Recruitment & Selection

Recruitment refers to the process of attracting,

screening, and selecting qualified people for a job at an organisation or firm. This is done to meet the requirement of the organisation in having the right people to do the right job at the right time to ensure that the organisations goals are met. It is a continuous process in which the organisation attempts to develop a pool of competent applicants for the future human resources need.

Internal Factors affecting Recruitment Process

The internal factors affecting recruitment process are

as follows:
Recruitment policy The recruitment policy of an

organisation specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of recruitment programme. Human resource planning Effective human resource planning helps to determine the number of employees to be recruited and the qualification they must possess. Size of the organisation If the organisation plans to expand its business, it will hire more personnel to handle its operations.

Internal Factors affecting Recruitment Process

Cost of recruitment Organisations try to employ that

source of recruitment, which will bear a lower cost to the organisation for each candidate. Growth and expansion Organisation will employ more personnel if it plans to expand its operations.

External Factors affecting Recruitment Process

The external factors affecting recruitment process are

as follows:
Supply and demand If the company has a demand for

more professionals and there is limited supply in the market for the professionals that the company demands, then the company will have to depend upon internal sources. They will be provided special training and development programmes. Labour/workforce market Employment conditions in the community/ area where the organisation is located will influence the recruiting efforts of the organisation.

External Factors affecting Recruitment Process

Reputation of the organisation Image of the employer

can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. Political-social-legal environment Various government regulations that prohibits discrimination in hiring and employment have direct impact on recruitment practices. Unemployment rate When the company is not creating new jobs, there is often oversupply of qualified labour which in turn leads to unemployment. Competitors The recruitment policies of the competitors also affect the recruitment function of the organisations.

Sources of Recruitment

Internal Sources of Recruitment

The internal sources of recruitment are as follows: Transfers The employees are transferred from one department to another based on their efficiency and experience. Transfer of employees from one place to another is made considering the work, worker and the requirement of the organisation. Promotions The employees are promoted from one department to another on the basis of their efficiency and experience. An organisation would like to fill vacancies at higher levels through internal promotions to ensure that there is continuity in service and since the promoted employee knows the organisation well, it is easier to fill the positions at higher level.

Internal Sources of Recruitment

Upgrading and demotion Upgrading and demotion of

present employees is performed according to the employees performance. In the current scenario, demotion is generally not used as an option. Recruitment of retired employees Retired and retrenched workers might be recruited once again in case of shortage of qualified workers or increase in work load. This source is used only if the job does not have an age constraint for example sales, which usually involves extensive local or outstation travel and cannot have a retired employee to fulfil the job requirements.

Internal Sources of Recruitment

Recruiting of relatives of disabled employees The

relatives of disabled employees are also recruited so that the members of the family have an additional source of income. Recruitment of ex-employees The employees who have left the organisation may be willing to join it again. In such a case the organisation may consider them. These employees have worked in the organisation before and therefore the recruitment is also done based on the exemployee.

Advantages of Internal Recruiting

Internal applicants are already familiar with the organization Managers already know candidates Can help boost levels of employee motivation and morale

External Sources of Recruitment

The external sources of recruitment are as follows: Employee referral The existing employees of the organisation refer their family members, friends, relatives and acquaintances and the organisation recruits them. This source is advantageous to all three parties the organisation, the referring employee as well as the referred employee. The organisation recruits with minimal effort since the referring employee knows better than an outside source. The referring employee gets paid for their service and the referred employee joins an organisation which is a known one.

External Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment through advertisement The organisation

advertises the vacancies in newspapers, employment news and magazines. The details of work and qualifications required are given in the advertisement. Advertisements are the most common method of external recruitment. They can be found in many places such as newspaper, job posting on job sites and advertisements on websites related to positions recruited.

External Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment through employment exchanges The

unemployed and underemployed applicants register themselves with employment exchanges. The names, addresses, qualifications and experience of the candidates are noted with the employment exchange. The employers contact these employment exchanges to meet their requirements and the exchanges direct the suitable candidates to contact the employers, who after their testing recruit suitable number of candidates.

External Sources of Recruitment

Campus recruitment The employers contact

universities and technical institutes to meet their employee requirement. The heads of the institutions prepare a list of candidates fulfilling qualifications and send it to the employers. Eligible candidates are selected after the interview. Recruitment through placement agencies Indian or foreign organisations authorise certain institutions to recruit specific type of employees on their behalf. These institutions offer paid recruitment services and are common external source of recruitment.

External Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment through irregular application There are

certain highly qualified candidates who contact the organisations directly to find about a vacancy and hand over their bio-data. If the organisation requires such candidates they may be recruited. Database search on job sites Organisations can purchase data from job websites for a certain period of time and recruit suitable candidates from the database of the job sites.

Advantages of External Recruiting

Having access to a potentially large applicant

pool Being able to attract people who have the skills, knowledge, and abilities an organization needs Bringing in newcomers who may have a fresh approach to problems and be up to date on the latest technology

Disadvantages of External Recruiting

Relatively high costs
Candidates may lack knowledge about the inner

workings of the organization May need to receive more training Uncertainty concerning whether they will actually be good performers

Recruitment Process

Recruitment Process
The recruitment process involves six steps as

mentioned below:
Getting recruitment request : A recruitment request

has the job specifications describing the job title, skills required, responsibilities, location, start date, and approximate end date of the assignment. Recruitment plan: Based on recruitment requests, the HRD makes recruitment plan and sends to the Director for approval. Recruitment plan includes the number of employees to be recruited, job description, recruitment sources, checklist for candidates and the budget of recruitment. This also includes preparing job descriptions and person specifications.

Recruitment Process
Advertising the vacancy: After getting the approval

for the recruitment plan, the HRD should design the recruitment advertisement. After confirming the advertisement design with the human resource manager, the advertisement must be given to recruiting agents or posted on free recruitment channels. Managing the response: After seeing the advertisement, candidates often call or email to inquire about information related to recruitment. The human resource department needs to build up information channels to answer the requirements of candidates.

Recruitment Process
Shortlisting the candidates: After receiving the CVs,

human resource department performs the next step in the process of selecting the suitable candidates for the posted job. Arranging and conducting interviews and decision making: After the CVs are shortlisted, the human resource managers conduct interviews to select the best suitable candidate for the job. The decision whether to recruit the candidate or not depends solely upon the total performance of the candidate in the interview.

Importance of Recruitment Process

Proper hiring is important as it has substantial

benefits for an organisation. Qualified, inspired, and committed employees ensure that objectives of the organisation are achieved. A wrong hire simply means wastage of the resources spent on hiring, training, termination, and re-hiring processes. It can also demoralise the rest of the staff.

Importance of Recruitment Process

The importance of recruitment process can be

summarised as follows:
To determine the manpower requirement of the

organisation. To increase the pool of job candidates at a minimum cost. To increase the success rate of selection process by reducing the underqualified and overqualified candidates. To reduce the possibility of finally selected candidates from leaving the job after a short period of time.

Importance of Recruitment Process

To meet the legal and social obligations of the

organisation related to composition of the workforce. To identify the potential applicants suitable for the job. To increase individual and organisational efficiency in the short term and the long term. To evaluate the effectiveness of the various recruiting methods for the job applicants. To link the employers with the employees. To attract more candidates to apply in the organisation.

Discrimination Issues in Recruiting

Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It prohibits discrimination in employment practices

when the discrimination is based on a persons race, color, sex, religion or national origin. The federal law applies to organizations with 15 or more employees.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

extends discrimination protection to persons aged 40

years old and older for organizations of 20 or more employees.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1975

it is illegal to refuse to employ a woman because of

pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition.

Selection
Selection is the process of differentiating between

applicants in order to identify and hire those with a greater likelihood of success on the jobs Recruitment precedes the selection process, which involves creation of a pool of potential employees for the organisation so that the management can select the right applicant for the right job from this pool. The main objective of the recruitment process is to accelerate the selection process.

Objectives of Selection Process

The selection process is based on two objectives: To determine the most successful applicant to be selected for the job. To sell the organisation and the job to the right candidate.

Recruitment Recruitment involves the following steps : Job Analysis : The Personnel department first does job

analysis. It is a process of collecting, analyzing information about the job (Job Description) and qualities required for doing the job (Job Specification). Determining the Sources of Manpower : After this, they search for all possible sources of manpower. Advertising in leading newspapers and on the internet is one of the best sources of manpower, due to a wide choice. Advertising the Vacancies : The Personnel department advertises the vacancies. The advertisement should contain detailed information about the job, the required qualities of the candidates, the company, etc. All suitable candidates are asked to submit their applications to the company before a particular date.

Applications
Examining the Applications and Sending Application Blanks

: Examining the Applications : The Personnel department

starts receiving applications. They examine these applications in detail. The candidates who are not qualified for the job, incomplete applications, applications received late, etc., are rejected. Sending Application Blanks : The remaining candidates are sent "Application Blanks". An application blank is a "fact-finder". It collects information about the candidate's background, education, training, experience, reference, etc. The candidates have to fill up the application blanks and send it back to the organisation before a particular date. Photographs, copies of certificates, etc., should also be sent along with the application blank.

Written Test
After receiving the fully filled application blanks, the

Personnel department examines them. Incomplete applications, applications received late, etc. are rejected. The remaining candidates are sent call letters for "Written Tests". It is held to test the performance, aptitude, interest, intelligence, personality, etc. These tests are conducted by phycologists and educationists. They may be a descriptive or objective test. The candidates who are successful in these tests are given call letters for the interview.

Interview

An interview is a verbal and visual interaction between two or more persons, for a particular purpose. An interview is an oral examination of candidates. The main purpose of an interview is to match candidates with jobs. There are many types of interviews e.g. Group interview, Individual interview, Panel interview, Stress interview, etc.

Reference Check
After the interview, the Personnel department checks

the references of the successful candidates. These references are contacted personally or by telephone or by letter, and they are asked their opinion about the candidate. The main purpose of a reference check is to collect information about the past performance of the candidate in order to judge his future performance. The accuracy of the information given by the candidate can also be checked.

Medical Examination
After the reference check, the candidates have to go

through a medical examination. This is done to find out whether, the candidate is physically and mentally fit to do the job.

Final Selection, Placement and Induction

The candidates who are successful in the medical

examination are issued appointment letters, and they are asked to join the organisation on a particular date. On the joining date, the candidate is properly placed and inducted.

Difference between Recruitment & Selection

Recruitment It the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization. The basic purpose of recruitments is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organisation, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organisation. Recruitment is a positive process i.e. encouraging more and more employees to apply . Recruitment is concerned with tapping the sources of human resources. There is no contract of recruitment established in recruitment Selection It Involves the series of steps by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts. The basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the organisation. Selection is a negative process as it involves rejection of the unsuitable candidates. Selection is concerned with selecting the most suitable candidate through various interviews and tests. Selection results in a contract of service between the employer and the selected employee.