CHAPTER 4.

RECRUITMENT

A firm is only as good as the people it recruits. Recruitment and ultimately, selection,
is critical to every organization. Firms, therefore, must strive to attract the best people to
work for them. While there is an abundant supply of labor in the Philippines, interested
candidates must pass through the rigid process of recruitment and selection to get the
“best fit” people.
An organization that fails to attract the best qualified people will surely fail to meet
its corporate objectives. The firm's performance, then, depends on its ability to attract a
qualified workforce through effective recruitment strategies.
Recruitment is a strategic process that connects candidates who need what you
have to offer and who possess the skills and aptitude to accomplish your goals and
objectives. The results of your recruitment will directly impact several areas, including
morale, motivation, retention, quality of your products or services, and relationships with
your customers.
Recruitment remains one of the most critical functions of the human resource
department. A sloppy recruitment can result in untold costs to the corporation. There is
no available data of the average cost of recruitment in our country but it is easy to imagine
how enormous the cost of recruitment is if the employee fails to meet your standards of
performance or commits an infraction of you rules and regulations.
No matter what mode you adopt in attracting qualified applicants, whether through
advertising or other means, the cost starts from there. Then, consider the time your staff
spends in administering tests and conducting interview, orientation and training of a
selected candidate. If he fails, that's money down the drain. The cost is compounded
when a failed employee is discharged and files an illegal dismissal case.
The litigation cost becomes more intolerable if you lose the case and your company
is being ordered to reinstate him without loss of seniority, with back wages and sometimes,
with damages. Under our laws, even if you appeal, you cannot hold in abeyance the
reinstatement pending appeal. You are made to choose between actual reinstatement or
“payroll reinstatement,” i.e., pay him without reporting to work.
The risk in recruiting the suitable applicants poses a challenge to human resource
professionals. Recruitment, as you will later read in this chapter, is also being seen as a
public relations exercise. It provides the firm an opportunity to present a desirable public
image or brand, if you will, that you are a great company to work for.
New opportunities for recruitment are provided with advances in technology. New
modes include web recruiting, online applications and the use of computers to screen
applicants. Facebook, originally designed as a social networking platform is now used by
some notable companies on recruitment. Accounting firm Ernst & Young relies on the site
to recruit new hires, and Dell will soon do the same. To find the best candidates and hire
them, recruiters might also adapt to the new technologies as well.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
In trying to attract and hire the best qualified candidates, the whole activity is usually
called Recruitment, Selection and Placement. We might as well define each of this
process and the subsequent activity of training.
Recruitment is the process of identifying that the organization needs to employ
someone up to the point at which application forms have arrived at the organization.
Selection then consists of the processes involved in choosing from applicants a suitable
candidate to fill a post. Placement is the actual hiring which includes orientation and the
acculturation process. Training consists of a range of processes involved in making sure
that job holders have the right skills, knowledge and attitudes required to help the
organization to achieve its objectives.
ADOPTING A RECRUITMENT POLICY
It is important to adopt a Recruitment Policy that encompasses your firm's code of
conduct in attracting the best qualified candidates, the rules to be followed and the
standards to be reached. The policy should be directed to the following objectives:
1. Hire the right person; Conduct a wide and extensive search of the potential position
candidates;
2. Recruit staff who are compatible with the style of management and the culture of
your company;
3. Handle applications with due diligence, speed, and courtesy;
4. Hire from within and develop existing employees to qualify them for consideration
for promotion;
5. Make sure that no false or exaggerated claims are made in recruitment
announcements or help wanted advertisements; and
6. Place individuals in positions with responsibilities and train them to enhance their
career and personal development.
7. Place individuals in positions with responsibilities and train them to enhance their
career and personal development.
SAMPLE OF A RECRUITMENT POLICY STATEMENT
"Every vacant position shall be filled based upon a thorough job analysis regardless
of the level of the position. The goals and culture of the organization will be considered in
recruitment and selection processes.
Some departments or sections may use different media and processes of attracting
the best hire depending upon the best available under the circumstance provided that the
culture, values and standards of the company are observed. All managers and human
resource professionals should be properly trained in the proper conduct of interviews.
 Interested candidates whether invited or walk-in applicants must be accorded with
due respect, protected with confidentiality in their identity, attended to immediately on
their scheduled time of tests and/or interview. Those not chosen must be informed as soon
as possible either in person, by telephone or in writing and thanked for their interest in
joining the company. They must also be in- formed that should there be any vacancy in the
future that suits their qualifications, they will be considered if still interested.
Efforts must be exerted to search for qualified candidates from within. When no one
is qualified from within after speedy and diligent search, then and only then shall external
recruitment be conducted. (In a unionized company, where promotion from within is part
of the CBA, a statement may be made to the effect that "if there are two or more interested
applicants from within who are equally qualified as determined in their records and
company standards, the one who is more senior in years of employment, will be appointed
for the vacant position")
All interviewers must strive to sell the company, projecting its image as a great place
to work in. No exaggerated or false claims shall be made in job vacancy announcements
or classified advertisements. Nor shall job offers be made, direct or indirect, until all
prerequisites such as background checks, and the like, are done and a hiring decision is
approved by the Human Resource Department and the CEO.
Recruitment should be planned, implemented and evaluated to ensure that the best
qualified candidate is hired and provided the best opportunity for training and
development to enhance his personal career in the company."
NOTES ON THE POLICY OF ATTRACTING INTERNAL VERSUS EXTERNAL
APPLICANTS
Each organization should be flexible in adopting recruiting options to make sure the
position is filled when needed. As indicated above, depending upon the policy of the
company, recruitments may be sourced internally or externally. Each option has its own
advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Internal Recruitment
1. It is usually cheaper in terms of starting pay and faster to fill up internal vacancies.
Savings can be made since individuals with inside knowledge of how a business operates
will need shorter periods of training and time for "fitting in."
2. It improves employee's morale; it acts as an incentive to all staff to work harder within
the organization. From the company's point of view, the strengths and weaknesses of an
insider will have been assessed. It has potential then for a better success rate since the
track record of the employee is known. Internal employees are already attuned to the
culture of the organization.
3. The organization is unlikely to be disrupted by someone used to working with others in
the company.
4. Keeps proprietary and industry knowledge inside the organization.
Disadvantages
1. The management will have to replace the person who has been promoted, creating a
ripple effect - more job openings occur as employees are moved about.
2. Promoting from within may upset some inside the company thereby lowering the
morale of those not selected for the position.
3. Deprives the company from getting fresh views and new ways of doing things. Creates
negative internal competition for the position.
4. An insider may be less likely to make essential criticisms to get the company working
more effectively.
STAGES OF RECRUITMENT
There are several stages in recruitment.
 Determine whether a vacancy exists,
 Prepare Job Description and Person Identification;
 Media Announcement;
 Managing the Response;
 Short-listing;
 Arrange Interviews;
 Conduct the Interviews;
 Reference/Background Checks;
 Decision to Hire;
 Offer to Hire; and
 Appointment Action.
Determine Whether a Vacancy Exists
A vacancy may occur, in two ways:
(1) when an employee resigns, retires, dies, or is discharged from the service; or
(2) when a new position is created as a result of expansion, restructuring or re-
organization.
When a vacancy happens under number 2 above, it must be critically asked whether or
not there is a need for replacement. Can the tasks of the vacant position be distributed to
the remaining incumbents? Could this not be rendered redundant through restructuring,
reorganizing, automating, reengineering, or contract outsourcing?
Prepare Job Description and Person Specification
Job description has a number of purposes: for recruitment, job evaluation process,
for training programs where training is focused on the key elements of a job and how
employees can perform better in their jobs; and also, in performance management
process where an employee's performance is measured against the requirements of the
job set out in the job description.
It is principally used for recruitment as a guide on how a particular employee will fit
into the organization. It will therefore need to set out the title of the job, to whom the
employee is responsible, for whom the employee is responsible, and a simple job
description of the role and duties of the employee in the organization. It is a job indicator
for applicants for a job. It could also be used as a guideline for an employee and his
immediate superior as to his role within the organization.
Job descriptions come in many shapes and sizes depending upon the size and
complexity; of the organization and the purpose for which it is written. For a clerical
position, a simple version would suffice. For a supervisory or managerial position, a more
complex version is necessary.
Person specification goes beyond a mere job description. In addition, it highlights
the mental and physical attributes required of the job holder for example, a salesman’s
post is expected to show extrovert personality, aggressiveness, energy, tenacity and
persuasiveness.
Media Announcement
There are many possible avenues for advertising position vacancy. Depending upon
the size of the company, the importance of the position, the urgency, budgetary
constraints, media announcement would vary. The most common means are through:
1. Bulletin Boards
2. Word of mouth Professional journals such as PMAP's People Magazine, etc.
3. Employment agencies,
4. headhunters
5. Campus recruitment
6. Website job market
7. Job Fairs
8. Newspaper advertisements
Managing the Response
Announcement of vacancies through bulletin board or by word of mouth is the
easiest and fastest means of inviting interested parties to apply. To discourage those
obviously not qualified to apply, you should spell out not only the job specifications but
also the person specifications of the job.
Circulating your vacancies through professional publications PMAP's People
Magazine is another way of reaching out to interested applicants. Readership of these
publications may however be limited and the response may also be limited. Using this
type of media is good to target particular professions such as in human resource
management.
Employment agencies are good especially if you need temporary employees to fill
up positions where the incumbents are on long leaves such as maternity or sabbatical
leaves. It is also a favorite avenue for filling up seasonal needs for more manpower.
Headhunters can be availed of for top managerial positions or jobs that require highly
specialized skills such as SAP-enabled technical/professional people. These are the
types of people who are not looking for Jobs but can be searched and enticed by
headhunters to join your organization for a certain finder's fee which ranges from 15% to
25% of the gross annual pay you offer to a selected candidate.
Campus recruitment is the most important source of recruits for entry-level
professional/technical vacancies. Well- known firms like Procter and Gamble and SGV try
to attract talented graduates from reputable colleges and universities to join their
organizations. Big law firms such as SYCIP law; ACCRALAW; Castillo, Lagman, Tan,
Pantaleon & Associates, to name a few, vie for top graduates from reputable law schools
to work in their law firms.
The use of computer networks to advertise job vacancies is beginning to be utilized
by some companies. One of the most actively searched sites is the Job Search of the
Department of Labor and Employment. Conducting or participating in Job Fairs is another
popular way of attracting skilled staff. Fast food and business process outsourcing
companies are notably active in utilizing this medium.
Advertising in newspapers is the most popular way to recruit personnel even though
they generate less desirable recruits than the other modes. But the medium reaches a
wider swath of applicants as job seekers generally read through Classified Ads of
newspapers with wide circulations such as the Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer,
and The Philippine Star. You just have to spend some time in processing the huge number
of applicants and separate the many obviously not qualified.

Short-listing
Separating the "chaff from the wheat" or discarding those who are not qualified is
probably the easiest work in the whole process of recruitment. The idea is not to lose your
precious time and those of the other managers in interviewing those who do not meet the
basic requirements. Once the short-list is done, it may be the most appropriate time to do
a reference and background check. The advantage is, you may still be able to pare down
the list to the barest mini- mum by weeding out those who have negative results in the
reference and/or background check.
Arrange Interviews
Once the applicant pool has been screened and individuals to be considered are
identified, interviews should be arranged with those candidates. The following steps may
be observed:
1. Arrange and confirm dates and times with candidates.
2. Develop the interview schedule and confirm with all individuals who will be involved in
the interview process. Provide a final copy of the schedule dates and time to all
interviewers. Asking candidates to come on time and making them wait for the
interviewers create a negative image to the company.
3. Provide interviewers with a Job description and person specification of the job. Ensure
that all interviewers are trained in the techniques of the interview.

4. Develop an evaluation tool for all interviewers to use upon completion of the interview.
5. Conducting the Interview (This will be discussed in the next chapter).
Reference/Background Checks
Reference and background checks should be made only for those candidates who
have advanced to the finalist stage and who are under serious consideration for the job.
Courtesy demands that the candidates should be informed on the intention of the
company to conduct reference/background check of them. Their express assent protects
you from later charge of invasion of their privacy.
One of the most crucial but often neglected steps in the recruitment process is
reference/background checking. Reference checking can be a frustrating exercise that
sometimes yields little useful information about a candidate. In the first place, persons
cited as reference by a candidate are either his friends, relatives or somebody he knows
of some prominence or rank in business, academe or society who would normally give
good remarks about the candidate. Prudent but meticulous open-ended and follow up
questions may reveal important strengths and shortcomings of the candidate that would
help you in deciding whether or not he is the candidate you are looking for.
On background checks, the author in averse to the practice of sending a prepared
stereotyped questionnaire with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Whether it is a
previous school or former employer of the candidate, the respondent may just If your letter
request is not thrown into the waste basket lossly give excellent or good ratings on your
forced choice answers to the questionnaire. If the respondent is sincere enough to provide
you with the right answers, he may be reluctant to do so for fear that he could be at the
receiving end of a libel case.
The best way is to call up the former employer, identify yourself, and state that the
information provided about the candidate will remain confidential and would help in
making your hiring decision. If the respondent at the end of the line, gives glowing praises
about the candidate, ask the final question: "If there's vacancy in your firm and the
candidate applies, would you re-hire him?" If there's a long pause, and the answer is 'yes'
but it's not spontaneous, don't hire the guy. The respondent is probably hiding from you
something unpleasant about the candidate.
Offer to Hire
Once the candidate is chosen, the job will be offered to him. Important issues that should
be addressed in the job offer are:
1. Starting pay, salary progression;
2. Starting date;
3. Tenure of the contract, whether temporary, casual, for fixed term or period,
probationary or regular;
4. Benefits; and
5. Any other points of negotiation.
The candidate should be given time to either accept or reject the offer. You should not,
however, compromise the availability of other candidates of choices declines the offer or
ask for so much time to make a decision.
Once the candidate of choice accepted the position, the written appointment shall be
made confirming the offer and for the candidate to accept and sign his conformity on the
space provided in the letter. All other candidates should be notified immediately. They
should be informed of the closure to the search and thanked for their interest in the
position. It is proper etiquette to notify those candidates who were interviewed either by
telephone, letter or in person.
USING A COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK
This chapter would not be complete without covering the emergent trend of
competency- based selection. The conventional person specification methodology in
addition to the job description is good in providing the basis in the recruitment process.
But it is not adequate enough in making a short-list selection.
How do job competencies differ from job descriptions? Job descriptions typically list
the tasks or functions and responsibilities of the job whereas competencies list the
abilities needed to conduct those tasks or functions.
Although through the adroit interviewing techniques, the soft skills could be ferreted
out, the conventional framework fails to focus on the elements that are likely, in the end,
to provide the competencies that applicants will bring to the job – not what they have done
and hard skills they possess but how they do them as measured in terms of outputs and
standards of performance.
A competency Interview (also referred to as a situational, behavioral competency-
based Interview) is a style of interviewing often used to evaluate a candidate's
competence, particular when it is hard to select on the basis technical merit: for example,
for a particular graduate scheme or graduate Job where relevant experience is less
Important or not required. However, increasingly, companies are using competency-
based interview as part of the selection process for experienced recruitment, as it can
give valuable insights into an individual's preferred style of working. It also helps predict
behaviors in future situations.
Conventional job interviews may focus on questions relating to an applicant's past
or previous industry experience, but this is an ineffective tool for graduate level candidates
who are not expected to have any former experience in the industry they wish to work in.
Questions about industry experience will not be part of a competency interview.
Instead, interviewers will pose questions that ask candidates to demonstrate that they
have a particular skill or a "key competency" the firm is looking for. Candidates will be
asked to do this using situational examples from their life experiences, to illustrate their
personality, skill set and individual competencies to the interviewer.
Employers typically use some of the following as their key competencies:
1. Teamwork
2. Responsibility
3. Commitment to career
4. Commercial awareness
5. Career motivation
6. Decision making
7. Communication
8. Leadership
9. Trustworthiness and Ethics
10. Results orientation
11. Problem solving
12. Organization
Competency is a personal characteristic (skill, knowledge, trait, values) that drives
behavior leading to outstanding performance. An example of a competency is "Creativity,"
defined as the ability to develop new ideas and unique and novel solutions to problems.
A person demonstrating this competency would probably be able to:
 Challenge current procedures to develop other alternatives
 Seek ways to improve all aspects of the job
 Brainstorm to develop suggestions and new ideas
 Develop several approaches or solutions to a problem
For all types of jobs, the organization will have a set of organizational or 'core'
competencies which apply to all positions. These are usually linked to the organization's
core values and include such areas as customer care, flexibility, effective communications
and attention to quality.
There are, however, specific or technical competencies applicable to certain jobs or
occupations. For each of these competencies, there will be levels that will set the degree
of depth of importance that it may apply to each position. Three levels, for instance, starts
from (1) Not yet mastered; (2) Some Mastery; (3) Mastered.
After having established the.com- potency framework, the final stage is to draw up a
competency profile for each position, set out the competencies required and the level is
desired.
SUMMARY
Recruitment is a key strategic activity that can spell the difference between success and
failure of the company. Finding the best people who can fit within your culture and
contribute within your organization is a challenge and an opportunity that should not be
left without any planning.
The key is to build a pool of talents before you need it. You must have your own
Recruitment Policy that will guide everyone in your company in how to at- tract talented
people.
There are various steps that you must be aware of in recruiting people. Hiring from within
is good policy but you must weigh it against the advantages of sometimes getting fresh
recruits from outside with new ideas of improving the operations of your company.
Competency-based interview is an emerging trend used especially if you are interviewing
college graduates who have no experience in actual jobs. It is not possible to assess their
suitability for a job role based upon their CV alone. This has led to the development of
competency-based interviews becoming a prime way to interview inexperienced graduate
applicants.
It would not suffice to depend only on your job descriptions and person specifications as
a basis of your recruitment. An auditor that you are looking for may be a licensed Certified
Public Accountant, well-versed in accounting and auditing procedures. Those are "hard
skills" that are easy to check and verify. The "soft skills" are competency-based. They are
subjective, qualitative, and behavioral, characteristics needed to succeed in a particular
job as auditor. They are the traits that underlie outstanding or superior performance and
therefore should not be ignored in the recruitment process.