Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DEFINITIONS
Recruitment is defined as, a process to discover the sources of
manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ
effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to
facilitate effective selection of an efficient workforce. Edwin B. Flippo
defined recruitment as the process of searching for prospective employees
and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization. Recruitment is a
linking function-joining together those with jobs to fill and those seeking
jobs. It is a joining process in that it tries to bring together job seekers and
employer with a view to encourage the former to apply for a job with the
latter.
In order to attract people for the jobs, the organization must
communicate the position in such a way that job seekers respond. To be cost
effective, the recruitment process should attract qualified applicants and
provide enough information for unqualified persons to self-select themselves
out.
Thus, the recruitment process begins when new recruits are sought
and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of
applicants from which new employees are selected.
SUB-SYSTEMS OF RECRUITMENT
The recruitment process consists of the following four sub-functions: Finding out and developing the sources where the required number
and kind of employees will be available.
Developing suitable techniques to attract the desirable candidates.
Recruiting policy
Temporary and part-time employees
Recruitment of local citizens
Engagement of the company in HRP
Companys size
Cost of recruitment
Companys growth and expansion
2) EXTERNAL FACTORS
Supply and Demand factors
Unemployment Rate
Labour-market conditions
Political and legal considerations
Social factors
Economic factors
Technological factors
INDUCEMENTS
Organisational inducements are all the positive features and benefits
offered by an organization that serves to attract job applicants to the
organisation. Three inducements need specific mention here, they are: Compensation: Starting salaries, frequency of pay increases,
incentives and fringe benefits can all serve as inducements to potential
employees.
Career Opportunities: These help the present employees to grow
personally and professionally and also attract good people to the
organization. The feeling that the company takes care of employee
career aspirations serves as a powerful inducements to potential
employees.
Image or Reputation: Factors that affect an organisations reputation
include its general treatment of employees, the nature and quality of
its products and services and its participation in worthwhile social
endeavors.
CASE EXAMPLE (inducements):
INFOSYS: The Software Powerhouse
Infosys Technologies Limited (ITL), one of the countrys best known
software exporting house, treats its employees as partners and co-owners. It
provides them challenging assignments, allows flexible working hours,
rewards them solely on the basis of performance and conducts regular
training programmes to upgrade their skills. It has an Employee Stock
Option Plan (ESOP) to share its wealth with employees on the basis of their
performance. Even lower level employees are proud owners of the prized
stock worth 25 to 40 lakh rupees, according to Narayan Murthy, the CEO of
ITL. Apart from increasing shareholder value, ESOP has greatly enhanced
CONSTRAINTS
If a firm has a poor image in the market, many of the prospective
candidates may not even apply for vacancies advertised by the firm. If the
job is not attractive, qualified people may not even apply. Any job that is
viewed as boring, hazardous, anxiety producing, low-paying, or lacking in
promotion potential seldom will attract a qualified pool of applicants.
Recruiting efforts require money. Sometimes because of limited resources,
organizations may not like to carry on the recruiting efforts for long periods
of time, this can, ultimately, constrain a recruiters effort to attract the best
person for the job. Government policies often come in the way of recruiting
people as per the rules of the company or on the basis of merit/seniority, etc.
For example, reservations to specific groups (such as scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes, backward castes, physically handicapped and disabled
persons, ex-servicemen, etc.) have to be observed as per constitutional
provisions while filling up vacancies in government corporations,
departmental undertakings, local bodies, quasi-government organizations,
etc.
RECRUITMENT POLICY
Recruitment policy of any organization is derived from the personnel
policy of the same organization. In other words the former is a part of the
latter. However, recruitment policy by itself should take into consideration
the governments reservation policy, policy regarding sons of soil, etc.,
personnel policies of other organizations regarding merit, internal sources,
social responsibility in absorbing minority sections, women, etc.
Recruitment policy should commit itself to the organisations personnel
policy like enriching the organisations human resources or servicing the
community by absorbing the retrenched or laid-off employees or
casual/temporary employees or dependents of present/former employees,
etc.
The following factors should be taken into consideration in formulating
recruitment policy. They are: Government policies
The unit would enjoy better familiarity and control over the
employees it recruits rather than on employees selected by the central
recruitment agency.
Both the systems of recruitment would suffer from their own demerits.
Hence, the management has to weigh both the merits and demerits of each
system before making a final decision about centralizing or decentralizing
the recruitment. Alternatively management may decentralize the recruitment
of certain categories of employees preferably middle and top level
managerial personnel and centralize the recruitment of other categories of
employees preferably lower level positions in view of the nature of the jobs
and suitability of those systems for those categories of positions. The
management has to find out and develop the sources of recruitment after
deciding upon centralizing or decentralizing the recruitment function.
Mr. Sashidhar joined the company with great enthusiasm and also
found his job to be quite comfortable and challenging one. He found that his
colleagues and superiors were friendly and co-operative. But this didnt last
long. After one year of his service, he slowly learnt about a number of
unpleasant stories about the company, management, the superior-subordinate
relations, rate of employee turnover, etc. But still he decided to continue
with the promise that he made in the interview. He wanted to please and
change the attitude of management through his performance, commitment
and dedication. Looking at his great contributions and efforts, the
management got the impression that he is well settled will remain in the
company for a long time. After sometime they all started taking undue
advantage of him and overloaded him with multifarious jobs and thereby
ridded over him. As a result, his freedom in deciding and executing was cut
down to size; his colleagues started assigning their responsibilities to him.
Consequently, there were imbalances in his family, social and organization
life.
It was quite surprising to the general manager to see the resignation
letter of Mr. Sashidhar one fine morning. The general manager failed to
convince him to withdraw his resignation. The general manager wanted to
appoint a committee to go into the matter immediately, but dropped the idea
later so that the companys image doesnt get spoiled.
ANALYSIS
Thus, from this case study it is clear that retaining is much more
important than recruiting. Whats the use and benefits of recruiting quality
employees if they cannot be retained by the organization in a proper manner.
The purpose of recruitment is fulfilled when the employees selected from a
pool of qualified applicants are retained in the company by keeping them
satisfied in all aspects. They must be provided with better working
conditions, better pay scales, incentives, recognition, promotion, bonus,
flexible working hours, etc. They should treat the employees as co-owners
and partners of the company.
SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
Demerits
1)
2)
Demerits
METHODS OF RECRUITMENT
The following are the most commonly used methods of recruiting people.
INTERNAL METHODS:
1. Promotions and Transfers
This is a method of filling vacancies from within through transfers and
promotions.
A transfer is a lateral movement within the same grade, from one job to
another. It may lead to changes in duties and responsibilities, working
conditions, etc., but not necessarily salary. Promotion, on the other hand,
involves movement of employee from a lower level position to a higher
3. Employee Referrals
Employee referral means using personal contacts to locate job
opportunities. It is a recommendation from a current employee regarding a
job applicant. The logic behind employee referral is that it takes one to
know one. Employees working in the organization, in this case, are
encouraged to recommend the names of their friends, working in other
organizations for a possible vacancy in the near future. In fact, this has
become a popular way of recruiting people in the highly competitive
Information Technology industry nowadays. Companies offer rich rewards
also to employees whose recommendations are accepted after the routine
screening and examining process is over and job offers extended to the
suggested candidates. As a goodwill gestures, companies also consider the
names recommended by unions from time to time.
Identify the potential candidates early: The earlier that candidate with
top potential can be identified, the more likely the organization will be
in a position to attract them.
Employ various means to attract candidates: These may include
providing research grants; consulting opportunities to faculty
members, funding university infrastructural requirements, internships
to students, etc. in the long run these will enhance the prestige of the
company in the eyes of potential job seekers.
Use effective recruitment material: Attractive brochures, films,
computer diskettes, followed by enthusiastic and effective
presentations by company officials, correspondence with placement
offices in respective campus in a friendly way will help in booting
the company image in the eyes of the applicants. The company must
provide detailed information about the characteristics of entry level
positions, especially those that have had a major positive impact on
prior applicants decisions to join the company.
Offer training to campus interviews: Its better to devote more time and
resources to train on campus interviewers to answer specific job
related questions of applicants.
Come out with a competitive offer: Keep the key job attributes that
influence the decisions of applicants such as promotional avenues,
challenging assignments, long term income potential, etc., while
talking to candidates.
Indirect methods:Advertisements:These include advertisements in newspapers; trade, professional and
technical journals; radio and television; etc. in recent times, this medium has
become just as colourful, lively and imaginative as consumer advertising.
The ads generally give a brief outline of the job responsibilities,
compensation package, prospects in organizations, etc. this method is
appropriate when (a) the organization intends to reach a large target group
and (b) the organizations wants a fairly good number of talented people
who are geographically spread out. To apply for advertised vacancies lets
briefly examine the wide variety of alternatives available to a company - as
far as ads are concerned:
Private Employment Search Firms:As search firm is a private employment agency that maintains
computerized lists of qualified applicants and supplies these to employers
willing to hire people from the list for a fee. Firms like Arthur Anderson,
Boble and Hewitt, ABC consultants, SB Billimoria, KPMG; Ferguson
Associates offers specialized employment-related services to corporate
houses for a fee, especially for top and middle level executive vacancies.
AT the lower end, a number of search firms operate providing
multifarious services to both recruiters and the recruitees.
Alternatives to Recruitment:Since recruitment and selection costs are high (search process,
interviewing agency fee, etc.) firms these days are trying to look at
alternatives to recruitment especially when market demand for firms
products and services is sluggish. Moreover, once employees are placed on
the payroll, it may be extremely difficult to remove them if their
performance is marginal. Some of the options in this regard may be listed
thus:
Evaluation of Alternative Sources
Companies have to evaluate the sources of recruiting carefully
looking at cost, time, flexibility, quality and other criteria before
earmarking funds for the recruitment process. They cannot afford to
fill all their vacancies through a particular source. To facilitate the
decision making process in this regard, companies rely on the
following:
Time lapse data: They show the time lag between the dates of
requisition for manpower supply from a department to the actual date
of filling the vacancies in that department. For example, a
companys past experience may indicate that the average number of
days from application to interview is 10, from interview to offer is 7,
from offer to acceptance is 10 and from acceptance to report for
work is 15. Therefore, if the company starts the recruitment and
selection process now it would require 42 days before the new
employee joins its ranks. Armed with this information, the length of
the time needed for alternative sources of recruitment can be
ascertained before pinning hopes on a particular source that meets
the recruitment objectives of the company.
Yield ratios: These ratios indicate the number of leads / contacts
needed to generate a given number of hires at a point at time. For
example, if a company needs 10 management trainees in the next six
months, it has to monitor past yield ratios in order to find out the
number of candidates to be contacted for this purpose. On the basis
of past experience, to continue the same example, the company finds
that to hire 10 trainees, it has to extend 20 offers. If the interview-tooffer is 3:2, then 30 interviews must be conducted. If the invitees to
interview ratios are 4:3 then, as many as 40 candidates must be
invited. Lastly, if contacts or leads needed to identify suitable
trainees to invite are in 5:1 ratio, then 200 contacts are made.
Surveys and studies: Surveys may also be conducted to find out the
suitability of a particular source for certain positions. For example,
as pointed out previously, employee referral has emerged as popular
way of hiring people in the Information Technology industry in
recent times in India. Correlation studies could also be carried out to
find out the relationship between different organizational positions.
Before finally identifying the sources of recruitment, the human
resource managers must also look into the cost or hiring a candidate.
The cost per hire can be found out by dividing the recruitment cost
by the number of candidates hired.
SELECTION
Introduction
The size of the labour market, the image of the company, the place of
posting, the nature of job, the compensation package and a host of other
factors influence the manner of aspirants are likely to respond to the
recruiting efforts of the company. Through the process of recruitment the
company tries to locate prospective employees and encourages them to
apply for vacancies at various levels. Recruiting, thus, provides a pool of
applicants for selection.
Definition
To select mean to choose. Selection is the process of picking
individuals who have relevant qualifications to fill jobs in an organisation.
The basic purpose is to choose the individual who can most successfully
perform the job from the pool of qualified candidates.
Purpose
The purpose of selection is to pick up the most suitable candidate who
would meet the requirements of the job in an organisation best, to find out
which job applicant will be successful, if hired. To meet this goal, the
company obtains and assesses information about the applicants in terms of
age, qualifications, skills, experience, etc. the needs of the job are matched
with the profile of candidates. The most suitable person is then picked up
after eliminating the unsuitable applicants through successive stages of
selection process. How well an employee is matched to a job is very
important because it is directly affects the amount and quality of employees
work. Any mismatched in this regard can cost an organisation a great deal of
money, time and trouble, especially, in terms of training and operating costs.
In course of time, the employee may find the job distasteful and leave in
frustration. He may even circulate hot news and juicy bits of negative
information about the company, causing incalculable harm to the company
in the long run. Effective election, therefore, demands constant monitoring
of the fit between people the job.
The Process
Selection is usually a series of hurdles or steps. Each one must be
successfully cleared before the applicant proceeds to the next one. The time
and emphasis place on each step will definitely vary from one organisation
to another and indeed, from job to job within the same organisation. The
sequence of steps may also vary from job to job and organisation to
organisation. For example some organisations may give more importance to
testing while others give more emphasis to interviews and reference checks.
Similarly a single brief selection interview might be enough for applicants
for lower level positions, while applicants for managerial jobs might be
interviewed by a number of people.
Reception
A company is known by the people it employs. In order to attract people
with talents, skills and experience a company has to create a favourable
impression on the applicants right from the stage of reception. Whoever
meets the applicant initially should be tactful and able to extend help in a
friendly and courteous way. Employment possibilities must be presented
honestly and clearly. If no jobs are available at that point of time, the
applicant may be asked to call back the personnel department after some
time.
Screening Interview
A preliminary interview is generally planned by large organisations to
cut the cost of selection by allowing only eligible candidates to go through
the further stages in selection. A junior executive from the Personnel
Department may elicit responses from the applicants on important items
determining the suitability of an applicant for a job such as age, education,
experience, pay expectations, aptitude, location, choice etc. this courtesy
interview as it is often called helps the department screen out obvious
misfits. If the department finds the candidate suitable, a prescribed
application form is given to the applicants to fill and submit.
Application Blank
Application blank or form is one of the most common methods used
to collect information on the various aspects of the applicants academic,
social, demographic, work related background and references. It is a brief
history sheet of employees background, usually containing the following
things:
Personal data (address, sex, telephone number)
Marital data
Educational data
Employment Experience
Extra-curricular activities
References and Recommendations
2.
3.
4.
5.
able to answer only 5. If the test has commenced at some other point, where
there easier questions, their score might have been different. Test also fails to
elicit truthful responses from testees. To compound the problem further, test
results are interpreted in a subjective was by testers and unless these testers
do their homework well, the results may not be reliable.
Standards for Selection Tests
To be useful as predictive and diagnostic selection tools, test must
satisfy certain basic requirements:
Reliability: Test scores should not vary widely under repeated
conditions. If a test is administered to the same individual repeatedly,
he should get approximately identical score. Reliability is the
confidence that an indicator will measure the same thing every time.
Validity: Validity is the extent to which an instrument measures what
it intends to measure. In a typing test validity measures a typists
speed and accuracy. To determine whether it really measures the speed
and accuracy of a typist is to demonstrate its validity. The question if
determining the validity of a selection test, thus, has a lot to do with
later performance on the job.
Qualified People: Test require a high level of professional skills in
their administration and interpretation. Professional technicians are
needed for skilled judgmental interpretations of test scores.
Preparation: A test should be well prepared. It should be easy to
understand and simple to administer.
Suitability: a test must fit the nature of the group on which it is
applied. A written test comprising difficult words would be fruitless
when it is administered on less educated workers.
Usefulness: Exclusive reliance on any single test should be avoided,
since the results in such a case are likely to be criticized. To be useful,
it is always better to use a battery of test.
Standardization: Norms for finalising test scores should be
established. There must be prescribed methods and procedures for
administering the test and for scoring or interpreting it.
Selection Practices:
The following throws light on how the global giants use selection
testing as a basis for picking up the right candidates to fill up the vacancies
arising internally:
1. Siemens India:
It uses extensive psychometric instruments to
evaluate short-listed candidates. The company uses occupational
personality questionnaire to understand the candidates personal
attributes and occupational testing to measure competencies.
2. LG Electronics India:
LG Electronics uses 3 psychometric tests to
measure a persons ability as a team player, to check personality types
and to find a persons responsiveness and assertiveness.
3. Arthur Anderson: while evaluating candidates, the company conducts
critical behaviour interviewing which evaluates the suitability of the
candidate for the position, largely based on his past experience and
credentials
4. PepsiCo India: The Company uses India as a global recruitment
resource. To select professionals for global careers with it, the company
uses a competency- based interviewing technique that looks at the
candidates abilities in terms of strategizing, lateral thinking, problem
solving, managing the environment. This apart, Pepsi insists that to
succeed in a global posting, these individuals possess strong functional
knowledge and come from a cosmopolitan background.
Source: Business Today, April 7-21 2004, pg 129.
Selection Interview:
Interview is the oral examination of candidates for employment. This is the
most essential step in the selection process. In this step the interviewer
matches the information obtained about the candidates through various
means to the job requirements and to the information obtained through his
own observations during the interview. Interview gives the recruiter an
opportunity
To size up the candidate personally;
To ask question that are not covered in the tests;
To make judgments on candidates enthusiasm and intelligence;
To assess subjective aspects of the candidate facial expressions,
appearance, nervousness and so forth;
To give facts to the candidates regarding the company, its policies, etc.
and promote goodwill towards the company.
Types of interviews:
Several types of interviews are commonly used depending on the nature and
importance of the position to be filled within an organization.
In a NON-DIRECTIVE INTERVIEW the recruiter asks questions as they
come to mind. There is no specific format to be followed.
In a PATTERNED INTERVIEW, the employer follows a pre-determined
sequence of questions. Here the interviewee is given a special form
containing questions regarding his technical competence, personality traits,
attitudes, motivation, etc.
In a STRUCTURED OR SITUATIONAL INTERVIEW, there are fixed
job related questions that are presented to each applicant.
In a PANEL INTERVIEW several interviewers question and seek answers
from one applicant. The panel members can ask new and incisive questions
based on their expertise and experience and elicit deeper and more
meaningful expertise from candidates.
Interviews can also be designed to create a difficult environment where the
applicants confidence level and the ability to stand erect in difficult
situations are put to test. These are referred to as the STRESS
INTERVIEW. This is basically an interview in which the applicant is made
uncomfortable by a series of, often, rude, annoying or embarrassing
questions.
In the final category, there is the APPRAISAL INTERVIEW, where a
superior and subordinate sit together after the performance appraisal to
discuss the subordinates rating and possible remedial actions.
Steps in interview process:
Interview is an art. It demands a positive frame of mind on part of the
interviewers. Interviewers must be treated properly so as to leave a good
impression about the company in their minds. HR experts have identified
certain steps to be followed while conducting interviews:
PREPARATION:
Establishing the objective of the interview
Receiving the candidates application and resume
Keeping tests score ready, along with interview assessment forms
Selecting the interview method to be followed
Choosing the panel of experts who would interview the candidates
Reference Checks
Once the interview and medical examination of the candidate is over, the
personnel department will engage in checking references. Candidates are
required to give the names of 2 or 3 references in their application forms.
These references may be from the individuals who are familiar with the
candidates academic achievements or from the applicants previous
employer, who is well versed with the applicants job performance and
sometimes from the co-workers. In case the reference check is from the
previous employer, information in the following areas may be obtained.
They are job title, job description, period of employment, pay and
allowances, gross emoluments, benefits provided, rate of absence,
willingness of previous employer to employ the candidate again, etc.
Further, information regarding candidates regularity at work, character,
progress, etc. can be obtained. Often a telephone call is much quicker. The
method of mail query provides detailed information about the candidates
performance, character and behavior. However, a personal visit is superior to
the mail or telephone methods and is used where it is highly essential to get
a detailed, first hand information which can also be secured by observation.
Reference checks are taken as a matter of routine and treated casually or
omitted entirely in many organizations. But a good reference check, when
used sincerely, will fetch useful and reliable information to the organization.
Hiring decision:
The line manager has to make the final decision now whether to select or
reject a candidate after soliciting the required information through different
techniques discussed earlier. The line manager has to take adequate care in
taking the final decision because of economic, behavioral and social
implications of the selection decisions. A careless decision of rejecting a
candidate would impair the morale of the people and they suspect the
selection procedure and the very basis of selection in a particular
organization.
A true understanding between line managers and personnel managers
should be established so as to facilitate good selection decisions. After
taking the final decision, the organization has to intimate this decision to the
successful as well as unsuccessful candidates. The organization sends the
appointment order to the successful candidates either immediately or after
sometime depending upon its time schedule.
Interviewing Mistakes:
May have been influenced by cultural noise. To get the job, the
applicants try to get by the interviewer. If they reveal wrong things about
themselves, they may not get the job, so they try to give the interviewer
responses that are socially acceptable, but not very revealing. These types
of responses are known as cultural noise responses the applicant
believes are socially acceptable rather than facts;
Case Study
Ramoji Rao is in charge of a bindery in Vijaywada, which employs 15
people and 5 of whom work in a factory. 3 of these workers run machines, 1
supervises and the 5th moves the blank paper and the finished paper by
handcar. This 5th position, which demands no skill other than driving a
handcar, needs to be filled and 3 applicants have responded.
The 1st is Mr. Matti Anjaiah who is 35, unmarried and a Navy veteran.
`Anjaiah has a poor work record. During his 5yrs in Vijaywada he has
worked only seasonal labour and occasional odd jobs. He drove a forklift in
the Navy, while working at Vishakapatnam. He has a strong build, which
could help, although the work is generally light.
Mr. Nehal Singh, age 22, came to Vijaywada 2 years back from
Punjab. He has done farm labour for many years and assembly-line work for
one year. His command of English is poor (but can speak the regional
language, Telugu, fluently). He resides with his mother and seems to remain
in the area for some time. After having run farm equipment, he should have
no trouble steering a handcar.
Mr.V.Raja is a local boy who high school two years ago. Subsequently
he got a diploma from a local III and is currently employed as an assistant in
Savani Transport Company Vijaywada. His character references are
excellent. Mr.Raja is small, but he seems quick and was track star in high
school.
Question:
Who should be hired and why?
CONCLUSION
We have tried to give our best to the project. We have incorporated
all the relevant HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT principles
which could be associated with our topic on Recruitment and
Selection process.
We express our gratitude to our Respected Prof. Mr. Mukul
Joshi. We have dealt with this project very conscientiously and sincerely.
We hope to keep doing such interesting projects in the future.
Thank you.