RECRUITMENT

According to Edwin B. Flippo, Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment
and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation. Recruitment is the activity that links the
employers and the job seekers. A few definitions of recruitment are:

A process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins
when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool
of applications from which new employees are selected.
It is the process to discover sources of manpower to meet the requirement of staffing
schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to
facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.

Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the selection, which helps create a pool of
prospective employees for the organisation so that the management can select the right candidate for
the right job from this pool. The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection
process.
Recruitment is a continuous process whereby the firm attempts to develop a pool of qualified
applicants for the future human resources needs even though specific vacancies do not exist. Usually,
the recruitment process starts when a manger initiates an employee requisition for a specific vacancy
or an anticipated vacancy.

RECRUITMENT NEEDS ARE OF THREE TYPES

PLANNED
i.e. 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
Resignation, deaths, accidents, illness give rise to unexpected needs.

Purpose and importance of recruitment

Attract and encourage more and more candidates to apply in the organisation.
Create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the
organisation.
Determine present and future requirements of the organization in conjunction with its
personnel planning and job analysis activities.
Recruitment is the process which links the employers with the employees.
Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.

Help increase the success rate of selection process by decreasing number of visibly under
qualified or overqualified job applicants.
Help reduce the probability that job applicants once recruited and selected will leave the
organization only after a short period of time.
Meet the organizations legal and social obligations regarding the composition of its
workforce.
Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates.
Increase organization and individual effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and
sources for all types of job applicants

RECRUITMENT PROCESS
The 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 organisations. 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 making

1.

Identify vacancy

2.

Prepare job description and person specification

3.

Advertising the vacancy

4.

Managing the response

5.

Short-listing

6.

Arrange interviews

7.

Conducting interview and decision making

The 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.

SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT :
Every organisation has the option of choosing the candidates for its recruitment processes from two
kinds of sources: internal and external sources. The sources within the organisation 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

INTERNAL SOURCES :

1.TRANSFERS
The employees are transferred from one department to another according to their efficiency
and experience.
2.PROMOTIONS
The employees are promoted from one department to another with more benefits and greater
responsibility based on efficiency and experience.
3. Others are Upgrading and Demotion of present employees according to their
performance.
4. Retired and Retrenched employees may also be recruited once again in case of
shortage of qualified personnel or increase in load of work. Recruitment such people
save time and costs of the organisations as the people are already aware of the organisational
culture and the policies and procedures.
5. The dependents and relatives of Deceased employees and Disabled employeesare also
done by many companies so that the members of the family do not become dependent on the
mercy of others.
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
2.EDUCATIONALINSTITUTES
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.

3.PLACEMENTAGENCIES
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)

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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 organisation.

7. EMPLOYEE REFERRALS / RECOMMENDATIONS

Many organisations have structured system where the current employees of the organisation
can refer their friends and relatives for some position in their organisation. 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.

8. 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.

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:

The internal forces i.e. the factors which can be controlled by the organisation are:
1. RECRUITMENT POLICY
The recruitment policy of an organisation specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides
a framework for implementation of recruitment programme. It may involve organizational
system to be developed for implementing recruitment programmes and procedures by filling
up vacancies with best qualified people.
FACTORS 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.

2.

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Effective human resource planning helps in determining the gaps present in the
existing manpower of the organization. It also helps in determining the number of
employees to be recruited and what qualification they must possess.

3.

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.

4.

COST
Recruitment incur cost to the employer, therefore, organizations try to employ that
source of recruitment which will bear a lower cost of recruitment to the organization for
each candidate.

5.

GROWTH AND EXPANSION

Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if it is expanding its
operations.

The external forces are the forces which cannot be controlled by the organisation. The major
external forces are:
1. 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.
2. LABOUR MARKET
Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will
influence the recruiting efforts of the organization. If there is surplus of 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.
3.

IMAGE / GOODWILL
Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. An organization with
positive image and goodwill as an employer 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. For example finance was taken up by fresher MBAs when many
finance companies were coming up.

4.

POLITICAL-SOCIAL- 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 important role in recruitment. This restricts
management 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.

5.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
One of the factors that influence 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 oversupply of qualified labour which in turn leads to unemployment.

6.

COMPETITORS
The recruitment policies of the competitors also effect 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.

RECRUITMENT VS SELECTION :
Both 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 organisation 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 organisation, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the
organisation WHEREAS the basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill
the various positions in the organisation.
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.

The following trends are being seen

in recruitment:
OUTSOURCING
In 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
organisation by the initial screening of the candidates according to the needs of the
organisation and creating a suitable pool of talent for the final selection by the organisation.
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 organisations for their services.
Advantages of outsourcing are:
1.

Company need not plan for human resources much in advance.

2.

Value creation, operational flexibility and competitive advantage

3.

turning the management's focus to strategic level processes of HRM

4.

Company is free from salary negotiations, weeding the unsuitable resumes/candidates.

5.

Company can save a lot of its resources and time

POACHING/RAIDING
Buying talent (rather than developing it) is the latest mantra being followed by the
organisations today. Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already
working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organisation
might be a competitor in the industry. 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 talked about.
Indian software and the retail sector are the sectors facing the most severe brunt of poaching
today. It has become a challenge for human resource managers to face and tackle poaching,
as it weakens the competitive strength of the firm.

E-RECRUITMENT
Many big organizations use Internet as a source of recruitment. E- recruitment is the use of

technology to assist the recruitment process. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide
web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae i.e. CV through e mail using
the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CVs in worldwide web, which can be drawn
by prospective employees depending upon their requirements.
Advantages of recruitment are:
o

Low cost.

No intermediaries

Reduction in time for recruitment.

Recruitment of right type of people.

Efficiency of recruitment process.