Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment
After identifying the number and type of personnel required in any organisation by the process of manpower planning and job analysis, next comes the process of recruitment and selection. Both recruitment and selection are integrated and interrelated terms. Recruitment involves location of such personnel motivating them to offer their candidature and selection involves selecting the suitable candidates and rejecting the unfit ones
Definitions
Recruitment is the process of locating, identifying and attracting capable applicants.
-Taylor
Recruitment is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization.
-Flippo
Recruitment is 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 effective working force.
-Dale Yoder
Recruitment means attracting candidates, which is primarily a matter of identifying, evaluating and using the most appropriate source of applicants.
-Michael Armstrong
Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for the employment. The process begins when new results are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.
-Werther and Davis
Features of Recruitment
- It is positive act since it attempts to encourage potential applicants to seek jobs in the firm.
- Recruitment is a process or a series of activities rather than a single act or event. The activities in this process are described under the next
- The basic purpose of recruitment is to locate the sources of people required to meet job requirements and attracting such people to offer themselves for employment in the
- It represents the first contact that an organization has with its potential employees.
- It aims to discover and determine the sources of manpower to be utilized in tune with the strategic goals of the organization.
- Recruitment is a pervasive function as all organisations engage in recruiting activity. But the volume and nature of recruitment varies with the size, nature and environment of the particular
- Recruitment is a two-way process. It takes a recruiter and a recruitee. Just as the recruiter has a choice whom to recruit or not, Similarly the prospective employee can choose for which organisation to apply for a job.
- Recruitment is a complex job because too many factors affect it, e.g., image of the organisation, nature of jobs offered, organisational policies, working conditions and compensation levels in the organisation, rate of growth of the organisation, past recruitment record, employment conditions in the community, trade union labour laws, Government policies (e.g. reservation (or SC/ST). Most of these factors serve as constraints restricting the freedom of management in recruitment.
Recruitment Process
The recruitment process consists of the following steps:
- Recruitment process generally begins when the human resource department receives requisitions for recruitment from any department of the company. The human resource requisitions contain details about the position to be filled, number of persons to be recruited, the duties to be performed, qualifications required from the candidate, terms and conditions of employment and the time by which the person should be available for appointment. etc
- Locating and developing the sources of required number and type of employees.
- Identifying the prospective employees with required characteristics.
- Communicating the information about the organisation, the job and the terms and conditions of service.
- Encouraging the identified candidates to apply for jobs in the organisation.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment process.
Sources of Recruitment
Various sources of recruitment may be classified into two broad categories. namely internal sources and external sources.
Internal Sources
Internal sources consist of the following:
- Present employees
Permanent, temporary and casual employees already on the pay of the organisation are a good source. Vacancies may be filled up from such employees through promotions, transfers, upgrading and even demotion. Transfer implies shifting of an employee from one job to another without any major change in the status and responsibilities of the employee. On the other hand, promotion refers to shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher status, responsibilities and pay.
- Former Employees
Former employees are also an internal source of applicants. Some retired employee may be willing to come back to work on a part-time basis or may recommend someone who would be interested in working for the company.
- Employee Recommendations
Personnel may be employed on some special recommendations from employee side.
Internal sources have the following merits:
i. Morale and motivation of employees improve when they are assured that they would be preferred in filling up vacancies at higher A sense of security is created among employees.
ii. Suitability of existing employees can judged better as record of their qualifications and performance is already available in the organisation. Chances of proper selection are higher.
iii. It promotes loyalty and commitment among employees due to sense of job security and opportunities for Stability of employment improved.
iv. Present employees are already familiar with the organisation and its policles. Therefore, time and costs of orientation and training are
v. The time and expenditure of recruitment are reduced as there is little need for advertising vacancies, or arranging rigorous tests and
vi. Relations with trade unions remain good because unions prefer internal recruitment particularly through
vii. Filling of higher level jobs through promotions within the organisation helps to retain talented and ambitious Labour turnover is reduced.
Internal sources have the following demerits:
i. It may lead to inbreeding. It discourages entry of talented people, available outside the organization.
ii. The organization is forced to select candidates from a limited pool. It may have to sacrifice quality and settle for less qualified candidates.
iii. Promotions are based on length of service rather than merit, may prove to be blessing for inefficient candidates.They do not work hard and prove their worth.
iv. This source of recruitment is not available to a newly established enterprise.
v. Recruitment from within may lead to infighting among employees aspiring for limited, higher level positions in an organization.
External Sources of Recruitment
External sources of recruitment lie outside the organisation.
These are as follows:
a) Educational and Training Institutions.
Various institutes like IIMs, IITs, engineering colleges, medical colleges, ITIs and universities are a good source for recruiting well-qualified executives, engineers, medical staff, pharmacists, chemists, etc. They provide facilities for campus interviews and placement. Good institutions have placement cells/officers to serve as liaison between the employers and the students. This source is known as Campus Recruitment . They are hired as soon as they graduate. Group offers are also a new trend at B-schools.
b) Executive Search Agencies or Placement Agents or Head hunters.
Several private consultancy firms perform recruiting function on behalf of client companies by charging fee. These agencies are particularly suitable for recruitment of executives and specialists. They perform all the functions of recruitment and selection so that the client is relieved of this burden. But the cost of recruitment through these agencies is quite high.
c) Employment Exchanges
Government of India has established public employment exchanges throughout the country. These exchanges provide information about job vacancies to the job seekers and help employers in identifying Suitable candidates. They contain a data bank of candidates for different types of jobs. Whenever they get requisition/notice from employers, the concerned candidates are informed. A list of such persons is also sent to the employer. The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act,1959 makes it obligatory for both public sector and private sector enterprises to fill certain types vacancies through employment exchanges.
d) Casual Callers
Due to widespread unemployment in the country, many jobseekers visit the offices of well-known companies on their own. Such callers are generally considered a nuisance to the daily work routine of the enterprise. But a waiting list of such unsolicited visitors can be prepared to fill temporary and lower level jobs. It is a very inexpensive source of recruitment.
e) Labour Contractors
Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain close links with the sources of such workers. This source is often used to recruit labour for construction jobs. The disadvantage of this source is that when the contractor leaves the organisation, people employed through him also go.
f) Gate Recruitment
Unskilled workers may be recruited at the factory gate. In some industries, like jute, a large number of workers work as badli or substitute workers. These may be employed whenever a permanent worker is absent. More efficient among these badli workers may be recruited to fill permanent vacancies . A notice on the notice board of the company specifying the details of job vacancies can be put. Such recruitment is called direct recruitment. It is very economical and used mainly for unskilled and casual job vacancies. On the spot recruitment through Walk-in interviews and job fairs are becoming popular particularly for call centres, BPO firms, etc .
g) Similar Organisations
Experienced employees can be recruited by offering better benefits to the people working in similar organisations. Newly established organisations of well-known business houses often lure experienced executives and technical experts from the public sector. This is called raiding for talent.
h) Employee Referrals
Office bearers of trade unions are often aware of the suitability of candidates. Management can enquire these leaders for suitable jobs. In some organizations, there are formal agreements to give priority in recruitment to the candidates recommended by trade unions. Relatives and friends of employees are given priority in recruitment in some companies. Public sector undertakings give preference to local people (sons of the soil) in recruitment particularly at lower level jobs. In this source some sort of preliminary screening takes place by the employee/union recommending the candidate.
i) Press Advertisements
Advertisements in newspapers and journals, is a widely used source of recruitment. The advantage of this method is that it has a very wide reach. One advertisement in a leading daily can cover millions of persons throughout the country. Cost per person is very low. This method can be used for clerical, technical and managerial jobs. However, this method may bring in a large number of applications from unsuitable candidates. The company has to waste considerable time and efforts in sorting out applicants.
Merits of External Recruitment
- The organisation has the freedom to select candidates from a large pool. Persons with requisite qualifications could be picked up.
- As recruitment is done from a wider market, best selection can be made irrespective of caste, sex or religion.
- Expertise and experience from other organisations can be brought.
- It helps in motivating internal employees to work hard and compete with external candidates while seeking career growth. Such a competitive atmosphere would help an employee to work to the best of his abilities.
- This source of recruitment never dries up. It is available to even new enterprises.
Demerits of External Recruitment
- It is more expensive and time-consuming to recruit people from
- Detailed screening is necessary as very little is known about the existing employees who have put in considerable service may resist the process of filling up vacancies from outside. The feeling that their services have not been recognized by the organization, forces them to work with less enthusiasm and motivation.
- If higher level jobs are filled from external sources, motivation and loyalty of existing staff are affected.
Techniques /Methods of Recruitment
Recruitment methods or techniques are the means by which an organisation establishes contact with potential candidates, provides them necessary information and encourages them to apply for jobs. These methods are different from the sources of recruitment. Sources are the locations where prospective employees are available. On the other hand, methods are ways of establishing links with the prospective employees. Various methods employed for recruiting employees may be classified into the following categories :
- Direct Methods
Under direct recruitment scouting, employee contacts, manned exhibits and waiting lists are used. In scouting, representatives of the organisation are sent to educational and training institutions. These travelling recruiters exchange information with the students, clarify their doubts, stimulate them to apply for jobs conduct campus interviews and short list candidates for further screening. They act in cooperation with the placement office/head of the institution. In view of the growing demand for young managers, most reputed organisations (such as Hindustan Lever Lts. ,Proctor and Gamble, SBI , TATA Group etc.) go for campus recruitment in institutes like IITs and IIMs regularly and also sponsor certain popular campus activities with a view to earn goodwill in the job market.
2. Indirect methods
These include advertisements in newspapers, trade journals, professional and technical journals, radio and television etc.The ads generally give a brief outline of the job responsibilities, compensation package, prospects in the organization etc. This method is appropriate when
a) The organization intends to reach a large target group
b) The organization wants a fairly good number of talented people who are geographically spread out.
3. Third Party Methods
Various agencies can be used to recruit personnel. Public employment exchanges, management consulting firms, professional societies, temporary help societies,trade unions, labour contractors are the main agencies.
4. Internet Recruitment
In recent years most companies have found it useful to develop their own website and list job openings on it. The website offers a fast, convenient and cost effective means for job applicants to submit their resume through the Internet. There are variety of websites available in addition of company’s own website where applicants can submit their resumes and potential employers can check for qualified applicants such as www.naukri.com, www.monsterindia.com, www.timesjob.com, www.headhunters.com.
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