Recruitment refers to the process of identifying
and attracting job seekers so as to build a pool of qualified job applicants.
The process comprises five interrelated stages, viz,
Ø Planning.
Ø Strategy development.
Ø Searching.
Ø Screening.
Ø Evaluation and
control.
The
ideal recruitment programme is the one that attracts a relatively larger number
of qualified applicants who will survive the screening process and accept
positions with the organization, when offered. Recruitment programme can miss
the ideal in many ways i.e. by failing to attract an adequate applicant pool,
by under/over selling the organization or by inadequate screening applicants
before they enter the selection process. Thus, to approach the ideal,
individuals responsible for the recruitment process must know how many and what
types of employees are needed, where and how to look for the individuals with
the appropriate qualifications and interests, what inducement to use for
various types of applicants groups, how to distinguish applicants who are
qualified from those who have a reasonable chance of success and how to
evaluate their work.
STAGE 1:
RECRUITMENT PLANNING:
The first stage in the recruitment
process is planning. Planning involves the translation of likely job vacancies
and information about the nature of these jobs into set of objectives or
targets that specify the (1) Numbers and (2) Types of applicants to be
contacted.
- Number of contacts:
Organization, nearly always, plan to attract more
applicants than they will hire. Some of those contacted will be uninterested,
unqualified or both. Each time a recruitment Programme is contemplated, one
task is to estimate the number of applicants necessary to fill all vacancies
with the qualified people.
- Types of contacts:
It is basically concerned with the types of people to be
informed about job openings. The type of people depends on the tasks and
responsibilities involved and the qualifications and experience expected. These
details are available through job description and job specification.
STAGE 2:
STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT:
When
it is estimated that what types of recruitment and how many are required then
one has concentrate in (1). Make or Buy employees. (2). Technological
sophistication of recruitment and selection devices. (3). Geographical
distribution of labour markets comprising job seekers. (4). Sources of
recruitment. (5). Sequencing the activities in the recruitment process.
- ‘Make’ or ‘Buy’:
Organization
must decide whether to hire le skilled employees and invest on training and
education programmes, or they can hire skilled labour and professional.
Essentially, this is the ‘make’ or ‘buy’ decision. Organizations, which hire
skilled and professionals shall have to pay more for these employees.
- Technological Sophistication:
The
second decision in strategy development relates to the methods used in
recruitment and selection. This decision is mainly influenced by the available
technology. The advent of computers has made it possible for employers to scan
national and international applicant qualification. Although impersonal,
computers have given employers and Job seekers a wider scope of options in the
initial screening stage.
- Where to look:
In
order to reduce the costs, organizations look in to labour markets most likely
to offer the required job seekers. Generally, companies look in to the national
market for managerial and professional employees, regional or local markets for
technical employees and local markets for the clerical and blue-collar
employees.
- When to look:
An effective recruiting strategy must determine when to
look-decide on the timings of events besides knowing where and how to look for
job applicants.
STAGE 3:
SEARCHNG:
Once a recruitment plan and strategy are worked out, the
search process can begin. Search involves two steps
- SOURCE ACTIVATION:
Typically, sources and search methods are
activated by the issuance of an employee requisition. This means that no actual
recruiting takes place until lone managers have verified that vacancy does
exist or will exist.
If the organization has planned well and done
a good job of developing its sources and search methods, activation soon
results in a flood of applications and/or resumes.
The application received must be
screened. Those who pass have to be contacted and invited for interview.
Unsuccessful applicants must be sent letter of regret.
- SELLING:
A second issue to be addressed in the
searching process concerns communications. Here, organization walks tightrope.
On one hand, they want to do whatever they can to attract desirable applicants.
On the other hand, they must resist the temptation of overselling their
virtues.
In
selling the organization, both the message and the media deserve attention.
Message refers to the employment advertisement. With regards to media, it may
be stated that effectiveness of any recruiting message depends on the media.
Media are several-some have low credibility, while others enjoy high
credibility. Selection of medium or media needs to be done with a lot of care.
STEP 4:
SCREENING:
Screening
of applicants can be regarded as an integral part of the recruiting process,
though many view it as the first step in the selection process. Even the
definition on recruitment, we quoted in the beginning of this chapter, excludes
screening from its scope. However, we have included screening in recruitment
for valid reasons. The selection process will begin after the applications have
been scrutinized and short-listed. Hiring of professors in a university is a
typical situation. Application received in response to advertisements is
screened and only eligible applicants are called for an interview. A selection
committee comprising the Vice-chancellor, Registrar and subject experts
conducts interview. Here, the recruitment process extends up to screening the
applications. The selection process commences only later.
Purpose of screening
The
purpose of screening is to remove from the recruitment process, at an early
stage, those applicants who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective
screening can save a great deal of time and money. Care must be exercised,
however, to assure that potentially good employees are not rejected without
justification. In screening, clear job specifications are invaluable. It is
both good practice and a legal necessity that applicant’s qualification is
judged on the basis of their knowledge, skills, abilities and interest required
to do the job.
The
techniques used to screen applicants vary depending on the candidate sources
and recruiting methods used. Interview and application blanks may be used to
screen walk-ins. Campus recruiters and agency representatives use interviews
and resumes. Reference checks are also useful in screening.
STAGE 5:
EVALUATION AND CONTROL:
Evaluation and control is necessary as considerable
costs are incurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred
are: -
- Salaries for recruiters.
- Management and professional time spent on preparing job description, job specifications, advertisements, agency liaison and so forth.
- The cost of advertisements or other recruitment methods, that is, agency fees.
- Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses.
- Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain unfilled.
- Cost of recruiting unsuitable candidates for the selection process.
EVALUATION OF RECRUITMENT PROCESS:
The recruitment has the objective of searching for and
obtaining applications for job seekers in sufficient number and quality.
Keeping this objective in the mind, the evaluation of recruitment might include:
Ø Return rate of
application sent out.
Ø Number of suitable
candidates for selection.
Ø Retention and
performance of the candidates selected.
Ø Cost of the
recruitment process
Ø Time lapsed data
Ø Comments on image
projected.
