RECRUITMENT

Meaning of Recruitment
Recruitment is discovering the potential applicants for actual or anticipated vacancies in
an organization. It involves seeking viable job candidates.
Dual Goals of Recruitment
Generate a large pool of qualified applicants, and
Provide enough information so that unqualified applicants can self-select themselves out
of job candidacy.
Meeting this dual objective will minimize the cost of processing unqualified candidates.
Barriers to Recruiting Success
Image of the organization: The image of an organization can be a potential constraint. A
poor image of an organization may limit its attraction to applicants. Firms which are
engaged in practices that result in a polluted environment, poor-quality products and
unsafe and uncongenial working conditions; or indifferent to employees’ needs create
negative or, more specifically, pessimistic image of the organization among graduates.
Attractiveness of job: If the position to be filled is an unattractive job, recruiting a large
and qualified pool of applicants will be difficult. Job viewed as boring, hazardous,
anxiety creating, low paying, or lacking in promotion potential seldom attract a qualified
pool of applicants.
Internal/Organizational policies: Internal organizational policies, such as ‘promotion
from within wherever possible,” may give priority to individuals inside the organization.
Such policies, when followed, typically ensure that all positions, other than the lowest-
level entry positions, will be filled from within the ranks. Such policy may reduce the
number of applications.
Government influence: Government’s influence in the recruiting process should not be
overlooked. An employer can no longer seek out preferred individuals based on non-job-
related factors such as physical appearance, sex, or religious background. An airline that
wants to hire only attractive females for flight attendant positions will find itself breaking
the law if comparable qualified male candidates are rejected on the basis of gender – or
female candidates are rejected on the basis of age.
Recruiting Costs: The last constraint, but certainly not lowest in priority, centers on
recruiting costs. Recruiting efforts are expensive. Sometimes budget restrictions put a
time limit on searches.

Recruiting from a Global Perspective

The first step in recruiting for overseas positions, as always, is to define the relevant labor
market. For international positions, however, that market is the whole world.
Organizations must decide if they want to send a home-country national, recruit in the
host country, or ignore nationality and do a global search for the best person available.
The basic decision depends partly on the type of occupation and its requirements as well
as the state of national and cultural development of the overseas operations. Although
production, office, and clerical occupations are rarely filed beyond a local market,
executive and sometimes scientific, engineering, or professional managerial candidates
may be sought in national or international markets.
If the organization is searching for someone with extensive company experience to
launch a technical product in a new target country, it will probably want a home-country-
national. This approach often serves when a new foreign subsidiary is being established
and headquarters wants to control all strategic decisions, but the plan requires technical
expertise and experience. It is also appropriate where there is a lack of qualified host-
country nationals in the workforce.
In some countries local laws control how many expatriates a corporation can send. The
law may establish ratios, such as that 20 host-country nationals must be employed for
every expatriates granted working papers. Granting HCNs eliminates language problems
and avoids problems of expatriate adjustment and the high cost of training and relocating
an expatriate with a family. In countries with tense political environments, an HCN is less
visible and can somewhat insulate the international firms from hostilities and possible
terrorism.
The third option, recruiting regardless of nationality, develops an international executive
cadre with a truly global perspective. On a large scale, this type of recruiting may reduce
managers’ national identification with particular organizational units.
 Recruitment Sources

Internal Search Employee Referrals/

Recommendations

External Searches Alternatives

Advertisement Temporary help services
Employment agencies Employee leasing
Schools, colleges, and Independent contractors
universities
Professional organizations
Unsolicited applicants
Internet recruiting

The Internal Search: Many large organizations attempt to develop their own low-level
employees for higher positions. These promotions can occur through an internal search of
current employees who have bid for the job, been identified through the organization’s
human resource management system, or even been referred by a fellow employee. The
promote-from-within-wherever-possible policy has advantages:
1. It builds morale.
2. It encourages good individuals who are ambitious.
3. It improves the probability of a good selection, because information on the
individual’s performance is readily available.
4. It is less costly than going outside to recruit.
5. Those chosen internally already know the organization.
6. When carefully planned, promoting from within can also act as a training device
for developing middle- and top-level managers.
There can be distinct disadvantages, however, to using internal sources.
1. They could be dysfunctional if the organization uses less-qualified internal
sources only because they are there, when excellent candidates are available on
the outside.
2. Internal search also may generate infighting among rival candidates for promotion
and decrease morale levels of those not selected.
 3. Internal search may again obstruct new blood to broaden current ideas,
knowledge, and enthusiasm to the organization.
In many organizations, it is standard procedure to post any new job openings and to allow
any current employee to apply for the position. This positing notification can be
communicated on a central ‘position open’ bulletin board in the plant or offices, in
weekly or monthly organization newsletter or, in some cases, in a specially prepared
posting sheet from human resources outlining those positions currently available.

Employee Referrals and Recommendations: One of the better sources for individuals
who will perform effectively on the job is a recommendation from a current employee.
Employees rarely recommend someone unless they believe the individual can perform
adequately. The recommender often gives the applicant more realistic information about
the job than could be conveyed through emplacement agencies or newspaper
advertisements. This information reduces unrealistic expectations and increase job
survival. Additionally, employee referrals are an excellent means of locating potential
employees in the hard-to-fill positions.
There are of course, some potentially negative features of employee referral. For one,
recommenders may confuse friendship with job performance competence. A current
employee may recommend a friend for a position without unbiased consideration to the
friend’s job-related competence.
Employee referrals may also lead to nepotism, that is, hiring individuals related to
persons already employed by the organization. Finally, employee referrals may also
minimize an organization’s desire to add diversity to the workplace.
External Searches
Advertisement: When an organization wishes to tell the public it has a vacancy,
advertisement is one of the most popular methods used. The type of job often determines
where the advertisement is placed. Although it is not uncommon to see blue-color jobs
listed on placards outside the plant gates, we would be surprised to find a vice presidency
listed similarly. The higher the position in the organization, the more specialized the
skills or the shorter the supply of that resource in the labor force, the more widely
dispersed the advertisement is likely to be. The search for a top executive might include
advertisements in national publications or be posted on executive search from web sites.
On the other hand, advertisements of lower-level jobs usually appear in local daily
newspapers, regional trade journals, or on broad-based Internet job sites.
Employment Agencies: There are three forms of employment agencies: public or state
agencies, private employment agencies, and management consulting firms. The major
difference between them is the type of clientele served. Most state agency tends to attract
and list individuals who are unskilled or have had minimum training. Private agencies are
believed to offer positions and applicants of a higher caliber. Private agencies may also
provide a more compete line of services. they may advertise the position, screen aplicants
against the criteria; pacified by the employer, and provide a guarantee covering six
months or a year as protection to the employer should the applicant nor perform
satisfactorily. The private employment agency’s fee can be totally absorbed by either the
employer or the employee, or it can be split.
The third agency source consists of management consulting, executive search, or
‘headhunter’ firms. They are actually specialized private employment agencies. They
specialize in middle-level and top-level executive placement, as well as hard-to-fill
positions. In addition to the level at which they recruit, the features that distinguish
executive search agencies from most private employment agencies are their fees, their
nationwide contacts, and the thoroughness of their investigations.
Schools, Colleges, and Universities: Educational institutions at all levels offer
opportunities for recruiting recent graduates. Most educational institutions operate
placement services where prospective employers can review credentials and interview
graduates. Most also allow employers to see a prospective employee’s performance
through cooperative arrangements and internships. Whether the job requires a high-
school diploma, specific vocational training, or a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree,
educational institutions are an excellent source of potential employees.
Professional Organizations: Many professional organizations, including labor unions,
operate placement services for the benefit of their members. Professional organizations
serving such varied occupations as industrial engineering, psychology, accounting, legal
and academics publish rosters of job vacancies and distribute these lists to members. It is
also common practice to provide placement facilities at regional and national meeting
where individuals looking for employment and companies looking for employees can
find each other – building a network for employment opportunities. Professional
organizations, however, can also apply sanctions to control the labor supply in their
discipline.
Unsolicited applicants: Unsolicited applications, whether they reach the employer by
letter, e-mail, telephone, or in person, constitute a source of prospective applicants. This
source does provide an excellent supply of stockpiled applicants. Even if the company
has no current openings, the application can be kept on file for later needs.
Cyberspace Recruiting: Nearly four out of five companies currently use the Internet to
recruit new employees by adding a recruitment section to their web site. Large
organizations or those planning to do a lot of Internet recruiting often develop dedicated
sites specifically designed to recruitment. They have the typical information you might
find in an employment advertisement, qualifications sought, experience required, benefits
provided, but they also showcase the organization’s products, servides, corporate
philosophy, and mission statement. They also include an online response form, which the
applicant fills in a resume page and hit the “submit” button.
Aggressive job candidates are also using the Internet. They set up their own web pages-
frequently called “websumes”- to ‘sell’ their job candidacy. When they learn of a
possible job opening, they encourage potential employers to “check me out at my web
site.” There, applicants have standard resume information, supporting documentation,
and sometimes a video where they introduce themselves to potential employers.
Recruitment Alternatives
Much of the previous discussion on recruiting sources implies that these efforts are
designed to locate and hire full-time, permanent employees. Many companies today are
hiring temporary help, leasing employees, and using independent contractors.
Temporary Help Services: Some organizations are increasingly providing temporary
help services to organizations by supplying contingent workers to meet short-term
fluctuations in HRM needs. Although traditionally developed in office administration,
temporary staffing services have expanded to a broad range of skills. It is now possible,
for example, to hire temporary nurses, computer programmers, accountants, librarians,
drafting technicians, administrative assistants’ even CEOs.
Employee leasing: Whereas temporary employees come into an organization for specific
short-term project, leased employees typically remain with an organization for longer
times. Under a leasing arrangement, individuals work for the leasing firm. When an
organization needs specific employee skills, it contracts with the leasing firm to provide
trained employees.
One reason for leasing’s popularity is cost. The acquiring organization pays a flat fee for
the employees. The company is not directly responsible for the benefits or other costs,
such as social security payments. Furthermore, when the project is over, employees
return to the leasing company, thus eliminating any cost associated with layoffs or
discharge. Leased employees are well trained. They are screened by the leasing firm,
trained appropriately, and often go to organizations with an unconditional guarantee.
Thus, if an individual doesn’t work out, the company receives a new employee or makes
arrangements to have its fee returned. There are also benefits from the employee’s point
of view. Some of today’s workers prefer more flexibility in their lives. Working with a
leasing company and being sent out at various time allow these workers to workers to
work when they want, for the length of time they desire.
Independent contractors: Another means of recruiting is the use of independent
contractors. Often referred to as consultants, independent contractors are taking on a new
meaning. Companies may hire independent contractors to do specific work at a location
on or off the company’s premises. For instance, claims processing, or medical and legal
transcription activities can easily be done at home and routinely forward to the employer.
Independent contractor arrangements benefit both the organization and the individual.
Because the worker is not an employee, the company saves costs associated with full- or
part-time personnel. It allows individuals to work at home, on his or her time leading to a
win-win solution to the problem.