INDENTIFY AND DISCUSS THE MAJOR ISSUES RELATED TO

RECRUITMENT AND EXPLAIN HOW RECRUITMENT RELATED TO

ABSTRACT

This essay discusses the fundamental issue related to recruitment in the present organization and

how would recruitment allied to the organization strategic to achieve their definitive goal.

Recruitment, as a human resource management task is one of the activities that oblige most

significantly on the performance of an organisation.The recruitment process could be internal or

external or could also be online and involves the stages of recruitment policies, advertising, job

description, job application process, interviews, assessment, decision making, legislation

selection and training (Korsten 2003, Jonesetal, 2006).While it is implicit and accepted that

deprived recruitment decisions continue to influence organizational performance and limit

aspiration triumph it is taking a long time for e agencies in many jurisdictions to identify and

implement new, effective hiring strategies.People are the assets on which viable advantage is

built, whether in the public or private sector, whether in the corporate world or in the world of

education. In the words of the newest theory on human resource management, people are an

“unique” asset.

INTRODUCTION

Recruiting and retaining high-quality talent is significant to an organisation’s success. As the job

market becomes ever more aggressive and the obtainable skills grow more varied

recruiters need to be more selective in their choices, since poor recruiting decisions can

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erect long-term unenthusiastic effects, among them high training and development costs

minimizes the incidence of poor performance and high turnover which, in turn, impact staff

confidence the production of high quality goods and services and the retention of

organisational remembrance.

Recruitment is however not just a simple selection process and requires management decision

making and extensive planning to employ the most suitable manpower. Competition among

business organisations for recruiting the best potential has increased focus on innovation, and

management decision making and the selectors aim to recruit only the best candidates who

would suit the corporate culture, ethics and climate specific to the organisation (Terpstra, 1994).

This would mean that the management would specifically look for potential candidates capable

of team work as being a team player would be crucial in any junior management position.

HRM approaches within any business organisation are focused on meeting corporate objectives

and realization of strategic plans through training of personnel to ultimately improve company

performance and profits (Korsten, 2003). The process of recruitment does not however end with

application and selection of the right people but involves maintaining and retaining the

employees chosen. Despite a well drawn plan on recruitment and selection and involvement of

qualified management team, recruitment processes followed by companies can face significant

obstacles in implementation.

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Objectives of Recruitment

1. To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and experiences that suits the present and

future organizational strategies.

2. To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company.

3. To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization.

4. To develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to the company,

5. To search or head hunt people whose skills fit the company values.

6. To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits.

7. To seek out non-conventional development grounds of talent.

8. To search for talent globally and not just within the company.

9. To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum.

10. To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.

Sub-systems of Recruitment

The recruitment consists of the following sub-functions;

1. Finding out and developing the sources where the required number and kind of employees will

be available.

2. Developing suitable techniques to attract the desirable candidates.

3. Employing the techniques to attract candidates.

4. Stimulating as many candidates as possible and asking them to apply for jobs irrespective of

number of candidates required.

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Management has to attract more candidates in order to increase selection ratio (i.e. number of

applications per one job vacancy) in order to select the most suitable candidates out of the total

candidates. Recruitment is positive as it aims at increasing the number of applicants and

selection is somewhat negative as it selects the suitable candidates in which process the

unsuitable are automatically eliminated. Though, the function of recruitment seems to be easy, a

number of factors make performance of recruitment a complex one.

Factors Affecting Recruitment

Both internal and external factors affect recruitment. The external factors include supply of and

demand for human resources, employment opportunities and/or unemployment rate, labor market

conditions, political, legal requirement and government policies, social factors, information

systems etc.

The internal factors include the company pay package including salary, fringe benefits and

incentives, quality of work life, organizational culture, career planning and growth opportunities,

size of the company, company product/services, geographical spread of the company operations

viz., local, national or global, company growth rate, role of trade unions and cost of recruitment.

Complexity of the Function of Recruitment

Performing the function of recruitment i.e. increasing the selection ratio is not as easy as it seems

to be. This is because of the hurdles created by the internal factors and external factors which

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influence an organization. The first activity of recruitment i.e. searching for prospective

employees is affected by many factors like:

1. Organizational policy regarding filling up of certain percentage of vacancies by internal

candidates.

2. Local candidates (sons of soil).

3. Influence of trade unions;

4. Government regulations regarding reservations of certain number of vacancies to candidates

based on community/region/ caste/ sex;

5. Influence of recommendations, nepotism etc.

As such, the management is not free to find out or develop the source of desirable candidates and

alternatively it has to divert its energies for developing the sources within the limits of those

factors though it cannot find suitable candidates for the jobs.

The other activity of recruitment is consequently affected by the internal factors such as:

1. Working conditions; and

2. Promotional opportunities;

3. Salary levels, type and extent of benefits;

4. Other personnel policies and practices;

5. Image of the organization;

6. Ability and skill of the management to stimulate the candidates.

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It is also affected by external factors like:

1. Personnel policies and practices of various organizations regarding working conditions, salary,

benefits, promotional opportunities, employee relations etc.,

2.Career opportunities in other organizations;

3.Government regulations.

The degree of complexity of recruitment function can be minimized by formulating sound

policies. A few progressive companies in the world like Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Lever,

Procter & Gamble, Toyota and a few others have exemplary policies of recruitment which even

International companies are trying to emulate. Of late multinationals have evolved their unique

methodologies in fast recruitment and selection processes.

Strategies

Organizations tailor their recruitment strategies to the specific position(s) they are seeking to fill.

These strategies may differ depending on the level of the position. The survey asked respondents

what strategies they use and the level of effectiveness. Table 1 lists the percentage of

organizations using each of the listed strategies, as well as the average effectiveness of each

strategies.

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The Internet and employee referrals are the most popular and effective methods for recruiting.

Internet allows organizations to reach large numbers of candidates easily and efficiently.

Thousands of candidates can visit a company web site and submit an application. Similarly, web-

based recruiting companies work with organizations to advertise jobs and screen candidates.

Although job and company web sites are becoming hot new tools traditional recruiting methods

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such as employee referrals are not yet obsolete. Newspapers, job fairs, and professional organizations

continue to be preferred methods and are used by well over half the survey respondents.

Overwhelmingly, organizations rely on internal job postings and employee referrals to recruit

candidates. Many companies also post job openings on the company’s web site to attract

candidates. These are relatively easy, yet very effective ways to identify candidates both in and

outside of the company. In addition, posting jobs internally is an excellent method of offering

promotion opportunities to all employees and minimizing employee complaints of unfair

treatment and unlawful discrimination.

Top ten barriers to effective recruiting and selection of candidates

(Source from Development Dimension International collected data from 573 members of the

Electronic Recruiting Exchange)

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Acquire

Acquiring the best employees is the first step toward success in ensuring that we have the right

people doing the right work at the right time. To achieve this goal:

• Work with our Human Resources colleagues, to develop a strategic sourcing plan for

anticipated hard to fill jobs and for succession planning.

• Train supervisors how to effectively hire top talent. Develop a fair and effective selection

and recruitment process that integrates diversity into our hiring practices.

• Develop a robust reference checking process.

• Develop new employee/manager orientation process.

Development

To ensure that employees have the skills and training they need to fulfill the mission of

organisation and customer expectations and to close the skill gaps now and in the future In view

of that the employees given appropriate training and to the extent possible, retraining to

accommodate changing missions. This will be achieved through a number of exercises:

• To ensure that employees have the skills and training they need to fulfill the mission and

customer expectations and to close the skill gaps now and in the future.

• To ensure that the employees are given appropriate training and to the extent possible,

retraining

• To accommodate changing missions. This will be achieved through a number of

exercises:

• Develop the manager and supervisor training series.

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 • Build a staff development and career development series.

• Succession Planning – A critical piece of development is making sure we prepare

tomorrow’s leaders today.

An organisation’s vision, through these strategic initiatives, staff at all levels will see the direct

link between the employer’s mission and managing the human capital. Human Capital Strategic

Plan is intended to be a living document used on a regular basis to keep initiatives in line with

strategic goals. In conclusion plan has to be updated annually to incorporate progress on

initiatives and future priorities.

Retaining Employee

Companies today perceive themselves in terms of their competitiveness to attract

and retain talent. Aberdeen Group surveyed companies on a spectrum of categories relevant to

retention (Figure 1a to 1c) to get a baseline view toward key motivators and common

complaints of executive and managerial employees in three areas. Although no survey is the

entire truth, a snap-shot glance at the “very good” selections reveals a unique overview of the

recent success and future needs for retention and succession planning capabilities.

Corporate factors

Companies believe they are most equipped to offer employees interesting work (57%) and good

working conditions (41%), suggesting that companies rely on two very subjective factors across

talent to diminish the risk of loosing talent. This is especially discouraging as many professional

roles continue to migrate to remote or home-based office environments.

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Development factors

Companies believe they are relying on work-life balance, manager-employee relationship, and

recognition for work well done to develop talent. Setting aside the constant debate of balance,

other Aberdeen key findings shared in this report present key challenges in training managers

and funding recognition programs.

Employee-company interaction factors

Companies deem they are most excellent at providing sympathetic help on personal matters and

their loyalty to workers. Both noble traits, but each more and more elusive given dramatic shifts

in social and legal norms, not to mention generation X & Y interests. In the same regard, these

companies admit being poor at involving employees in decision making. The specific issue most

relevant to the post-boomer staff now entering managerial ranks.

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Case Study – Best Practices in Employee Recruitment:

How Toyota Created a World Class Workforce & Effective Recruitment that reflect the

organization’s business objectives and culture.

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TEMA History

•1987–First US production facility in Georgetown, KY

•Brought standardized selection system used globally

•2001–Start-up in Tijuana, Mexico-Realized they had to make significant changes in their

approach to hiring

•2003–Next Biggest Challenge was opening a facility in a metropolitan area (San Antonio, TX)

•April 1, 2006–Manufacturing and Engineering became one company

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Detailed Application Process

New generation assessment process adopted by TEMA

•Ability to handle mass volume applications

•Automated application entry; paperless-IVR -Interactive Voice Recognition-On-line

•Automated Scheduling and Scoring

•1 Production Simulation Package

•Consolidated Multi-Skilled Trades assessments

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•Reduction to manpower to run the system

•Ability to simulate the work environment to allow candidates to self-select out

Virtual Job Application

• Pre-screen –Automated, interactive application process allowing candidates to apply via

phone or internet

• Entire process lasts 10 minutes

• Screened out unqualified candidates, cutting costs in the next phase of the process

• Automatically schedules candidates for next step in the process if they pass.

Virtual Job Assessment

Web Based Assessment

• Measured basic competencies necessary for specific Toyota positions

• Computer game graphics provided a virtual simulation of job relevant tasks

Production Exercise

• Candidates physically perform work related tasks in a proctored environment

• Able to see how candidates interact with others in team setting, handle daily tasks & deal

with stressful situations.

Virtual Job Interview

Realistic Job Fit Questions

• Behavioral interview that allowed Toyota to identify the three main types of employee

behaviors:

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 1. Builder –Proactive, high energy, positive attitude, committed

2. Cutter –Cynical, negative attitude, does the minimum required to get by, gossiper,

makes excuses, takes credit for others’ work

3. Maintainer –Steadfast, dependable, very task focused, comfortable with status

quo, not looking for promotion.

Hiring Process Metrics

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• Quality Candidates

• Time-to-Hire

• Cost-per-Hire

• Turnover

• Safety Incident Reporting

• Keeping to the Project Plan

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Sharing Successes

• Implementing the recruitment process to other facilities throughout North America

• Expanding the recruitment process globally into facilities in the United Kingdom and

beyond

Top 4 Red Flags for Toyota Recruitment Teams Aware of:

1. Early planning

2. Ability to understand the Local Market & Demographics

3. Compressive research

4. Hiring managers are trained in structured behavioral interviewing

Top 4 Characteristics of a Best-in-Class Partner for Toyota Recruitment

1. Strong Technology

• I/O Psychology Assessment Content

• IT Infrastructure

2. Integrity

3. Proper Project Management

4.Flexibility

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CONCLUSION

It is essential that recruitment be analysis strategically and that it reflect the organization’s

business objectives and vision. Thus, recruitment is means of delivering behaviors seen as

necessary to support the organization’s culture and strategies. Organizational strategies and

culture determine whether the focus is on technical skills and formal qualifications or

personality, the ability to fit in and the potential for development. This gives HRM on the

apparatus to remain intact to and break out of the HR dilemma. The result is an HR function that

succeeds not only on the usual benchmarks, but on the only one that really counts: pulling ahead

of the competition, and staying there. Consequently, an organization can obliterate its unique

competitive advantage if it ignores its strategic mission, objectives and culture in recruiting

personal.

REFERENCES

Korsten A.D. (2003) Developing a training plan to ensure employees keep up with the dynamics
of facility management Journal of Facilities Management, Volume 1, Number 4, pp. 365-379(15)

Terpstra D.E. (1994) HRM: A Key to Competitiveness Management Decision, Volume 32,
Number 9, pp. 10-14(5)

Korsten A.D. (2003) Developing a training plan to ensure employees keep up with the dynamics
of facility management Journal of Facilities Management, Volume 1, Number 4, pp. 365-379(15)

Retaining Talent: Retention and Succession in the Corporate Workforce (http://

Bernthal, P. R, & Wellins, R. S. (2001). Retaining talent: A benchmarking study. Pittsburgh, PA:
Development Dimensions International.

Byham, W. C. (1992). The assessment center method and methodology: New applications and
technologies (Monograph VII). Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International

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Byham, W. C. (1989). Targeted selection: A behavioral approach to improved hiring decisions
(Monograph XIV). Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.

Dipboye, R. L. (1992). Selection Interviews: Process Perspectives, p. 118. As cited in R. D.

Gatewood & H. S. Field, Human Resource Selection (3rd Ed.). Orlando, FL: The Dryden Press.
Pulakos, E. D., & Schmitt, N. (1995). Experience based and situational interview questions:
Studies of validity. Personnel Psychology, 48, 289-30.

How Toyota Created a World Class Workforce & Effective Recruitment that reflect the
organization’s business objectives and culture (http:// www.selectinternational.com &
www.toyota.com)

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