Recruitment
- Meaning of recruitment
- Purpose of recruitment
- Sources of candidates for recruitment
- Methods of employee recruitment
- Challenges of recruitment
- Emerging issues and trends in employee recruitment
RECRUITMENT
Recruitment and selection are major functions of the Human Resource department and recruitment process is the first step towards creating the competitive strength and the strategic advantage for organisations.
MEANING OF RECRUITMENT
According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”. Recruitment is the activity that links the employers and the job seekers. A few definitions of recruitment are:
• A process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applications from which new employees are selected.
• It is the process to discover sources of manpower to meet the requirement of staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.
Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the selection, which helps create a pool of prospective employees for the organization so that the management can select the right candidate for the right job from this pool. The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process. Recruitment is a continuous process wherethe firm attempts to develop a pool of qualified applicants for the future human resources needs even though specific vacancies do not exist. Usually, the recruitment process starts when a manger initiates an employee requisition for a specific vacancy or an anticipated vacancy. Recruitment needs are of three types: planned i.e. the needs arising from changes in organization and retirement policy, anticipated needs which are those movements in personnel that an organization can predict studying trends in internal and external environment and unexpected which include resignation, deaths, accidents, illness give rise to unexpected needs.
FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT POLICY
An organizations recruitment factor highly depends on;
• Organizational objectives and image
• Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors.
• Government policies on reservations.
• Preferred sources of recruitment.
• Need of the organization.
• Recruitment costs and implications.
IMPORTANCE OF RECRUITMENT
Recruitment is an essential process in that it;
• Attract and encourage more and more candidates to apply in the organization.
• Create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organization.
• Determine present and future requirements of the organization in conjunction with its personnel planning and job analysis activities.
• Links the employers with the employees.
• Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.
• Help increase the success rate of selection process decreasing number of visibly under qualified or overqualified job applicants.
• Help reduce the probability that job applicants once recruited and selected will leave the organization only after a short period of time.
• Ensures the organizations legal and social obligations regarding the composition of its workforce.
• Is the first step in identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates
• Increase organization and individual effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job applicants.
COMPONENTS OF THE RECRUITMENT POLICY
A good recruitment policy should include;
• The general recruitment policies and terms of the organization
• Recruitment services of consultants where applicable
• Recruitment of temporary
• Unique recruitment situations
• The selection process
• The job descriptions
• The terms and conditions of the employment
A recruitment policy of an organisation should be such that:
• It should focus on recruiting the best potential people.
• Ensures that every applicant and employee is treated equally with dignity and respect.
• Based on an unbiased policy.
• Aids and encourages employees in realizing their full potential.
• Transparent, task oriented and merit based selection.
• Weightage during selection given to factors that suit organization needs.
• Optimization of manpower at the time of selection process.
• Defines the competent authority to approve each selection.
• Abides relevant public policy and legislation on hiring and employment relationship.
• Integrates employee needs with the organizational needs.
SOURCES OF CANDINDATES FOR RECRUITMENT
Available sources of recruitment can be divided into two broad categories.
A) Internal sources of recruitment
They include the companies present employed who can be transferred and promoted. It is an effective way of recruiting managers.
B) External sources of recruitment
These are employees who are external to the organization.
(A) INTERNAL SOURCES
i. Transfers
Transfer of an employee in an organization is an effective way of recruitment to meet employee demands where there is a shortage.
Transfers may be due to:-
• Avoiding retrenchment in places where there are excess employees.
• Rotating employees between convenient and not so convenient workplaces.
• Providing valid experiences to employees so as to train and develop them.
Advantages
a. Increase in productivity of the organization.
b. Improvement of skills of the employees.
c. Greater job satisfaction.
d. Greater motivation due to avoidance of monotony.
ii. Promotions
This is appointing of an employee to a position of responsibility or authority.
Advantages
a) Keeps employees satisfied due to the recognition that is carried by being senior.
b) It enables employees to know how about their future job prospects.
Disadvantages
• Employees may be unsure about who may be placed for promotion (uncertainty).
• It’s not easy to device a system to determine who is qualified to be promoted.
• Can cause conflict.
iii) Present employees
In the event that is a vacancy in an organization, employees may be asked to recommend their friends and relatives for employment.
Advantages
It motivates employees since they are recognized.
It ensures that competent and sincere people are recruited.
Disadvantages
It may promote favoritism and nepotism. Employees may be recruited not because they are suitable for the job but because they have the right contacts.
ADVANTAGES OF INTERNAL SOURCES
a. They increase morale because employees know that they stand a chance for promotion. This makes them take their work seriously and put effort to acquire additional qualifications relevant for higher positions.
b. There is better selection of employees since management has current information about the capability experience, skills, attitudes and behavior of each employee.
c. It is economical because time and money spent on advertisements and tests is saved. Also this employee may not need additional training to prepare him for the job since they are already experienced.
d. Loyalty – the present employees already know the company and are likely to develop when promoted.
e. It provides a sense of security in continuity of employment.
DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNAL SOURCES
1. Unsuitable persons may be promoted who may harm the organization in the long-run.
2. It can create a feeling of discontentment and anger among those who are not promoted.
3. It prevents the entry of young, highly qualified and energetic people in an organization.
4. It may not be possible to recruit internally for certain key positions if suitable people are not available.
B. EXTERNAL SOURCES
1. Educational Institutions
Recruitment for junior supervisory positions and for positions which require technical knowledge and skills can be made from universities, colleges & polytechnics.
2. Advertisements
This is done through the media or internet. The content of each advertisement is chosen by the human resource. Though it’s a costly method it attracts a large number of candidates from all over the country.
3. HR Consultancy
A consultancy firm acts as an intermediary between an applicant and the organization. It is a specialized agency which advertises on behalf of the organization. The applications are then passed on the employers. Sometimes, they may select the candidates for the organization.
4. Jobbers and contractors
They are used to recruit unskilled workers and casual vacancies at factories. They are normally given a short notice and a small fee to provide these people. They normally have close links with towns and villages which are rich sources of workers.
5. Field trips
An organization may send out teams of experts to different places where the kinds of employees needed may be found. Wide publicity is given of the date, venue and time.
6. Unsolicited applications -These are people who presume that there could be a vacancy in an organization and send an application.
7. Miscellaneous sources
These are sources that can be used under exceptional circumstances and for a short period. They include:
• Giving extension to existing employees after reaching the age of retirement.
• Appointment of retired officers from the civil service or public organizations.
ADVANTAGES OF EXTERNAL SOURCES
a) It enables an organization to choose employees from a large number of applicants.
b) External sources attract employees with new ideas and approaches who are profitable to an organization.
DISADVANTAGES OF EXTERNAL SOURCES
a. Costly and time consuming
b. Too much emphasis on external sources of employees can demotivate existing staff.
c. Problems can occur when newly appointed managers from outside begin working with internal staff. They may not get along with the current staff.
APPROPRIATENESS OF ALTERNATIVE SOURCES
Each source may be tested on the following:
a) Time interval between receiving applications and placement of candidates
b) The cost involved
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
Recruitment in organisations can be viewed as a systematic process. It has a number of stages, each of which needs to be completed for the process to be a success. This process involves:
1. Defining the vacancy- Recruitment is likely to be necessary when either an existing employee leaves or a new position is created. Whatever the reason, though, there should initially be an assessment of whether there really is a vacancy or whether the work could be done in some other way. Reorganization of work or training could solve the problem, and there is also the possibility of overtime or internal secondment to cover the work. Where it is determined that a vacancy does exist, recruitment and selection procedures are followed e.g. internal or external recruitment.
2. Job Analysis
3. Job Descriptions
4. Job Specification
5. Advertise in suitable sources of recruitment
6. Receive applications and pre-select candidates
7. Hold interviews (and/or other selection method)
8. Make the job offer
9. Implement an induction programme
CHALLENGES/DIFFICULTIES OF RECRUITMENT
• Image of the organization
• Nature of the job e.g. good working conditions, attractive salary, promotion opportunities will attract and vice versa.
• Union demands- unions can demand the manner in which selection of candidates is done.
• Government- may prevent recruitment of certain persons e.g. able bodied persons.
• Policies of the organization e.g. policy to only recruit internally.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
A Recruitment Process is an organization-specific model of how the sourcing of new employees is undertaken. Typically the ownership of the recruitment process resides within the Human Resources function, although again this may differ depending on the specific organizational structure. A recruitment process can be broken down into respective parts. Whilst the naming and exact process steps are unique to an organization, a typical recruiting process may commence with the identification of a vacancy, then the preparation of a job description, database sourcing, role marketing, response management, short-listing, interviews, reference checking, and selection.
In situations where multiple new jobs are created and recruited for the first time, a job analysis and/or in some cases a task analysis might be undertaken to document the actual and intended requirements of the job. From these the relevant information is captured in such documents as job descriptions and job specifications. Often a company will already have job descriptions that represent a historical collection of tasks performed. Where already drawn up, these documents need to be reviewed or updated to reflect present day requirements. Prior to initiating the recruitment stages a person specification should be finalized to provide the recruiters commissioned with the requirements and objectives of the project.
The next step after job analysis is Sourcing. This is the use of one or more strategies to attract or identify candidates to fill job vacancies. It may involve internal and/or external advertising, using appropriate media, such as local or national newspapers, specialist recruitment media, professional publications, window advertisements, job centers, or in a variety of ways via the internet. Alternatively, employers may use recruitment consultancies or agencies to find otherwise scarce candidates who may be content in their current positions and are not actively looking to move companies. This initial research for so-called passive candidates, also called name generation, results in getting contact information of potential candidates who can then be contacted discreetly to be screened and approached.
Suitability for a job is typically assessed in a process called screening looking for relevant skills, knowledge, aptitude, qualifications and educational or job related experience. These can be determined via: screening résumés (also known as CVs); applications. In many countries, employers are legally mandated to ensure their screening and selection processes meet equal opportunity and ethical standards.
EMERGING ISSUES AND TRENDS IN RECRUITMENT
The recruiting industry is growing and evolving. Much of the structure of recruiting firms now mirrors the “look and feel” of a firm in 1975. They have added PC’s, job boards, LinkedIn, etc., yet most still use the same tired structure and processes as the industry used decades ago.
On the other hand, some recruiters have gone one-hundred-eighty degrees the other way attempting to do all their business via email, job boards, and LinkedIn without really trying to build deep personal relationships with their clients and candidates.
One the main trends in recruitment is the use of technology. Recruiters are using modern technologies such as e-mails, websites, Skype etc. to recruit candidates. Outsourcing recruitment services has also significantly gone up because most organizations are trying to be strategically dealing with their co-functions/ objectives. Another emerging issue is that the generation Yare just entering the work force in largest quantities and these are mostly in their twenties and have different perspectives about the jobs. With majority being this generation, there are fewer generation X (30 years and above) in the job market resulting to shortages in of candidates in mid-management.
Technology for managing the recruitment process which is referred to as a tracking system is widely in use nowadays. The tracking systems are sites are linked to the careers section of a company website. When perusing the Internet, many job seekers prefer to learn more about the company first, before performing a job search through the careers section. An applicant tracking system is configured according to the employer needs. The simplest kinds merely collect basic information about the applicant and permit the applicant to cut and paste or upload a resume. More sophisticated systems match the resume qualifications to specific jobs in the database and suggest matches for which the applicant may want to consider. The recruiter can then access the applicant information, based on keyword searches and qualifications to determine which applicants would possibly qualify as candidates.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is recruitment?
2. Outline the importance of recruitment in an organization
3. Explain five factors that influence recruitment policy in an organization
4. Discuss the external and internal sources of recruitments candidates in an organization
5. Discuss the impact of technology on recruitment