Topic: A study of recruitment and selection process

in service sector
Synopsis
Introduction
Literature review
Objectives
Rationale
Methodology

Introduction
Recruitment forms the first stage in the process which continues with selection and
ceases with the placement of the candidate. It is the next step in the procurement
function, the first being the manpower planning. Recruitment makes it possible to
acquire the number and types of people necessary to ensure the continued
operation of the organization. Companies are now looking out for new ways of
giving themselves a competitive advantage. New product, new image& new
marketing idea are some of the ways this can be achieved but enlightened and
successful companies look towards their people to provide the leading edge.
Recruitment can be described as a process of attracting sufficient job applicants
who have the necessary potential and competencies to fit the job requirements. The
main purpose of recruitment is to get competent employees who will assist the
organisation in achieving its objectives (Schultz, 2001:226). A recruitment policy
guides the companys recruitment policy and generally includes the following:
Whether internal or external recruitment will take place;
Whether relatives of existing employees may be hired;
Whether part-time or any flexitime workers will be considered and
Whether people over the retirement age may be employed (Schultz, 2001:226).
Cascio (1998:172) suggests that the following criteria, related to discrimination,
affirmative action and employment equity, may also be included in company
policy on recruitment:
Passive non-discrimination, by treating all races and both sexes equally.
Pure diversity-based recruitment, which is a concerted effort not to exclude
applicants because of past or present discrimination; and
Hard quotas, which represents a mandate to hire specific numbers of women or
minority group members.

Literature review
Taylor, M. Susan; Bergmann, Thomas J. (1987) in their article emphasis that the
Organizational recruitment activities have been hypothesized to affect applicants
reactions to the organization, independent of effects exerted by the job attributes
associated with the position (e.g., location, salary, title). The authors utilized a co
relational design and a field setting in assessing applicants reactions to a five-
stage recruitment program. Henning Weiner (2008) examines an area of the
recruitment process in todays labor market from the point of view of the
employer. More specifically, an analysis is conducted with respect to the
recruitment channels that Swedish firms utilize in the present days. Lars Behrenz
(2001) gives a picture of the recruitment behavior of Swedish employers.
Employers mainly recruit personnel in order to expand a certain activity of their
firm. On an average the total recruitment process takes about a month. In first
round employers mainly look for job seekers with good education and experience.
During the job interview the employer search for persons with professional
knowledge, personal engagement and social competence. Stephen Taylor (2001)
investigated the effectiveness of different recruitment sources used by six
American companies for new employees. New workers who came through
referrals by current employees had longer tenure with the organizations than did
those recruited in other ways. Individual job performance and attitudes toward the
employer were largely unaffected by the source through which the employee was
recruited. Alexandra Rufini (2008) analyzed the recruitment strategies of firms
aiming to fill high job positions. They have considered four recruitment channels
actually used to hire high skilled workers: employee referrals, private agencies,
promotion and top notch Universities.
Erasmus, Van Wyk and Schenk (2000:291) describe recruitment as human
resource management activities aimed at attracting potential job seekers to fill a
specific vacant post. Candidates can be attracted internally or externally through
various recruitment methods (Arthur, 1998:47). Selection is a process of finding
the most suitable individual to fill a vacancy. It is aimed at determining whether
potential candidates have the necessary competencies to fill the vacancy and
choosing the best candidate. The competences of the applicant versus the
requirements of the job are taken into account during the selection process
(Erasmus et al, 2000:311).
According to Erasmus et al (2000:303), the recruitment process consists of 14
steps. Larger organisations usually follow all these steps, although not in the same
sequence. Since the process could be costly, small organisations might exclude
some of these steps.
Gorter, Nijkamp, and Rietveld, (1993) surveyed the Dutch labor market for
recruitment channels and its impact on the vacancy duration. The authors tackle the
topic within an original framework in which the choice of the search channel is the
result of the evaluation of expected costs and expected benefits connected with the
use of a certain search channel. The authors found that labor market segmentation
plays an important role in the choice of the recruitment channels; in particular,
advertising appears to maximize the difference between expected costs and
expected benefits when the vacancy concerned belongs to the primary segment of
the labor market, while when it belongs to the secondary segment the preferred
recruitment channel seems to be the labor exchange office. By using a piece-wise
constant hazard rate, they argued that from the analysis of the time pattern of the
hazard rate one may conclude that when advertising is used employers search non-
sequentially, while if the informal channel is used employers tend to search
sequentially. While Gorter and Ommeren (1994) pushed the analysis one step
further. The authors concluded that two main recruitment strategies can be
identified: a sequential use of search channels, in which the first search channel
chosen is usually the informal channel, and additional search channels are
activated one after the other; and an adding to the pool strategy in which the first
search channel chosen is basically advertisement and later one or more search
channels are activated in order to enrich the pool of available applicants.
Russo, Rietveld, Nijkamp, and Gorter (1994), concluded that the different impacts
on duration which can be shown to exist between the informal channel and
advertisement are basically due to the different characteristics of the applicants
generated by the channels considered. In fact, the informal channel tends to reach a
smaller population, whose productivity is less uncertain (pre-screening
hypothesis). On the other hand, the population reached by advertising is usually
broader; this leads to higher expected productivity levels but in the meantime it
may increase the likelihood of mistakes in recruitment. In order to avoid the latter
risk a more intensive selection may be required. The article on developing and
implementing competence based recruitment and selection by Farnham and
Stevens (2000) reported and evaluated how a traditional approach to recruitment
and selection in the social service department of West Sussex County Council was
superseded by a competency based approach. The authors outlined the results of an
internal research investigation that involved managers and personnel and training
specialists. The research participants acknowledged the limitations of the existing
recruitment and selection practices and recognized the need for a more competence
based approach.



Objective
To know the selection and recruitment process in service sector.
To identify factors affecting selection and recruitment process.
Rationale
This study assesses the impact of recruitment and selection practices in service
sector in Indore. The effectiveness of recruitment practices in the process of
procurement of the most suitable employee that would enable service industry to
achieve organisational objectives is pertinent to this research study. The present
inability of service industry to attract and engage best suitable employee with the
right knowledge skills and altitude to steer the day to day operation of the business,
high turnover of service industry employee and how best recruitment practices can
impact positively on organisation performance in the hospitality industry is the
major focus of this research.

Research Methodology
The study: A study of recruitment and selection process in service sector
The sample Size of the unit:
The primary data will be collected through the use of 150 structured questionnaire
dully filled by the people who work in service industry in Indore city.
Tools for data Collection:-
Both primary and secondary data is used in the research.
Data Collection Methods
To conduct the market research the data is collected by two sources.
Primary Data
The primary sources of data refer to the first hand information Primary data is
collected during the survey with the help of Questionnaires.
Secondary Data
Secondary data is one which already exists and is collected from the published
sources. The sources from which secondary data was collected are: Newspapers
and Magazines like Economic Times and Internet
Tools for data analysis:
Sample design: This is an exploratory research and based on convenience
sampling.
Statistical tools used: Percentages analysis in the form of pie-charts.