Chapter 6

Recruitment:
The First Step in the Selection
Process
 Learning Outcomes
Slide 1 of 3
• After reading this chapter, you should be able
to:
– discuss recruitment as part of an organization’s
strategic planning.
– recognize the link between recruitment and
selection.
– describe how the characteristics of the job and
organization are influential in attracting job
applicants.

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 Learning Outcomes
Slide 2 of 3
• After reading this chapter, you should be able
to:
– explain the role that accurate expectations play in
developing a fit between a person and an
organization.
– identify the internal and external factors that
influence an organization’s recruitment strategy.

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 Learning Outcomes
Slide 3 of 3
• After reading this chapter, you should be able
to:
– design and implement a recruitment action plan.
– identify the different methods used to recruit
internal and external job applicants.
– recognize the increasingly important role played
by the Internet and social media in recruiting.
discuss the need to evaluate the effectiveness of
different recruitment methods.

Copyright © 2021 by Top Hat 6-4

 Introduction
• Recruitment
– the generation of an applicant pool for a position
or job to provide the required number of qualified
candidates for a subsequent selection or
promotion process
• Applicant pool
– the set of potential candidates who may be
interested in, and who are likely to apply for, a
specific job

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PART I
Strategic Recruitment

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 Figure 1.1
Recruitment as Part of the HR Planning
Process

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 Recruitment Strategy
• Decision to recruit is based on:
1. internal and external factors affecting the
organization
2. an organization analysis based on those factors
3. job analysis that identifies worker behaviours
and characteristics to aid in selecting candidates
who are qualified for the position
4. forecasts about the supply of labour with the
requirements to fill vacant positions

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 Recruitment and External Factors
• Recruitment is also influenced by two
external factors over which the
organization has little control:
1.the labour market, which is a function of the
economic environment, and
2. the laws and regulations that pertain to
recruitment and selection

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 External Factors: Labour Markets
• Labour markets and recruiting
– Part-time labour markets
• Growth of temporary and contingent jobs
– Outsourcing
• contracting with an outside agent to take over specified
HR functions
– Technology may be another solution to a labour
problem (e.g., efficiencies gained through
automation can provide an alternative to hiring
new employees)
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 External Factors: Legal Environment
• Legal environment
– recruitment program must comply with the legal
and regulatory requirements
– systemic discrimination
• refers to the intentional or unintentional exclusion,
through recruiting, selection, or other personnel
practices or policies, of members of groups that are
protected under human rights legislation

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 Legal Environment
• Legal environment
– Diversity recruitment
• employment equity legislation seeks to eliminate
discrimination in the workplace for women, visible
minorities, Aboriginal people, and people with
disabilities
• diversity recruitment is not about setting quotas, but
rather, removing any barriers that exist in recruiting
practices

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 Internal Factors
• Business strategy
– major impact on recruitment strategy
– must be linked to business plan
• Job level and type
– Type of occupation and nature of the industry
– Executive search firms

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 Importance of Organizational Analysis
• Organizational analysis is an important step
in the recruitment and selection process
– HR specialists consider the design and
structure, functions and processes, and
strategies and missions of organizations to
highlight areas of strength and weakness
useful to human resources planning

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 Organizational Analysis
• It is important to look at the organization
from the perspective of a potential job
candidate
– What are the factors that make the company
attractive? Pay? Location? Opportunities for
growth?
– What are the factors that can impede or limit
attraction?

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 Job Analysis
• Job analysis
– description of the job and worker requirements
– an important piece of information that both
recruiters and job candidates rely on throughout
the recruiting process

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 Human Resources Planning
• Human resources planning
– the process of anticipating and providing for the
movement of employees into, within, and out of
an organization
– Number of hires
– Full-time vs. part time

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Creating a Recruitment Action Plan
• An action plan is formed based on the answers
to certain questions, for example:
– Based on our business plan, how many positions
will we need to staff?
– Based on the job analysis, what is the nature of the
position that must be filled?
– Based on the job analysis, what qualifications must
job candidates possess?
– Based on the labour market, is there an available
supply of qualified external candidates?
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 Recruitment Action Plan
• Timing of recruitment initiatives
• Locating and targeting the applicant pool
• Attracting the target applicant pool’s attention

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 Elements of a Recruitment Action Plan
• Elements of a recruitment and staffing action
plan (see Notebook 6.2 in the text – each of these points has many steps)
– Develop a recruitment strategy
– Develop the applicant pool
– Screen the applicant pool
– Conduct a review of job applicants
– Evaluate the recruiting effort

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PART II
Recruitment Sources

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 Traditional Recruitment Sources
• Internal candidates
• Succession plans/replacement charts
• Internal job postings
• Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS)
• Nominations

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 FIGURE 6.2
Example of a Succession/
Replacement Plan for a CFO

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External Candidates
Public Displays

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 External Candidates
Slide 1 of 3
• Job advertisements
– Examples include, newspapers, professional periodicals and trade
journals, radio and television, public displays, open houses, job fairs,
employee referral, networking
– Questions to ask when creating job ads are:
• Who are we trying to reach? Who is in our target applicant pool?
• How large is the target applicant pool and what portion of it do we need
to reach to obtain a reasonable number of applicants?
• How many applicants do we need to fill the position with qualified
people?
• What type of ad content will attract the target applicant pool’s attention?
• What advertising media are likely to reach the target applicant pool?

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 External Candidates
Slide 2 of 3
• Walk-ins
• Employment agencies
– Service Canada centres
– private employment agencies
– executive search firms
• online recruiting websites (for example, LinkedIn)
– in-house recruiters
– temporary help agencies

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 External Candidates
Slide 3 of 3

• Educational institutions
– sources of recruits for organizations seeking entry-
level technical, professional, and managerial
employees
– campus recruiting is one of the most popular ways
in which graduates find their first job
– it is also an expensive proposition in terms of both
time and money

Copyright © 2021 by Top Hat 6-27

 E-Recruiting: Use of the
Internet and Social Networks
• Internet recruiting
– the use of the Internet to match candidates to
jobs through electronic databases that store
information on jobs and job candidates

• Recruitment and Selection Today 6.1 presents

the experience of NAV CANADA with Internet
recruitment

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Recruiters Judge on Social Media

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 Social Network Recruiting
• Social network recruiting
– the use of Internet sites that allow users to post a
profile with a certain amount of information that
is visible to the public
– Social networks
• Internet sites that allow users to post a profile with a
certain amount of information that is visible to the
public.

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 Benefits of Social Network Recruiting
• Belief that those hired perform better on the
job and stay with the company longer
• Costs are confined to the HR staff charged
with the recruiting
• Can identify “passive” applicants, those not
actively seeking a new job but who can be
targeted by the recruiter because of their
apparent skills and abilities

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Disadvantages of Social Network Recruiting

• The most significant disadvantage is that it

may have adverse impacts on members of
protected groups
• Recruiting only from social networks may
leave a company open to claims of systemic
discrimination
• The use of social media in recruitment and
hiring efforts also results in privacy concerns

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 Table 6.1
Comparison of Recruitment Methods
Slide 1 of 2

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 Table 6.1
Comparison of Recruitment Methods
Slide 2 of 2

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How to Craft an Effective Job Advertisement

• Use emotional appeals rather than relying

solely on facts and rational arguments are
more effective
• Focus on the needs of applicants rather than
on the requirements of the job can improve
application rates
• Treat like designing any effective
advertisement or persuasive message

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 Effective Job Ads
• Incorporate humour, novelty, or surprise
– can be effective in getting the attention of
potential applicants
• How else can employers move from lists of job
responsibilities to a more effective job ad?
– (Refer to the Getting to know the product, Getting
to know the competition, and Getting to know
your customers content from the chapter)

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 Putting It All Together
• Recruiting is a two-way street
• Self-selecting out
– occurs during the recruitment and selection
process when candidates form the opinion that
they do not want to work in the organization for
which they are being recruited

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 The Organizational Context
• Interests and values
– an individual’s likes and dislikes and the
importance or priorities attached to those likes
and dislikes
• Job search
– the strategies, techniques, and practices an
individual uses in looking for a job

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Corporate Image and Applicant Attraction

• Organization’s reputation is an important

concern to job applicants
• Corporate image predicts the likelihood of
interest on the part of a job seeker
• Familiarity with the company
• Competitive compensation package

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 Attracting Job Applicants
• Corporate Image and Applicant Attraction
– Image advertising
• advertising designed to raise an organization’s profile in
a positive manner in order to attract job seekers’
interest
• Example: sponsorship of summer jazz festivals

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 Person–Job and
Person–Organization Fit
• Person–job fit
– when a job candidate has the knowledge, skills,
abilities, or other attributes and competencies
required for the job in question
• Person–organization fit
– when a job candidate fits the organization’s
values and culture and has the contextual
attributes desired by the organization

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 The Person–Organization Fit
• Communication and Perception
– If the perceptions are positive, a job offer is made
and accepted
– If the perceptions of one do not match those of
the other, a job offer is either not made or, if
made, not accepted
– Perceptions are based on communication

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 Figure 6.6
Matching the Candidate’s and
Organization’s Perceptions

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Evaluating Recruiting Efforts

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Auditing Recruitment Practices

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 Chapter Summary
Slide 1 of 3
• Recruitment is the first step in the hiring or
staffing process.
• Recruitment needs to attract qualified job
applicants and must take into account the
strategies that job seekers use.

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 Chapter Summary
Slide 2 of 3
• HR planners must consider both the internal
and external constraints.
• HR professionals must know the effectiveness
of different recruitment methods and build
them in to their recruitment strategy plans in
order to evaluate the recruiting outcomes.
• HR professionals must obtain appropriate
methods for contacting the target applicant
pool.
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 Chapter Summary
Slide 3 of 3
• Recruitment strategies must contain an
action plan.
• Recruitment campaigns are based on the
principle of improving the fit.
• Different criterion measures can be used to
evaluate recruiting efforts. These criteria can
be grouped into three categories: behavioural
measures, performance measures, and
attitudinal measures.
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 Reminders
• Job Analysis due tonight 11:55pm in the
assignment folder on dropbox
• Chapter 6 Quiz opens at 12:20pm today

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