Recruitment process

Recruitment processThe recruitment and selection is the major function of the human resource department and recruitment process is the first step towards creating the competitive strength and the strategic advantage for the organizations. Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time. A general recruitment process is as follows:Identifying the vacancy:The recruitment process begins with the human resource department receiving requisitions for recruitment from any department of the company. These contain: • Posts to be filled• Number of persons• Duties to be performed• Qualifications required•Preparing the job description and person specification.•Locating and developing the sources of required number and type of employees (Advertising etc).•Short-listing and identifying the prospective employee with required characteristics.•Arranging the interviews with the selected candidates.•Conducting the interview and decision makingAdvertising the vacancyAdvertisements to recruit personnel are ubiquitous, even thought, they typically generates less desirable recruits than direct applications or referrals—and do so at greater expense. However, because few employers can fill all their vacancies with direct applications and referrals, some form of advertising is usually needed.Moreover, an employer can take many steps to increase the effectiveness of this recruitment method. The two most important questions to ask in designing a job advertisement are, What do we need to say? And to whom do we need to say it?Perhaps the biggest problem with most advertisements is that they are oftenwritten to be overdemanding in terms of the actual skill requirements that areneeded for the work, decreasing the number of legitimate applicant more thannecessary. Some have estimated that roughly half of the labor shortage in certain engineering fields can be traced to this problem.Conducting interview and decision makingEvaluating the quality of a source is most important in decision making, because there are few rules about the quality of a given source for a given vacancy, it is generally a good idea for employers to monitor the quality of all their recruitment sources. One means of accomplishing this is to develop and compare yield ratios for source. Yield ratios express the percentage of applicants who successfully move from one stage of the recruitments and selection process to the next. Comparing yield ratios for different sources help determine which is best or most efficient for the type of vacancy being investigated. Data on cost per hire are also useful in establishing the efficiency of a given source.1.Identify vacancy2.Prepare job description and person specification3.Advertising the vacancy4.Managing the response5.Short-listing6.Arrange interviews7.Conducting interview and decision makingSources of recruitmentThe recruitment process is immediately followed by the selection process i.e. the final interviews and the decision making, conveying the decision and the appointment formalities.Every organization has the option of choosing the candidates for its recruitment processes 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 candidates from all the other sources (like outsourcing agencies etc.) are known as the external sources of recruitment .In general ,relying on internal sources offers a company several advantages .First ,it generates a sample of applicants who are well known to a firm. Second, these applicants are relatively knowledgeable about the company’s vacancies, which minimizes the possibilities of inflated expectation about the job. Third, it is generally cheaper and faster to fill vacancies internally. With all these advantages, you might ask why any organization would ever employ external recruiting methods. There are several good reasons why organizations might decide to recruit externally. First, for entry-level positions and perhaps even for some specialized upper-level positions, there ever not be any internal recruits from which to draw. Second, bringing outsides may expose the organization to new ideas or new of doing business. Using only internal recruitment can result in a workforce whose members all think alike and who therefore may be poorly suited to innovation. Finally, recruiting from outsides source is good way to strengthen one’s own company and weaken one’s competitors at the same time.SOURCES OF RECRUITMENTFactors affecting recruitmentThe recruitment function of the organizations 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 organization. And the external factors are those factors which cannot be controlled by the organization. The internal and external forces affecting recruitment function of an organization are:FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENTRecruitment policy of an organizationIn today’s rapidly changing business environment, a well defined recruit ment policy is necessary for organizations to respond to its human resource requirements in time. Therefore, it is important to have a clear and concise recruitment policy in place, which can be executed effectively to recruit the best talent pool for the selection of the right candidate at the right place quickly. Creating a suitable recruitment policy is the first step in the efficient hiring process. A clear and concise recruitment policy helps ensure a sound recruitment process.It specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of recruitment program. It may involve organizational system to be developed for implementing recruitment programs and procedures by filling up vacancies with best qualified people.COMPONENTS OF THE RECRUITMENT POLICY•The general recruitment policies and terms of the organization•Recruitment services of consultants•Recruitment of temporary employees•Unique recruitment situations•The selection process•The job descriptions•The terms and conditions of the employmentFACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT POLICY•Organizational objectives•Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors.•Government policies on reservations.•Preferred sources of recruitment.•Need of the organization.•Recruitment costs and financial implications.A recruitment policy of an organization should be such that:•It should focus on recruiting the best potential people.•To ensure that every applicant and employee is treated equally with dignity and respect.•Unbiased policy.•To aid and encourage employees in realizing their full potential.•Transparent, task oriented and merit based selection.•Weight age during selection given to factors that suit organization needs.•Optimization of manpower at the time of selection process.•Defining the competent authority to approve each selection.•Abides by relevant public policy and legislation on hiring and employment relationship.Integrates employee needs with the organizational needs.Recent trends in recruitmentThe following trends are being seen in recruitment:OUTSOURCINGIn India, the HR processes are being outsourced from more than a decade now. A company may draw required personnel from outsourcing firms. The outsourcing firms help the organization by the initial screening of the candidates according to the needs of the organization and creating a suitable pool of talent for the final selection by the organization. Outsourcing firms develop their human resource pool by employing people for them and make available personnel to various companies as per their needs. In turn, the outsourcing firms or the intermediaries charge the organizations for their services.Advantages of outsourcing are:pany need not plan for human resources much in advance.2.Value creation, operational flexibility and competitive advantage3.turning the management's focus to strategic level processes of HRMpany is free from salary negotiations, weeding the unsuitableresumes/candidates.pany can save a lot of its resources and time•POACHING/RAIDING“Buying talent” (rather than developing it) is the latest mantra beingfollowed by the organizations today. Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organization might be a competitor in theindustry. A company can attract talent from another firm by offering attractive pay packages and other terms and conditions, better than the current employer of the candidate. But it is seen as an unethical practice and not openly talkedabout. Indian software and the retail sector are the sectors facing the mostsevere brunt of poaching today. It has become a challenge for human resource managers to face and tackle poaching, as it weakens the competitive strengthof the firm.•E-RECRUITMENTMany big organizations use Internet as a source of recruitment. E- recruitment is the use of technology to assist the recruitment process. They advertise jobvacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications orcurriculum vitae i.e. CV through e mail using the Internet. Alternatively jobseekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn byprospective employees depending upon their requirements.Advantages of recruitment are:o Low cost.o No intermediarieso Reduction in time for recruitment.o Recruitment of right type of people.o Efficiency of recruitment process.Recruitment vs. selectionBoth recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process. The differences between the two are:1. Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization WHEREAS selection involves the series of steps by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts.2. The basic purpose of recruitments is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organization WHEREAS the basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the organization.3. Recruitment is a positive process i.e. encouraging more and more employees to apply WHEREAS selection is a negative process as it involves rejection of the unsuitable candidates.4. Recruitment is concerned with tapping the sources of human resources WHEREAS selection is concerned with selecting the most suitable candidate through various interviews and tests.5. There is no contract of recruitment established in recruitment WHEREAS selection results in a contract of service between the employer and the selected employee.。