SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT

RECRUITMENT
The process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for
a job opening, in a timely and cost effective manner. The recruitment process includes analyzing
the requirements of a job, attracting employees to that job, screening and selecting applicants, hiring, and
integrating the new employee to the organization. It is the systematic process of finding and attracting the
available candidates to apply to company or a particular job to become a employee.

Definition
Edwin Flippo- Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and
encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization.
Recruitment Needs
Planned: The needs arising from changes in organization and retirement policy.
Anticipated: Anticipated needs are those movements in personnel, which an organization can
predict by studying trends in internal and external environment.
Unexpected: Resignations, deaths, accidents, illness give rise to unexpected needs.

Objectives of Recruitment


to attract people with multi dimensional skills and experiences that suit the present and
future organizational strategies;
to induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company;
to infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization
to develop an organizational culture that attract competent people to the company
to search or headhunt/head poach people whose skills fit the companies values;
to devise methodologies for assessing physiological traits;
to seek out non conventional development grounds of talent;
to search for talent globally and not just within the company;
to design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum;
to anticipate and find people for position that does not exist yet

Recruitment procedure
Recruitment planning
o Number of contacts
o Type of contacts
Sources of recruitment
Contacting sources
Application pool
selection

Factors Affecting Recruitment
The recruitment function of the organisations is affected and governed by a mix of various internal and
external forces. The internal forces or factors are the factors that can be controlled by the organisation. And
the external factors are those factors which cannot be controlled by the organisation. The internal and
external forces affecting recruitment function of an organisation are:
A. Internal Factors Affecting Recruitment
The internal forces i.e. the factors which can be controlled by the organisation are:
a) Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of an organisation provides a framework for implementation
of recruitment programme by taking into consideration the following factors
a. Factors Affecting Recruitment Policy
(i) Organizational objectives
(ii) Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors
(iii) Government policies on reservations
(iv) Preferred sources of recruitment
(v) Need of the organization
(vi) Recruitment costs and financial implications
b) Human Resource Planning: Effective human resource planning helps in determining the gaps in the
existing manpower of the organization. It also helps in determining the number of employees to be recruited
and the qualifications they should possess.
c) Size of the Firm: The size of the firm is an important factor in recruitment process. If the organization is
planning to increase its operations and expand its business, it will think of hiring more personnel, which will
handle its operations.
d) Growth and Expansion: Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if it is
expanding its operations.

B. External Factors Affecting Recruitment:
The external factors are the forces which cannot be controlled by the organization. The major external
forces are:
a) Supply and Demand: The availability of manpower both within and outside the organization is an
important determinant in the recruitment process. If the company has a demand for more professionals and
there is limited supply in the market for the professionals demanded by the company, then the company will
have to depend upon internal sources by providing them special training and development programs.
b) Labour Market: Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will
influence the recruiting efforts of the organization. If there is surplus manpower at the time of recruitment,
even informal attempts at the time of recruiting like notice boards display of the requisition or
announcement in the meeting etc will attract more than enough applicants.
c) Image/Goodwill: Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. An
organization with positive image and goodwill finds it easier to attract and retain employees than an
organization with negative image. Image of a company is based on what organization does and affected by
industry.
d) Political, Social and Legal Environment: Various government regulations prohibiting discrimination in
hiring and employment have direct impact on recruitment practices. For example, Government of India has
introduced legislation for reservation in employment for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, physically
handicapped etc. Also, trade unions play an important role in recruitment. This restricts managements
freedom to select those individuals who it believes would be the best performers. If the candidate cant
meet criteria stipulated by the union but union regulations can restrict recruitment sources.

e) Unemployment Rate: One of the factors that influences the availability of applicants is the growth of the
economy (whether economy is growing or not and its rate). When the company is not creating new jobs,
there is often over supply of qualified labour which in turn leads to unemployment.

f) Competitors: The recruitment policies of the competitors also affect the recruitment function of the
organisations. To face the competition, many a times the organisations have to change their recruitment
policies according to the policies being followed by the competitors.

Sources of Recruitment
Organizations choose the candidates for its recruitment purposes from two kinds of sources: internal and
external sources.
The sources within the organization itself (like transfer of employees from one department to other,
promotions) to fill a position are known as the internal sources of recruitment. Recruitment of candidates
from all the other sources (like outsourcing agencies etc.) is known as the external sources of recruitment.

A. Internal Sources of Recruitment
a) Transfers: The employees are transferred from one department to another according to their efficiency
and experience.
b) Promotions: The employees are promoted from one department to another with more benefits and
greater responsibility based on efficiency and experience
c) Others: Others are Upgrading and Demotion of present employees according to their performance.
Retired and Retrenched employees can be a source of recruitment. Recruiting such people saves time and
costs of the organizations as the people are already aware of the organizational culture, policies and
procedures. Dependents and relatives of deceased employees and disabled employees are also
considered by many companies so that members of the deceased members family are not at the mercy of
others.



B. External Sources of Recruitment
a) Press Advertisements: Advertisements of the vacancy in newspapers and journals are a widely used
source of recruitment. The main advantage of this method is that it has a wide reach.
b) Educational Institutes: Various management institutes, engineering colleges, medical Colleges etc. are
a good source of recruiting well qualified executives, engineers, medical staff etc. They provide facilities for
campus interviews and placements. This source is known as Campus Recruitment.
c) Placement Agencies: Several private consultancy firms perform recruitment functions on behalf of
client companies by charging a fee. These agencies are particularly suitable for recruitment of executives
and specialists. It is also known as RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)
d) Employment Exchanges: Government establishes public employment exchanges throughout the
country. These exchanges provide job information to job seekers and help employers in identifying suitable
candidates.
e) Labour Contractors: Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain close contacts
with the sources of such workers. This source is used to recruit labour for construction jobs.
f) Unsolicited Applicants: Many job seekers visit the office of well-known companies on their own. Such
callers are considered nuisance to the daily work routine of the enterprise but can help in creating the talent
pool or the database of the probable candidates for the organization.
g) Employee Referrals / Recommendations: Many organizations have structured system where the
current employees of the organization can refer their friends and relatives for some position in their
organization. Also, the office bearers of trade unions are often aware of the suitability of
candidates. Management can inquire these leaders for suitable jobs. In some organizations these are
formal agreements to give priority in recruitment to the candidates recommended by the trade union.
h) Recruitment at Factory Gate: Unskilled workers may be recruited at the factory gate these may be
employed whenever a permanent worker is absent. More efficient among these may be recruited to fill
permanent vacancies.
i) Job Fairs: Job fairs are conducted by different companies to attract candidates for entry level jobs.