regarding the date, venue and time of the interview. The interview is conducted in different places. This is procedure followed to recruit the candidates under field trips.
This type of source of recruitment is followed by the public sector organisation. The reason is that the organisation wants to manage the problems particularly at higher level. Before recruiting the staff members, the period of service is fixed by the company and it is conveyed to the staff members.
There are some advantages to the company if the appointment is made through external source.
These advantages are discussed below:
1. Choice – A company can recruit a person out of a large number of applicants. Each and every candidate’s plus points and minus points are taken into consideration for the purpose of recruitment. Then, the best candidate can be selected by the company
2. New Outlook – If a new person is recruited by the company, a new way of approach may be used to solve the problem, which will give maximum benefits to the company.
3. Wide Experience – If the recruited new candidate has experience in various fields, the company can get the benefit of the candidate’s experience.
The external sources also have some demerits.
They are listed below:
1. Grudging of old employment – If a candidate is recruited from external sources, the existing staff may have a grudge against him. It results in demoralisation of the staff members.
2. Lack of co-operation – The existing staff members do not extend their co-operation to the person who is selected from out of external sources. In addition to this, the existing staff members make the new recruit face the difficulties and try to disorient him in relation to his work.
3. Expensive – Recruitment of a person from outside the company requires a lot of formalities. The formalities include issuing advertisement, receiving the applications, screening the applications, dispatching the interview letters, fixation of interview date, time and place, formation of an interview committee etc. Completing all the above said procedure involves a lot of expenditure.
4. Trade union – If the trade union of the company is very strong, it is very difficult to convince the trade union and recruit a person from outside a company.
5. Danger of non-adjustment – If a newly recruited person fails to adjust himself to the working conditions of the company, it leads to more expenditure in looking for his replacement. Besides, it causes irritation and quarrel between the recruited person and the existing staff members.
Some views on the recruitment are as follows:
Searching for and obtaining potential job candidates should be in sufficient numbers and quality so that the organization can select the most appropriate people to fill its job needs. -Dowling and Schuler
On the basis of above views on recruitment, it is clear that the personnel recruitment is an essential function of every organization and only HR department is responsible for this function. The need for trained manpower in recent years has created a pressure on organizations to establish an efficient and effective recruitment function in the organization.
The need for recruitment arises out in the organization only in two situations:
1. Vacancies due to transfer, promotion, retirement, resignations, termination, permanent disability, or death, and
2. Vacancies due to expansion, diversification and growth of the business of the organization.
What is Recruitment – 3 Categories of Methods Summarized by Dunn and Stephens: Direct, Indirect and Third Party Method
Dunn and Stephens, 1972 summaries the methods of recruitment into three categories:
1. Direct Method,
2. Indirect Method, and
3. Third Party Method.
Method # 1. Direct Method:
Campus recruitment is most widely acceptable example of direct recruitment of candidates. In this method the recruiters visit educational Institutions such as – IIMs, IITs, Universities and others management institutions and their placement centres. The placement centres provide opportunities for students and recruiters to meet and discuss potential hiring because placement arranged through the institutions enhance their reputation and credibility.
The recruiters take the opportunity to distribute brochures and other literature of organization to candidates and build organization image. A good relationship between placement officials and organization is necessary to obtain effective results. Depending upon the nature of policy of organizations, the many organizations issue appointment letters after conducting interviews in the campus and many invite selected candidates to visit the organization for final interviews.
The main advantage of campus interview is that to access a large number of young people at one place in less time. On the other hand the negative aspects of campus interviews is that the hiring people with no work experience.
As per R.W. Walers, 1976, the common mistakes committed by recruiters are as follows:
(a) Failure to utilize a full time professional recruiter.
(b) The recruiter is not professionally trained in interviewing.
(c) The recruiter does not have the authority to make decision with regard to hiring.
(d) The actual plan visit is mishandled.
(e) The recruiter does not get involved in the development of the new employee.
Other direct methods include sending recruiters to establish exhibits at job fairs, and using mobile officers to visit to the desired places where unemployed may be contacted.
Method # 2. Indirect Method:
The most frequently used indirect method of recruitment is advertisement in publications such as – newspapers, magazines, trade and professional journals or broadcasting from radio and television. The advertisement should be specific and include sufficient details such as job responsibilities, compensation package and career prospects in the organization.
In order to be successful, an advertisement should be carefully written so that it may draw the attention of right type of applicants and also build the image of an organization. This method is useful when an organization wants a fairly good number of talented people. Local newspaper can be a good source of blue collar, clerical and lower level administrative positions while national level periodicals may be used for middle and top level positions.
Many organizations use the ‘blind box’ type advertisement where no identification of the organization is given. The Post Office Box Number acting as an agent between applicants and organization. Another method of advertisement is used as notice board placed at the gates of the organisation.
Method # 3. Third Party Method:
The following sources are involved in third party methods:
(a) Employment Exchanges:
The organizations are expected to notify their vacancies in the specific Employment Exchanges and job seekers get information from them about the types of jobs that are referred to by employers.
(b) Employment Agencies:
An employment agency is an organization that assists organizations in recruiting employees and, at the same time, aids individuals in their attempt to locate jobs. They maintains lists of qualified applicants and supplies to employers willing to hire people. They also perform recruitment and selection functions for the employer and charge a fee.
(c) Employee Referrals:
Many organizations have found that their employees can assist in the recruitment process. Employees may actively solicit applications from their friends and associates. This method suffers from a serious defect that it encourages nepotism.
(d) Internet Recruiting:
In recent years the internet is playing an important role in recruitment. It advertises jobs and serves as a place to locate jobs applicants. The website offers a fast convenient and cost effective means for job applicants to submit their resume through Internet.
The organizations believe that the internet helps to attract better quality and broad range of applicants. The internet recruiting is cheaper because it reduces costs of newspaper advertisements and workload for the HR department.
In short, the HR manager must be in close touch with these different sources and use them in accordance with his needs. To avoid surplus staffs the best management policy regarding recruitment is to look first within the organization and if that source fails external recruitment must be tackled.
According to Flippo, the present tendency of most of business organization is to ‘home grow’ their executive leaders. Koonts and O’Donnell observe that the policy should be to ‘raise’ talent rather than ‘raid’ for it.
What is Recruitment – Recruitment Policy: Meaning, Components, Need and Pre-Requisites
Recruitment policy specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for the implementation of the recruitment programme. According to Yoder A recruitment policy may involve commitment to broad principles such as filling vacancies with the qualified individuals.
It may embrace several issues such as extent of promotion from within, attitudes of enterprises in recruiting its old employees, handicaps, minority groups, women employees, part time employees, friends and relatives of present employees etc.
It may also involve the organizational system to be developed for implementing recruitment programme and procedures to be employed.
This recruitment policy outlines the principles and processes related to the recruitment of both internal and external candidates to position new recruits within a firm. The recruitment process may be ineffective in the absence of a structured policy. A well-defined recruitment policy helps organizations to respond to its HR requirements in time. The policy statement should be clear and concise.
Developing a suitable recruitment policy is the first step in the efficient hiring process. The policy statement helps to ensure a sound recruitment process.
Recruitment Policy Components:
A recruitment policy has some vital components, which essentially contribute to the recruitment process, and make it effective and error-free.
1. Finalizing the general policies and terms regarding recruitment
2. Recruitment services of consultants, if sought
3. Filling of temporary vacancies
4. Crash recruitment in demanding situations
5. Drafting the selection process
6. Developing job descriptions
7. Defining employment terms and conditions.
The recruitment policy of an organization needs:
1. To focus on recruiting the best available talents;
2. To ensure that every candidate, internal or external, is treated equally with dignity and respect;
3. To make an unbiased policy;
4. To encourage employees and help to unearth their hidden full potential;
5. To ensure transparency, task orientation, and merit based selection;
6. To decide upon the weightage of factors that suit organizational needs during the selection process;
7. To optimize HR needs at the time of selection;
8. To define the competent authority to approve the selection process and tools;
9. To conform to applicable public policy and legislation on hiring and employment relationship; and
10. To establish congruency between employees needs with the organizational needs.
Pre-Requisites of a Good Recruitment Policy:
The recruitment policy of an organization must satisfy the following conditions:
(i) It should be in conformity with the general personnel policies.
(ii) It should be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of an organization.
(iii) It should provide employees with job security and continuous employment.
(iv) It should integrate organizational and employee needs.
(v) It should match the qualities of the employees with the requirements of the work for which they are employed.
(vi) It should highlight the necessity of establishing job analysis.
(vii) It should provide suitable jobs to handicapped, women and minority groups.
What is Recruitment – How to Formulate an Effective and Successful Recruitment Strategy?
Recruitment is of the most crucial roles of the human resource professionals. The level of performance of an organization depends on the effectiveness of its recruitment function. Organizations have developed and follow recruitment strategies to hire the best talent for their organization and to utilize their resources optimally. A successful recruitment strategy should be well planned and practical to attract more and good talent to apply in the organization.
For formulating an effective and successful recruitment strategy, the strategy should cover the following elements:
1. Identifying and Prioritizing Jobs:
Requirements keep arising at various levels in every organization; it is almost a never-ending process. It is impossible to fill all the positions immediately. Therefore, there is a need to identify the positions requiring immediate attention and action. To maintain the quality of the recruitment activities, it is useful to prioritize the vacancies whether to focus on all vacancies equally or focusing on key jobs first.
2. Candidates to Target:
The recruitment process can be effective only if the organization completely understands the requirements of the type of candidates that are required and will be beneficial for the organization.
This covers the following parameters as well:
a. Performance level required – Different strategies are required for focusing on hiring high performers and average performers.
b. Experience level required – The strategy should be clear as to what is the experience level required by the organization. The candidate’s experience can range from being a fresher to experienced senior professionals.
c. Category of the candidate – The strategy should clearly define the target candidate. He/she can be from the same industry, different industry, unemployed, top performers of the industry etc.
3. Sources of Recruitment:
The strategy should define various sources (external and internal) of recruitment. Which are the sources to be used and focused for the recruitment purposes for various positions? Employee referral is one of the most effective sources of recruitment.
4. Trained Recruiters:
The recruitment professionals conducting the interviews and the other recruitment activities should be well-trained and experienced to conduct the activities. They should also be aware of the major parameters and skills (e.g., behavioural, technical etc.) to focus while interviewing and selecting a candidate.
5. How to Evaluate the Candidates:
The various parameters and the ways to judge them i.e. the entire recruitment process should be planned in advance. Like the rounds of technical interviews, HR interviews, written tests, psychometric tests etc.
What is Recruitment – Challenges and Complexities with Recruitment
The various challenges of recruitment are:
i. Attract people with multi-dimensional experiences and skills.
ii. Induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company.
iii. Infuse fresh blood at every level of the organisation.
iv. Develop a culture that attracts people to the Company.
v. Locate people whose personalities fit the company’s values.
vi. Devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits.
vii. Seek out unconventional development ground of talent.
viii. Search for talent globally and not just within the country.
ix. Design entry pay that competes on quality and not quantities.
x. Anticipate and find people for positions that do not exist yet.
Every day the level of education and general awareness among people is increasing at a higher rate. As the entire society is on the development peoples’ aspirations, attitudes and behaviour may further become sophisticated. The present style of recruitment and selection will see drastic changes due to changes along with above areas. Future role of Human Resource Development Manager is going to be very critical due to lot of improvements in all the areas of Human Resource Management.
Complexities with Recruitment:
Recruiting does not involve placing advertisements or calling employment agencies only.
It is a very complex process on account of the following issues:
(1) The methods of recruitment to be adopted are different for different types of jobs. A worker may be recruited through gate entry but an executive has to pass through several stages of selection.
(2) Good recruiting often requires the recruiter to give a realistic preview of job during the initial call or contact. Pre-screening the job seekers is an important part of recruitment and it takes time. If it is not done, the HR department may have to waste time on applicants who have no real interest in job.
(3) Recruitment efforts should always reflect the company’s strategic plans. If employees have to be recruited on the basis of company’s expansion plan, then they should be clearly told where and when they would be placed. If this does not happen, employees very often leave the organization after joining it for a short period.
(4) A firm’s reputation in the market has a bearing on the recruitment results. A “poor pay master” reputation of a firm makes it difficult for the HR Manager to recruit good talent for the firm. Projecting the right message like, good paymasters etc. may help recruiting good talent.
(5) Sometimes, the firms policies are not very employee friendly, e.g., leaves, welfare schemes, pension plans etc. In spite of an organization been rated as one among the best, such policies may not attract good talent. Thus, the recruitment will be very difficult.