Recruitment

The process of generating a pool of qualified candidates for a particular job. It is the first step in
hiring process.

Example: Production Engineer

Recruitment Process
1. Position opens
2. Concerned department (Production) manager sends a requisition form to HR
department.
3. When HR receives this form, the recruitment process starts.
4. HR decides recruitment source.
5. HR informs potential candidates to apply
6. People send Curriculum Vitae / Resumes
7. Short list the qualified candidates (Job Description)
8. Now you have a pool of qualified candidates (e.g. 15)

The recruitment & selection process includes analyzing the requirements of a job, attracting
employees to that job, screening and selecting applicants, hiring, and integrating the new
employee into the organization

Recruitment is a positive process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them
to apply for the jobs in the organization.

In simple words, the term recruitment refers to discovering the source from where potential
employees may be selected.

Goals of Recruitment
 To attract qualified candidates
 Discourage the unqualified candidates

Recruitment Constraints
 Image of organization
o Positive
 Salary
 Benefits
 Potential
 Growth of organization
 Growth of Individual (Career Path)
 Respect
o Negative
 Declining Industry
 Poor working environment
  Indifference to workers
o Others
 Attractiveness of Job
 Boring
 Hazardous
 Low Compensation
 No Potential
 Anxiety Creating – Stress
 Internal Organizational Policies
o Promote from within
 Government Influence
 Recruiting cost
 Global Issues
o Host Country
o National
o Expats
o Native country
 Culture of Organization

 Labour Market Components

o Labour Force Population
o Applicant Population
o Applicant Pool
o Selected Individuals

 Labour Market and Recruiting Issues

o Geographic
 Local
 Regional
 National
 International
o Industry & Occupational
 KSAs
o Educational & Technical Qualifications

 Recruitment Needs
o Planned
o Unexpected
o Anticipated

 Steps in Recruitment Process:

  Elements of Recruitment
 Factors affecting recruitment policy
 Recruitment Organization
o Centralized
o De-Centralized

 Sources of Recruitment
o External Sources
o Internal Sources

 Methods of Recruitment
 Recruitment Process

Recruitment Needs
Planned:
Arises from changes in organization and retirement policy.

Unexpected:
Arises during resignations, deaths, accidents and illness.

Anticipated:
Refers to those movements in personnel which an organization can predict by studying trends
in the internal and external environments.

Steps in Recruitment Process:

1. Requisitions contains the details about the positions to be filled, no. of persons to be
recruited, etc.
2. Developing and location of sources, i.e both internal and external.
3. Communicating the information of the organization to acquire prospective employees.
4. Encouraging the identified candidates to apply for the job.
5. Managing the application process.
6. Screening and short listing
7. Analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment process by candidate
progression.
Recruitment Organization
 Centralized
 De-Centralized

Centralized recruitment
Under this personnel department at the head office performs all the functions of
recruitment

Decentralized recruitment
Under this branch office staff performs all the functions of recruitment

Advantages of Centralized Rec:

 It reduces the administrative cost by consolidating all recruitment activities at one place
 It helps in better utilization of specialists
 It ensures uniformity in recruitment and selection of all types of employees
 It facilitates interchangeability of staff between different units/zones
 It relieves the line executives of the recruitment problem thereby enabling them to
concentrate on their operational activities
 It tends to reduce favoritism in recruitment and makes the recruitment process more
scientific

Disadvantages :
 There is delay in recruitment as operating units cannot recruit staff as and when
required
 The central office may not be fully familiar with job requirements of different units and
the most suitable sources for the required staff
 Recruitment is not flexible because operating units lose control over the recruitment
process

Recruitment Sources

Internal Recruitment
A) Transfers & Promotions: Transfers implies shifting of an employee from
one job to another without any change of responsibilities, and on the other hand
Promotion refers to shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher status,
responsibilities and pay.
B) Talent Inventories
C) Retired and retrenched employees who want to return to company may
be hired.
D) Dependents and relatives of deceased and disabled employees.
E) Internal Advertisements ( emails, newsletters, forms )
F) Word of Mouth
 G) Internal Employee Referrals
H) Present temporary/contract employees to permanent positions
I) Former employees for part time / freelancer / work at home.

Merits
 Morale and motivation of employees improves.
 Promotes loyalty and commitment amongst employees due to sense of job security
and advancements.
 Chances of proper selection high
 Present employees familiar with organization surroundings.
 Time and expenditure for recruitment reduced
 Know candidates better
 No trainings required

De-merits
 Fails to bring in fresh blood into organization.
 Promotion based on seniority.
 Choice in selection is restricted.
 All vacancies cannot be filled from within organization.
 Not available to newly established enterprise.
 Have to train internal employees for new technologies or comcept

External Sources
External sources of recruitment lie outside the organizations This include:

A) Press Advertising:
Advertisements in newspapers and journals. Has wide reach. This method can be used for
technical, clerical and managerial jobs.

Job Ad: AIDA Model (Attractiveness, Interest, Desire, Action)

Blind Box Ads: Why

a. Low Profile
b. Bad Reputation
c. Market Testing

B) Recruiting Agencies:
These are basically various private consultancy firms like Price Waterhouse Coopers,
ABC group which recruit candidates on behalf of the client companies by charging a fee.
 C) Educational Institutions:
Various companies visit many colleges which have made arrangements for campus interviews
and recruit candidates.
o Internships
o Job Fairs
o Graduate Directory

D) Employment exchanges:
These exchanges provide information about job vacancies to jobseekers. These can be private
and also government exchanges.

E) Casual callers:
Many candidates visit the company by themselves and give interviews. The companies may not
need them presently but can call them anytime in future when there are vacancies.

F) Labor contractors:
Manual workers recruited through contractors who maintain close relations with such labors.
Basically seen in construction jobs.

G) Gate recruitment:
In this method a notice on the notice board of the company specifying job details of job
vacancies can be put. This method is also called direct recruitment

H) Trade Unions Recommendations:

Employees recruited through recommendations by trade unions.

I) Job Portals (Monster, Rozee etc.)

J) Online Professional Networks (LinkedIn)

K) Social Media Networks (Facebook etc.)
L) External Employee Referrals
M) Walk In
N) Foreign Nationals
O) Acquisitions & Mergers
P) Employer Branding
Q) Internships

Merits
 People having requisite skill, education and straining can be recruited.
 Best selection made irrespective of cast, creed, religion, sex.
 Helps to bring new blood
 Expertise and experience from other organization can be bought.
 “never dries up”. Applicable to new firms as well.
  Can handle rapid growth
 Shakeup the organizations

Demerits
 Time consuming and expensive
 Hiring Mistake
 Employees unfamiliar with organization and its orientation.
 If higher level jobs are filled from external sources, motivation and loyalty of existing
staff effected.

METHODS OF RECRUITMENT
 Direct Methods:
 Indirect method
 Third party methods:

1. Direct Method:
In this method, the representatives of the organisation are sent to the potential candidates in
the educational and training institutes. They establish contacts with the candidates seeking
jobs. These representatives work in cooperation with placement cells in the institutions
Persons pursuing management; engineering, medical etc. programmes are mostly picked up in
this manner.

Sometimes, some employer firms establish direct contact with the professors and solicit
informa-tion about students with excellent academic records. Sending the recruiter to the
conventions, semi-nars, setting up exhibits at fairs and using mobile office to go to the
desired centers are some other methods used to establish direct contact with the job seekers.

2. Indirect Methods:
Indirect methods include advertisements in news papers, on the radio and television, in
professional journals, technical magazines etc.

This method is useful when:

(i) Organisation does not find suitable candidates to be promoted to fill up the higher posts

(ii) When the organisation wants to reach out to a vast territory, and

(iii) When organisation wants to fill up scientific, professional and technical posts.
The experience suggests that the higher the position to be filled up in the organisation, or the
skill sought by the more sophisticated one, the more widely dispersed advertisement is likely to
be used to reach to many suitable candidates.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Sometimes, many organisations go for what is referred to as blind advertisement in which only
P.O. Box No. is given and the identity of the organisation is not disclosed. However,
organisations with regional or national repute do not usually use blind advertisements for
obvious reasons.

While placing an advertisement to reach to the potential candidates, the following three points
need to be borne in mind:

i. First, to visualise the type of the applicant one is trying to recruit.

ii. Second, to write out a list of the advantages the job will offer

iii. Third, to decide where to run the advertisement, i.e., newspaper with
local, nation-wide and international reach or circulation.

3. Third Party Methods:

These include the use of private employment agencies, management consultants, professional
bodies / associations, employee referral/recommendations, voluntary organisations, trade
unions, data banks, labour contractors etc., to establish contact with the job- seekers.

Now, a question arises: which particular method is to be used to recruit employees in the
organisation? The answer to it is that it will depend on the policy of the particular firm, the
position of the labour supply, the Government regulations in this regard and agreements with
labour organisations. Notwithstanding, the best recruitment method is to look first within the
organisation.

Alternatives to Recruitment
 Overtime
 Temporary / part time work
 Third Party Outsourcing