Recruitment

Definition

Recruitment is a 'linking function' - joining together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs. It is a 'joining process' in that it tries to bring together job seekers and employer with a view to encourage the former to apply for a job with the latter.

The basic purpose of recruiting is to develop a group of potentially qualified people. To this end, the organization must communicate the position in such a way that job seekers respond. To be cost effective, the recruitment process should attract qualified applicants and provide enough information for unqualified persons to self-select themselves out.

Recruitment involves searching for and obtaining potential job candidates in sufficient numbers and quality so that the organization can select the most appropriate people to fill its job needs.

Aims of Recruitment

The aims of recruitment are:

♠ to obtain a pool of suitable candidates for vacant posts

♠ to use and be seen to use a fair process

♠ to ensure that all recruitment activities contribute to company goals and a desirable company image

♠ to conduct recruitment activities in an efficient and cost-effective manner

Edwin D. Flippo says

Factors affecting recruitment1) Size of the organization2) Employment conditions in the community

where the organization is located3) The effects of past recruiting efforts which

show the organization’s ability to locate and keep better performing people

4) Working conditions and salary and benefits offered

5) Rate of growth of organization6) Level of seasonality of operations7) Future expansions8) Cultural, economic and legal factors

Environment Affecting RecruitmentThe Economic Environment Economic conditions quietly influence the recruitment process in all

organizations. The sudden boom in the financial services sector in India, especially from 1991 onwards, has contributed to the growing demand for MBA/CA/CFA/CWA students. The demand for engineers, especially in the manufacturing sector, has not kept pace and most engineers had to make a beeline for finance/marketing degrees or diploma to encash the job opportunities.

The Social Environment Major social changes in the past two decades have caused organizations

to place increased emphasis on recruitment. Modem employees look for a satisfying career in place of 'just a job'. If the opportunities for career growth are missing in an organization, they do not hesitate to leave and go in search of greener pastures outside. To ward off such threats, companies nowadays emphasize opportunities for training and development and progression through a series of jobs within the same organization. They also try to present a more realistic picture of the job and the encouraging career openings to prospective employees through innovative recruitment campaigns. If the organization is not aware of and is insensitive to prevailing social values and norms, the recruitment efforts could go off the track.

Environment Affecting RecruitmentThe Technological Environment New technologies create new jobs. The existing jobs undergo a rapid

change. As a result, applicants with unusual combination of skills and knowledge must be found. The Liberalization Programme after 1991 brought about rapid changes in the fields of banking, electronics, telecommunications, automobiles, software and pharma industries, etc. Several old jobs have disappeared almost suddenly. At the same time, there is a chronic shortage of people with requisite skills and knowledge especially in the fields of software, telecommunication, insurance, etc. In such a scenario companies have to step up their recruitment efforts to compete successfully for a small number of suitable candidates.

The Political Environment Political compulsions, constitutional provisions covering reservations for

special groups, providing employment to "sons of the soil" especially in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Arunachal Pradesh; offering jobs to displaced persons whose lands have been acquired in order to set up projects of national importance - also come in the way of recruiting people, based solely on qualifications, skills and experience. Factors such as influence of unions, recommendations of friends and relatives of management also play an important role in influencing recruitment policies followed by a firm.

Environment Affecting RecruitmentThe Legal Environment

The different legislative policies governing child labor, night shift work, bonded labor, contract labor, reservation, 'sons of the soil' have brought the legal environment to be a major item to be looked into carefully by all companies intending to recruit people for various positions. Let us examine the issues more elaborately:

The Factories Act, 1948: The Act prohibits the employment of women

(night work, underground work, carrying heavy loads, etc.) and child labor (below 14 years of age) in certain jobs

. The Apprentices Act, 1961: The Act provides for a machinery to lay

down syllabi and specify period of training, mutual obligations of apprentices and employees, etc. The responsibility for engagement of apprentice lies solely with the employer. The apprentice, after serving a contractual term of training, can be taken on regular rolls. The Act, as amended in 1986, provides for revised rates of compensation during the apprenticeship period and for failure on the part of the employer to execute the terms of the contract.

Environment Affecting RecruitmentThe Employment Exchanges Act, 1959: The Act requires all employers to

notify the vacancies arising in their establishments to prescribed employment exchange before they are filled. The Act covers all establishments in Public Sector and nonagricultural establishments employing 25 or more workers in the private sector.

The Contract Labor Act, 1970: The Act is applicable to every establishment (contractor) employing 20 or more persons. It tries to regulate the employment conditions of contract labor in certain establishments and also provides for the abolition of contract labor in certain circumstances.

Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1976: The Act provides for the abolition of bonded labor (system of forced labor to liquidate debts payable to parties who are bent on exploiting the vulnerability of the victim) or his family members.

The Child Labor Act, 1986: The Act prohibits the employment of children below 14 years of age in certain employments. This has become a serious issue in India recently when German firms refused to accept carpets exported from Uttar Pradesh, objecting to the employment of child labor in the carpet industry.

Recruitment theories As per Behling and others, there are three

ways in which an individual make a decision to join an organization viz. objective factor, subjective factor and critical contact. Accordingly following three theories of recruitment have been evolved:

• Objective factor theory• Subjective factor theory• Critical contact theory.

(a) Objective Factor Theory:

As per this theory the choice of organization by a potential employee depends on objective assessment of certain tangible factors, such as the following:

• Pay and perks.• Location.• Opportunity for career growth.• Nature of work• Educational opportunities, etc.

(b) Subjective Factor Theory:

According to this theory compatibility of individual personality with the image of organization is a decisive factor in choosing an organization by an individual candidate seeking employment

(c) Critical Factor Theory: there are instances when a candidate is unable to choose an organization, out of alternatives based on objective or subjective factors. This is due to many reasons such as limited contact and insufficient data, in regards to the organization or his own inability to analyze and come to any firm conclusion. In such cases, certain critical factors observed by him during his interview and contact with personnel of the organization will have profound influence in his decision process

Recruitment constraints for HR manager

1) Organization’s image2) Attractiveness quotient3) Internal organizational policies4) Union requirements5) Influence of government

Steps of recruitment process

Pre-requisites of a sound Recruitment Policy Conformity with its general policies Should be

flexible enough to meet the changing needs of an organization.

be designed so as to ensure employment opportunities on long term basis to achieve organizational

match the qualities of employees Highlight the meeting of established job analysis

Principle elements governing Recruitment Policy Identification of recruitment needs Preferred sources of recruitment Cost of recruitment and selection Criteria of selection techniques Role , if any , assigned to the Union in the

formulation and implementation of Rec and selection policies

Sources of recruitment

Internal Present , Permanent

employees Present Temp/ Casual Retrenched / Retired Dependents of

diseased , disabled , retired and present employees

External Educational & Training

Institutes Pvt employment

agencies / consultants Public employment

exchanges , Professional

Associations Data banks Trade Unions

Merits and demerits of hiring people from within

Merits(i) Economical: The cost of

recruiting internal candidates is minimal. No expenses are incurred on advertising.

(ii) Suitable: The organisation can pick the right candidates having the requisite skills. The candidates can choose a right vacancy where their talents can be fully utilised.

(iii)Reliable: The organisation has knowledge about the suitability of a candidate for a position. ‘Known devils are better than unknown angels!’.

(iv)Satisfying: A policy of preferring people from within offers regular promotional avenues for employees. It motivates them to work hard and earn promotions. They will work with loyalty, commitment and enthusiasm.

Demerits(i) Limited choice: The organisation is

forced to select candidates from a limited pool. It may have to sacrifice quality and settle for less qualified candidates.

(ii) Inbreeding: It discourages entry of talented people, available outside an organisation. Existing employees may fail to behave in innovative ways and inject necessary dynamism to enterprise activities.

(iii)Inefficiency: Promotions based on length of service rather than merit, may prove to be a blessing for inefficient candidates. They do not work hard and prove their worth.

(iv)Bone of contention: Recruitment from within may lead to infighting among employees aspiring for limited, higher-level positions in an organisation. As years roll by, the race for premium positions may end up on a bitter note.

Merits and demerits of hiring people from outside

MeritsWide choice: The organisation has the freedom to select candidates from a large pool. Persons with requisite qualifications could be picked up.Injection of fresh blood: People with special skills and knowledge could be hired to stir up the existing employees and pave the way for innovative ways of working.Motivational force: It helps in motivating internal employees to work hard and compete with external candidates while seeking career growth. Such a competitive atmosphere would help an employee to work to the best of his abilities.Long term benefits: Talented people could join the ranks, new ideas could find meaningful expression, a competitive atmosphere would compel people to give of their best and earn rewards, etc.

DemeritsExpensive: Hiring costs could go up substantially. Tapping multifarious sources of recruitment is not an easy task, either.

Time consuming: It takes time to advertise, screen, to test and to select suitable employees. Where suitable ones are not available, the process has to be repeated. Demotivating: Existing employees who have put in considerable service may resist the process of filling up vacancies from outside. The feeling that their services have not been recognised by the organisation, forces them to work with less enthusiasm and motivation.Uncertainty: There is no guarantee that the organisation, ultimately, will be able to hire the services of suitable candidates. It may end up hiring someone who does not ‘fit’ and who may not be able to adjust in the new set-up.

Internal

methods

Methods Of Recruitment

Promotions and transfers: Promotion is the movement of an employee from a lower level position to a higher level position with increase in salary

Transfer, on the other hand, is a lateral movement within the same grade, from one job to another.

Job posting: It is a method of publicising job openings on bulletin boards, electronic media and similar outlets by a company.

Employee referrals: It is a kind of recommendation from a current employee regarding a job applicant.

Possible benefits and costs of employee referrals

Recommender gives a realistic picture about the job. The applicant can weigh the pros and cons carefully before handing over the CV. The applicant is more likely to accept an offer if one is made and once employed, to have a higher job survival.

It‘s an excellent means of locating potential employees in those hard-to-fill positions. The recommender earns a reward and the

company can avoid expensive recruiting search – in case the candidate gets selected.

Recommenders may confuse friendship with job competence. Factors such as bias, nepotism, and eagerness to see their

friends in the company may come in the way of hiring a suitable candidate.

Direct methods

Campus recruitment

It is a method of recruiting by visiting and participating in college campuses and their placement centres. Possibly the most popular way of hiring the best brains in the country, this method has to be used with lot of care and caution. Campus hiring, of course, is not easy.

Common Mistakes made in campus recruiting

Failure to utilise a full-time professional recruiter: Often recruitment is used as a training experience for new employees. This results in rapid turnover in the recruitment office.

The recruiter is not professionally trained in interviewing: Professionally trained as used here means a minimum training period of three days of principles and practices using live interviews that are audio or videotaped and critiqued.

The recruiter does not have the authority to make decisions with regard to hiring: Often this is reserved for the boss, who does not know how to conduct an evaluation interview.

The actual plant visit is mishandled: Recruits are left waiting for scheduled appointments, constant interruptions occur during the visit, arrangements by the institute may not be upto the mark, prior shortlisting of students is not arranged, etc.

The recruiter does not get involved in the development of the new employee: Because the recruiter often has the best rapport with the new employee, he or she should become involved.

Guidelines for campus recruiting

Shortlist campuses

Choose recruiting team carefully

Pay smartly, not highly

Present a clear image

Do not oversell yourself

Get in early

Not everyone fits the bill

Indirect methods

Newspaper advertisements

Television and radio advertisements

Third party methods Private employment search firms

Employment exchanges

Gate hiring and contractors

Unsolicited applicants/walk-ins

Internet recruiting

Alternatives to recruiting

Overtime: Short term fluctuations in work volume could best be solved through overtime. The employer benefits because the costs of recruitment, selection and training could be avoided. The employee benefits in the form of higher pay. However, an overworked employee may prove to be less productive and turn out less than optimal performance. Employees may slow down their pace of work during normal working hours in order to earn overtime daily. In course of time, overtime payments become quite routine and if, for any reason, these payments do not accrue regularly, employees become resentful and disgruntled.

Subcontracting: To meet a sudden increase in demand for its products and services, the firm may sometimes go for subcontracting – instead of expanding capacities immediately. Expansion becomes a reality only when the firm experiences increased demand for its products for a specified period of time. Meanwhile, the firm can meet increased demand by allowing an outside specialist agency to undertake part of the work, to mutual advantage.

Cont…

Temporary employees: Employees hired for a limited time to perform a specific job are called temporary employees. They are particularly useful in meeting short term human resource needs. A short term increase in demand could be met by hiring temporary hands from agencies specialising in providing such services. It’s a big business idea in United States these days ($3-$4 billion industry). In this case the firm can avoid the expenses of recruitment and the painful effects of absenteeism, labour turnover, etc. It can also avoid fringe benefits associated with regular employment. However, temporary workers do not remain loyal to the company; they may take more time to adjust and their inexperience may come in the way of maintaining high quality.

Employee leasing: Hiring permanent employees of another company who possess certain specialised skills on lease basis to meet short-term requirements – although not popular in India – is another recruiting practice followed by firms in developed countries. In this case, individuals work for the leasing firm as per the leasing agreement/arrangement. Such an arrangement is beneficial to small firms because it avoids expense and problems of personnel administration.

Alternatives to recruiting

Cont…

Outsourcing: Any activity in which a firm lacks internal expertise and requires on unbiased opinion can be outsourced. Many businesses have started looking at outsourcing activities relating to recruitment, training, payroll processing, surveys, benchmark studies, statutory compliance etc., more closely, because they do not have the time or expertise to deal with the situation. HR heads are no longer keeping activities like resume management and candidate sourcing in their daily scrutiny. This function is more commonly outsourced when firms are in seasonal business and have cyclical stuffing needs.

Alternatives to recruiting

Time lapse data: they show the time lag between the

date of requisition for manpower supply from a

department to the actual date of filling the vacancies in

that department

Yield ratios: they show the number of contacts required

to generate a given number of hires at a point of time.

Surveys and studies: they could be carried out to find

out the suitability of a particular source for certain

positions.

Evaluation of the sources of recruitment

Recruitment Policies And Procedures

A recruitment policy indicates the organisation’s code of conduct in a specific area.

Recruitment policy statement In its recruitment activities, the company will:

Advertise all vacancies internally

Reply to every job applicant promptly

Inform job applicants the basic details and job conditions of every job advertised

Process all applications with efficiency and courtesy

Seek candidates on the basis of their qualifications

Aim to ensure that every person invited for interview will be given a fair and thorough hearing

Cont…

The company will not:

Discriminate unfairly against potential applicants on the basis of sex, race, religion, caste, etc.;

Knowingly make any false or exaggerated claims in its recruitment literature or job advertisements

A recruitment procedure will lay down a clear path to be followed by the HR department while hiring people. Of course, the procedures have to be framed in a flexible manner so as to permit the HR department to respond to the requests made by various departments and by potential candidates quickly.

Recruitment Policies And Procedures

Questions to be asked while hiring people

Has the vacancy been agreed by a responsible manager? Is there an up-to-date job description for the vacancy? What are the conditions of employment for the vacancy (salary, hours of work, fringe benefits, perquisites, holidays, etc.)? Has a personnel specification/candidate’s profile (in terms of physique,

intelligence, aptitude, qualifications experience, etc.) been prepared? Has a notice of the vacancy been circulated internally? Has a job advertisement been agreed? Have details of the vacancy been forwarded to relevant agencies? Do all potential candidates (internal or external) know where to apply and in what form? What are the arrangements for drawing up a shortlist of candidates? What about the interviewing dates and arrangements for selection of candidates? Have the shortlisted candidates or waitlisted candidates been informed

sufficiently in advance and asked to furnish detailed references? Have unsuitable candidates or waitlisted candidates been informed of their position in a polite way thanking them for their interest and attendance?

Recruitment: Indian Experiences

Recruitment of trainees: expectations of Indian companies

Pepsi: Pepsi is a flat organisation. There are a maximum of four reporting levels. Executives here emphasise achievement, motivation, the ability to deliver come what may. As the Personnel Manager of Pepsi Foods remarked “we hire people who are capable of growing the business rather than just growing with the business”. Recruitees must be capable of thinking outside the box, cutting the cake of conventional barriers whenever and wherever necessary. They must have a winner’s

mindset and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They must have the ability to deal with ambiguity and informality.

Cont…

Reebok: As Reebok’s customers are young, the company places emphasis on youth. The average age at Reebok is 26 years. Employees are expected to have a passion for the fitness business and reflect the company’s aspirations. Recruitees should be willing to do all kinds of job operations. The willingness to get one’s hands dirty is important. They must also have an ability to cope with informality, a flat organisation and be able to take decisions independently and perform consistently with their clearly defined goals.

Indian Hotels: The Taj group expects the job aspirants to stay with the organisation patiently and rise with the company. Employees

must be willing to say ‘yes sir’ to anybody. Other criteria include: communication skills, the ability to work long and stressful hours, mobility, attention to personal appearance and assertiveness without aggression.

Recruitment of trainees: expectations of Indian companies

1. Ability to work in a team

2. Analytical and problem solving skills

3. Communication and other soft skills

4. Creativity and resourcefulness

5. Leadership potential

6. General Managerial skills

7. Entrepreneurial skills

Skills recruiters want in India