UNIT 2

RECRUITMENT & SELECTION

Introduction to Recruitment:
Once the required number and the kind of human
resources are determined, the management has to find the
places where required human resources are/will be
available and also work out strategies for attracting them
towards the organization before selecting suitable
candidates for jobs. This process is generally known as
recruitment. Some people use the term recruitment for
employment. These two are not one and the same.
Recruitment is only one of the steps in the entire
employment process. Some others use the term
recruitment for selection. These two terms are different.
Technically speaking, the function of recruitment precedes
the selection function and it includes only finding,
developing the sources of prospective employees and
attracting them to apply for jobs in an organization,
whereas the selection is the process of finding out the
most suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates
attracted(i.e., recruited).

Recruitment Definition:
Recruitment is defined as a process to discover the
sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the
staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for
attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to
facilitate effective selection of an efficient workforce.
Edwin B.Flippo defined recruitment as the process of
searching for prospective employees and stimulating them
to apply for jobs in the organization. These definitions can
be analyzed by discussing the processes of recruitment
through systems approach.
Objectives of Recruitment
The objectives of recruitment are:
i. To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and
experiences that suit the present and future organizational
strategies,
ii. To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the
company,
iii. To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization,
iv. To develop an organizational culture that attracts
competent people to the company,
v. To search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills
fit the companys values,

vi. To devise methodologies for assessing psychological

traits,
vii. To seek out non-conventional development grounds of
talent,
viii. To search for talent globally and not just within the
company,
ix. To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on
quantum,
x. To anticipate and find people for positions that does not
exist yet.
Employee Recruitment Methods: Recruitment can be in
two different ways
Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the
vacancy from within its existing workforce.
External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the
vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business.
Internal Recruitment Sources:
They include those who are employed in the organisation
or those who were in the past employ (but quit voluntarily
or due to retrenchment) and would return if the
organisation likes to re-employ. The advantage in looking

for internal resources is that they provide opportunities for

better deployment and utilisation of existing human
resources through planned placements and transfers. It
will also motivate people through planned promotions and
career development when vacancies exist in higher
grades. The law provides preferences to retrenched
employees when vacancies arise in future.
Internal recruitment methods are not only cost efficient,
they also support employee satisfaction and moral. Before
looking outside of the company for talent, take the time to
look at the current employees. Nothing causes more
dissatisfaction than having someone new take the position
that an employee has been working to get promoted to.
Promoting within requires less training and transition. Here
are two ways to accomplish this:
Job postings post open positions for employees to apply
for before external hires are considered.
Skills inventory have HR keep a record of employee
skills. Review the inventory to identify any employees that
might qualify for the job. Invite them to apply.
Internal Recruitment Advantages
1. Cheaper and quicker to recruit

2. People already familiar with the business and how it

operates
3. Provides opportunities for promotion with in the
business can be motivating
4. Business already knows the strengths and weaknesses
of candidates
Disadvantages :
1.Limits the number of potential applicants
2.No new ideas can be introduced from outside the
business
3.May cause resentment amongst candidates not
appointed
4.Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled
External Recruitment
The External Recruitment is the source of the fresh blood
for the organization. As a very critical HR Process, the
external recruitment process has to be set up very
carefully. The external recruitment is a process, which is
very sensitive to changes on the external market and the
managers are very sensitive about that as well.
The most popular ways of recruiting externally are:

Job centres These are paid for by the government and

are responsible for helping the unemployed find jobs or get
training. They also provide a service for businesses
needing to advertise a vacancy and are generally free to
use.
Job advertisements Advertisements are the most
common form of external recruitment. They can be found
in many places (local and national newspapers, notice
boards, recruitment fairs) and should include some
important information relating to the job (job title, pay
package, location, job description, how to apply-either by
CV or application form). Where a business chooses to
advertise will depend on the cost of advertising and the
coverage needed (i.e. how far away people will consider
applying for the job
Recruitment agency Provides employers with details of
suitable candidates for a vacancy and can sometimes be
referred to as head-hunters. They work for a fee and
often specialise in particular employment areas e.g.
nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment
Personal recommendation Often referred to as word of
mouth and can be a recommendation from a colleague at

work. A full assessment of the candidate is still needed

however but potentially it saves on advertising cost.
Unsolicited applicants most business will have unsolicited
resumes. Make sure these resumes are kept and filed.
Review these before beginning to advertise. The right
candidate might very well be in that file.
Events job fairs, open houses. These are costly to run but
can produce excellent results. The number of positions
available can best determine if it is worth the investment.
Campus Placements co-op programs and job placement
programs are a great way to bring in new employees.
Contact local colleges or universities to see if there is an
opportunity to work together.
Modern Sources of Recruitment
A number of modern recruitment sources are being used
by the corporate sector in addition to traditional sources.
Employee Referrals: Present employees are well aware of
the qualifications, attitudes, experience and emotions of
their friends and relatives. They are also aware of the job
requirements and organizational culture of their company.

As such, they can make preliminary judgment regarding

the match between the job and their friends or relatives.
Hence, the HR managers of various companies depend on
the present employees for reference of the candidates for
various jobs. This source reduces the cost and time
required for recruitment. Further, this source enhances the
effectiveness 9of recruitment. HR managers offer various
incentives/rewards including cash incentives to the current
employees for referring the best candidates.
Modern external sources include: Walk in and consult in,
head-hunting, body-shopping, mergers and acquisitions,
tele-recruitment and outsourcing.
(i) Walk-in: The busy organizations and the rapid changing
companies do not find time to perform various functions of
recruitment. Therefore, they advise the potential
candidates to attend for an interview directly and without
a prior application on a specified date, time and at a
specified place. The suitable candidates from among the
interviewees will be selected for appointment after
screening the candidates through tests and interviews.
(ii) Consult-in: The busy and dynamic companies
encourage the potential job seekers to approach them
personally and consult them regarding the jobs. The
companies select the suitable candidates from among
such candidates through the selection process.

(iii) Head-hunting: The companies request the professional

organizations to search for the best candidates particularly
for the senior executive positions. The professional
organizations search for the most suitable candidates and
advise the company regarding the filling up of the
positions. Head-hunters are also called search
consultants.
(iv) Body shopping: Professional organizations and the hitech training institutes develop the pool of human
resources for the possible employment. The prospective
employers contact these organizations to recruit the
candidates. Otherwise, the organizations themselves
approach the prospective employers to place their human
resources. These professional and training institutions are
called body shoppers and these shopping is also known
as employee leasing activity. The leasing firms employ the
people and lease them for the use by various needy
companies for payment of a commission.
(v) Mergers & Acquisitions: Business alliances like
acquisitions, mergers, and take-overs help in getting
human resources. In addition, the companies do also have
alliances in sharing their human resources on ad-hoc basis.
It does mean that the company with surplus human
resources offers the services of their employees to other
needy organizations.

(vi) E-Recruitment: The technological revolution in

telecommunications helped the organizations to use
internet as a source of recruitment. Organizations
advertise the job vacancies through the World Wide Web
(www). The job seekers send their applications through email using the Internet. Alternatively, job seekers place
their CVs in the world wide web/internet, which can be
drawn by the prospective employers depending upon their
requirements.
External Recruitment Sources: Organisations may look for
people outside it. Entry level jobs are usually filled by new
entrants from outside. Also in the following circumstances
organisations may resort to outside sources:
a. when suitably qualified people are not available.
b. when the organisation feels it necessary to impart new
blood for fresh ideas.
c. when it is diversifying into new avenues and
d. when it is merging with another organisation.
External Recruitment Advantages
Outside people bring in new ideas
Larger pool of workers from which to find the best
candidate
People have a wider range of experience

Disadvantages :
Longer process
More expensive process due to advertisements and
interviews required
Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal
the best candidate
Recruitment Strategies: The recruitment strategies
formulated by the companies include:
In-sourcing or Outsourcing: Companies recruit the
candidates, employ them, train and develop them and
utilize the human resources of these candidates. This
strategy is called in-sourcing. Companies formulate and
implement this strategy when the companys growth is
stable. Some organizations employ and develop the
candidates with a view to provide the human resources to
other companies which concentrate on manufacturing,
servicing and such other activities. Some manufacturing
and service companies depend for their human resource
requirements on such external organizations whose core
business is to provide human resources. This strategy is
called outsourcing. Most of the IT companies follow this
strategy. Even manufacturing companies also depend on
outsourcing for the running the non-core business like
canteens, hospitals, office maintenance, security, house-

keeping, plant maintenance etc. outsourcing strategy is

more suitable for both the fast growing and diversifying
companies.
Vast and Fast Source: The fast developing IT industry and
high technology oriented industry invariably require vast
human resources within the short span of time. The best
strategy to get vast human resources immediately is
through internet.
Recruitment Policy
Recruitment policy of any organization is derived from the
HR policy of the same organization. In other words, the
former is a part of the latter. However, recruitment policy
by itself should take into consideration the governments
reservation policy, policy
Regarding sons of soil etc., HR policies of other
organizations regarding merit, internal sources, social
responsibility in absorbing minority sections, women etc.
recruitment policy should commit itself to the
organizations HR policy like enriching the organizations
human resources or serving the community by absorbing
the weaker sections and disadvantaged people of the
society, motivating the employees through internal

promotions, improving the employees loyalty to the

organization by absorbing the retrenched or laid-of
employees or casual/temporary employees or dependents
of present/former employees etc.
Limitations for Recruitment Challenges:
1. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation ) Act, 1986:
This Act replaces the Employment of Children Act, 138,
and seeks to prohibit the engagement of children below 14
years of age in certain employment and to regulate the
conditions of work of children in certain other employment.
Penalties for contravening the provisions are fine and
imprisonment.
2. The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of
Vacancies) Act, 1959:
The Act requires all employers to notify vacancies (with
certain exemptions) occurring in their establishments to
the prescribed employment exchanges before they are
filled
3. The Apprentices Act, 1961: The Act seeks to provide for
the regulation and control of training apprentices and for
matters connected therewith. The Act provides for a

machinery to lay down syllabi and prescribe period of

training, reciprocal obligations for apprentices and
employers etc. The responsibility for engagement of
apprentices lies solely with the employer. An apprentice is
not a workman.
4. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act,
1970: This Act seeks to regulate the employment of
contract labour in certain establishments and to provide
for the abolition in certain circumstances. The Act applies
to every establishment / contractor employing 20 or more
persons.
5. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976: This Act
seeks to provide for the abolition of bonded labour system
with a view to preventing the economic and physical
exploitation of the weaker sections of society.
6. The Inter-state Migrant Workmen Act, 1979: This Act
safeguards the interests of the workmen who are recruited
by contractors from one state for service in an
establishment situated in another state and to guard
against the exploitation of such workmen by the
contractors.

7. The Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, etc. :

Certain legislation, like the Factories Act and the Mines Act
prohibit employment of women (in night work,
underground work etc.) and children (below 14 years of
age) in certain types of jobs.
8. Reservations for Special Groups: In pursuance of the
constitutional provisions, statutory reservations and
relaxed norms have been provided in education and
employment to candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes in central and state services
including departmental undertakings, government
corporations, local bodies and other quasi government
organisations. Most state governments have issued policy
directives extending the reservations to notified backward
communities also.
9. Sons -of -the-Soil: The question of preference to local
population in the matter of employment has become more
complex toady than ever before. The Govt. of India has
recognised the main elements of the arguments on behalf
of the sons of the soil and laid down certain principles in
the matter of recruitment to its public sector projects,
whose implementation, however, is left to the
undertakings themselves.

10. Displaced Persons: Whenever major projects are set

up, large tracts of land are acquired for the purpose,
displacing several hundred households in each case.
Payment of compensation for land was at one time
considered a sufficient discharge of obligation towards
persons who are dispossessed of land. This alone did not
solve the question of earning livelihood.
Realistic Job Preview:
A Realistic Job Preview is an approach that enables the
communication of aspects of a job to prospective
applicants before the applicant accepts the offer of a
position.
For a RJP to be effective, it is critical to allow employees to
obtain a balanced view of the positive and negative
aspects of the position. Discrepancies between the
applicant of the position and the actual operational
requirements of the job role may lead to lower
commitment levels and increased turnover. A RJP works by
providing applicants with information that clarifies their
expectations and allows them to have a more realistic
perspective of the role. By providing a well designed and
consistent RJP process to all potential employees, the

organization can reduce turnover and increase

commitment by allowing the employer to match job
requirements with the applicants qualities and the
applicant to match their personal needs with the position
requirements and the organizational culture.
Research on the effects of utilizing a RJP has demostrated
cost savings due to increased performance and job
survival; decreased levels in turnover by better meeting
employee expectations, improving their ability to cope,
providing a perception of honesty for the organization and
allowing them to self-select themselves for the position. In
addition, there is also increased post-employment job
satisfaction by giving them preparation to cope with the
demands of the position and making them feel that the
employer has been honest in their recruitment process.
Using Realistic Job Previews for recruitment
By providing applicants with an insight into the job
vacancy both the attractive and less attractive aspects of
the role many candidates decide for themselves that the
job is not for them. The Realistic Job Previews (RJP) helps
the applicant to really think through whether the new role

is for them whether they will fit into the organisation and
enjoy the role.
The Realistic Job Preview should be used to:
Help unsuitable applicants withdraw themselves before the
formal recruitment process takes place. Ensure such selfelimination is seen in a positive, brand aligned and
advisory way. These applicants may also be customers and
it is important to treat them with dignity.
The benefits of Realistic Job Preview
Realistic Job Previews can help with volume recruitment by
removing around 15% of applicants through clarifying and
clearly stating the job requirements, thereby increasing
the quality of applications received. It also reduces
resignation rate of recruits and ensures candidates finally
selected are likely to align well with the values and culture
of the organization.
SELECTION:
Selection is a process of measurement, decision making
and evaluation. The goal of a selection system is to bring
in to the organisation individuals who will perform well on
the job. To have an accurate and fair selection system, an

organisation must use reliable and valid measures of job

applicant characteristics. In addition, a good selection
system must include a means of combining information
about applicant characteristics in a rational way and
producing correct hire and no-hire decisions. A good
personnel selection system should add to the overall
effectiveness of the organisation.
Organisations vary in the complexity of their selection
system. Some merely skim applications blanks and
conduct brief, informal interviews, whereas others take to
resting, repeated interviewing, background checks and so
on. Although the latter system is more costly per
applicant, many benefits are realised from careful,
thorough selection. An organisation needs to have
members who are both skilled and motivated to perform
their roles. Either such members can be identified by
careful selection or attempts can be made to develop
them after hire by extensive training. Thus cursory
selection may greatly increase training and monitoring
costs, whereas spending more on the selection process will
reduce these post-hire expenses.
SELECTION PROCEDURE

Selection procedure employs several methods of collecting

information about the candidates qualifications,
experience, physical and mental ability, nature and
behaviour, knowledge, aptitude and the like for judging
whether a given applicant is suitable or not for the job.
Therefore, the selection procedure is not a single act but is
essentially a series of methods or stages by which
different types of information can be secured through
various selection techniques. At each step, facts may
come to light which are useful for comparison with the job
requirement and employee specifications.
Steps in Scientific Selection Process
(i) Job Analysis, (ii) Recruitment. (iii) Application Form, (iv)
Written Examination, (v) Preliminary Interview (iv)
Business Games (vii) Tests. (viii) Final Interview. (ix)
Medical Examination (x) Reference Checks. (xi) Line
Managers Decision. (xii) Job offer (xiii) Employment.
Job Analysis: Job analysis is the basis of selecting the right
candidate. Every organization should finalize the job
analysis, job description, job specification and employee
specifications before proceeding to the next stop of
selection.
Human Resource Plan: Every company plans for the
required number of and kind of employees for a future

date. This is the basis for recruitment function.

Recruitment: Recruitment refers to the process of
searching for prospective employees and stimulating then
to apply for jobs in an organization. It is the basis for the
remaining techniques of the selection and the latter varies
depending upon the former. It develops the applicants
pool.
Development of Bases for Selection: The Company has to
select the appropriate candidates from the applicants
pool. The company develops or borrows the appropriate
bases/techniques for screening the candidates in order to
select the appropriate candidates for the jobs.
Application Form: Application Form is also known as
application blank. The technique of application bank is
traditional and widely accepted for securing information
from the prospective candidates. It can also be used as a
device to screen the candidates at the preliminary level.
Many companies formulate their own style of application
forms depending upon the requirement of information
based on the size of the company, nature of business
activities, type and level f the job etc. Information is
generally required on the following items in the application
forms: Personal background information, Educational
attainments, Work experiences, Salary ,Personal details
and References.

Written Examination: The organizations have to conduct

written examination for the qualified candidates after they
are screened on the basis of the application blanks so as
to measure the candidates ability in arithmetical
calculations, to know the candidates attitude towards the
job, to measure the candidates aptitude, reasoning,
knowledge in various disciplines, general knowledge and
English language.
Preliminary Interview: The preliminary interview is to solicit
necessary information from the prospective applicants and
to assess the applicants suitability to the job. This may be
conducted by an assistant in the personnel department.
The information thus provided by the candidate may be
related to the job or personal specifications regarding
education, experience, salary expected, aptitude towards
the job, age, physical appearance and other physical
requirements etc. Thus, preliminary interview is useful as a
process of eliminating the undesirable and unsuitable
candidates. If a candidate satisfied the job requirements
regarding most of the areas, he may be selected for
further process. Preliminary interviews are short and
known as stand-up interviews or sizing-up of the
applicants or screening interviews. However, certain
required amount of care is to be taken to ensure that the

desirable workers are not eliminated. This interview is also

useful to provide the basic information about the company
to the candidate.
Business Games: Business games are widely used as a
selection technique for selecting management trainees,
executive trainees and managerial personnel at junior,
middle and top management positions. Business games
help to evaluate the applicants in the areas of decisionmaking identifying the potentialities, handling the
situations, problem-solving skills, human relations skills
etc. Participants are placed in a hypothetical work situation
and are required to play the role situations in the game.
The hypothesis is that the most successful candidate in
the game will be the most successful one on the job.
Group Discussion: The technique of group discussion is
used in order to secure further information regarding the
suitability of the candidate for the job. Group discussion is
a method where groups of the successful applicants are
brought around a conference table and are asked to
discuss either a case study or a subject-matter. The
candidates in the group are required to analyses, discuss,
find alternative solutions and select the sound solution. A
selection panel then observes the candidates in the areas

of initiating the discussion, explaining the problem,

soliciting unrevealing information based on the given
information and using common sense, keenly observing
the discussion of others, clarifying controversial issues,
influencing others, speaking effectively, concealing and
mediating arguments among the participants and
summarizing or concluding apply. The selection panel,
based on its observation, judges the candidates skill and
ability and ranks them according to their merit. In some
cases, the selection panel may also ask the candidates to
write the summary of the group discussion in order to
know the candidates writing ability as well.
Test: Psychological tests play a vital role in employee
selection. A psychological test is essentially an objective
and standardized measure of sample of behavior from
which inferences about future behavior and performance
of the candidate can be drawn. Objectivity of tests refers
to the validity and reliability of the instruments in
measuring the ability of the individuals. Objectivity
provides equal opportunity to all the job seekers without
any discrimination against sex, caste etc. standardization
of test refers to uniformity of the total behavior of the
prospective employee on the job.

Types of Test: Tests are classified into six types. They are
Aptitude tests, Achievement tests , Situational tests,
Interest tests, Personality tests and Multidimensional
testing.
Aptitude tests: These tests measure whether an individual
has the capacity or latent ability to learn a given job if
given adequate training. Aptitudes can be divided into
general and mental ability or intelligence and specific
aptitudes such as mechanical, clerical, manipulative
capacity etc.
Emotional Quotient (EQ): Most of the organizations
realized that emotional involvement and commitment of
the employees determine their contribution to the
company rather than their intelligence quotient. As such,
emotional quotient (EQ) is used as important criteria in the
employee selection process.
Achievement Tests: These tests are conducted when
applicants claim to know something as these tests are
concerned with what one has accomplished. These tests
are more useful to measure the value of a specific
achievement when an organization wishes to employ
experienced candidates. These tests are classified into: (a)
Job knowledge test: and (b) Work sample test.

Situational test: This test evaluates a candidate in a similar

real life situation. In this test, the candidate is asked either
to cope with the situation or solve critical situations of the
job.
Interest tests: These tests are inventories of the likes and
dislikes of candidates in relation to work, job, occupations,
hobbies and recreational activities. The purpose of this test
is to find out whether a candidate is interested or
disinterested in the job for which he is a candidate and to
find out in which area of the job range/occupation the
candidate is interested. The assumption of this test is that
there is a high correlation between the interest of a
candidate in a job and job success. Interest inventories are
less faked and they may not fluctuate after the age of 30.
Personality Tests: These tests prove deeply to discover
clues to an individuals value system, his emotional
reactions and maturity and characteristic mood. They are
expressed in such traits like self-confidence, tact,
emotional control, optimism, decisiveness, sociability,
conformity, objectivity, patience, fear, distrust, initiative,
judgment dominance of submission, impulsiveness,
sympathy, integrity, stability and self-confidence.

Other Tests:
Cognitive Ability Tests: These tests measure mathematical
and verbal abilities. Popularly known tests of this category
include Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT).
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: this is a comprehensive
test including general information, arithmetic, similarities,
vocabulary, picture completion, picture arrangement,
object assembly and similar items.
Wonderlic Personnel Test: This test includes perceptual,
verbal and arithmetic.
Polygraph Tests: The polygraph is an instrument that
records changes in breathing, blood pressure, pulse and
skin response associated with sweating of palms and plots
these reactions on paper.
Multi-dimensional Testing: However, the need for multiskills is being felt by most of the companies consequent
upon globalization, competitiveness and the consequent
customer-centred strategies. Organization have to develop
multi-dimensional testing in order to find out whether the
candidates possess a variety of skills or not, candidates
ability to integrate the multi-skills and potentiality to apply
them based on situational and functional requirement.

Employment Interview:
Final interview is usually followed by testing. This is the
most essential step in the process of selection. In this step,
the interviewer matches the information obtained about
the candidate thorough various means to the job
requirements and to the information obtained through his
own observation during the interview.
Various Types of interviews: 1.Priliminary Interview 2.Core
Interview 3.Decision-Making Interview
1.Priliminary Interview: Informal Interview & Unstructured
Interview
Informal Interview: This is the interview which can be
conducted at any place by any person to secure the basic
and non-job related information. the interaction between
the candidate and the personnel manager when the
former meets the latter to enquire about the vacancies or
additional particulars in connection with the employment
advertisement is an example of informal interview.
Unstructured Interview: In this interview, the candidate in
given the freedom to tell about himself by revealing his
knowledge on various items/areas, his background ,

expectations, interest etc. Similarly, the interviewer also

provides information on various items required by the
candidate.
2.Core interview: It is normally the interaction between the
candidate and the line executive or experts on various
areas of no knowledge, skill, talent etc. this interview may
take various forms like: Background Information Interview,
Job and Probing Interview, Stress Interview, Stress
Interview, Group Discussion Interview, Formal and
Structured Interview, Panel Interview & Depth Interview.
Background Information Interview: This interview is
intended to collect the information which is not available in
the application blank and to check that information
provided in the application blank regarding education,
place of domicile, family, health, interests, hobbies, likes,
dislikes and extracurricular activities of the applicant.
Job and Probing Interview: This interview aims at testing
the candidates job knowledge about duties, activities,
methods of doing the job, critical/problematic areas,
methods of handling those areas etc.

Stress Interview: This Interview aims at testing the

candidates job behaviour and level of withstanding during
the period of stress and strain. The interviewer tests the
candidate by putting him under stress and strain by
interrupting the applicant from answering, criticising his
opinions, asking questions pertaining to unrelated areas,
keeping silent for unduly long periods after he has finished
speaking etc. stress during the middle portion of the
interview gives effective results. Stress interview must be
handled with utmost care and skill. This type interview is
often invalid, as the interviewees need for a job and his
previous experience in such type of interviews may inhibit
his actual behaviour under such situations.
Group Discussion Interview: There are two methods of
conducting group discussion interviews, viz. group
interview method and discussion interview method. All the
candidates are brought into one room, i.e., the interview
room and are interviewed one by one under group
interview. This method helps a busy executive to save
valuable time and gives a fair account of the objectivity of
the interview to the candidates. Under the discussion
interview method, one topic is given for discussion to the
candidates who assemble in one room and they are asked
to discuss the topic in detail. This type of interview helps

the interviewer in appraising certain skills of the

candidates like initiative, interpersonal skills, dynamism,
presentation, leading, comprehension, collaboration etc.
Interviewers are at ease in this category of interview
because of its informality and flexibility. But it may fail to
cover some significant portions of the candidates
background and skills.
Formal and Structured Interview: In this type of interview,
all the formalities, procedures like fixing the value, time,
panel of interviewers, opening and closing, intimating the
candidates officially etc. are strictly followed arranging and
conducting the interview. The course of the interview is
preplanned and structured, in advance, depending on job
requirements, the questions for discussion are structured
and experts are allotted different areas and questions to
be asked. There will be very little room for the interviewers
to deviate from the questions prepared in advance in a
sequence.
Panel Interview: A panel of experts interviews each
candidate, judges his performance individually and
prepares consolidated judgment. This type of interview is
known as panel interview. Interviews for middle level and

senior level managers are normally conducted by the

panel of experts.
Depth Interview: In this interview, the candidate would be
examined extensively in core areas of job skills and
knowledge. Experts test the candidates knowledge in
depth. Depth interviews are conducted for specialist jobs.
Information technology brought significant developments
in the selection process of employees. The vital
development is on-line interview.
3.Decision-Making Interview: After the candidates are
examined by the experts including the line managers of
the organization in the core areas of the job, the head of
the department/section concerned interviews the
candidates once again, mostly through informal
discussion. The interviewer examines the interest of the
candidate in the job, organization, reaction/adaptability to
the working conditions, career planning, promotional
opportunities, work adjustment and allotment etc. the
Personnel Manager also interviews the candidates with a
view to find out his reaction/acceptance regarding salary,
allowances, benefits, promotions, opportunities etc. The
head of the department and the personnel manager
exchange the views and then they jointly inform their

decision to the chairman of the interview board, who

finally makes the decision about the candidates
performance and their ranks in the interview. Most of the
organizations have realized recently that employees
positive attitude matters much rather than employees
skills and knowledge. Employees with positive attitude
contribute much to the organization. Hence the
interviewers look for the candidates with the right attitude
while making final decision.
Medical examination: Applicants who have crossed the
above stages are sent for a physical examination either to
the companys physician or to a medical officer approved
for the purpose.
Reference checks: The applicant is asked to mention in
his application form the names and addresses of two or
three persons who know him well.
Final approval: The shortlisted candidates by the
department are finally approved by the executives of the
concerned department. Employment is offered in the form
of appointment letter mentioning the post, the rank, the
grade, the date by which the candidate should join and
other terms and conditions in brief.

HR Interview
The goal of an HR interview is to determine the potential
job performance of an applicant based on the answers that
they give to questions. The HR interview is excellent for
jobs that will require applicants to have communication
skills. It will also allow the company to obtain important
information that is related to the client. During the HR
interview, the applicant will be able to demonstrate how
much they know about a particular task.
The HR interview is designed to make sure the best
candidates are selected. The interview will also allow the
human resources department to determine if the applicant
can work well with the other employees. However, there
are a number of disadvantages to the HR interview
process. The evaluations that are made by the HR
department will often be subjective. The decision on
whether or not they will hire the applicant is generally
made during the first few minutes of the conversation. The
rest of the interview is used by the HR department to
determine if the decision is valid.
There are a number of ways that can be used to make the
HR interview more successful. The use of stereotypes

should be reduced as much as possible. Sex and race

should not play a role in the selection process of the
company. Studies have shown that interviewers who do
not have an advanced knowledge of the job are much
more likely to use stereotypes than those who do
understand the job requirements.
The questions that are asked during the interview should
always be related to the job. When applicants are asked
questions which are not related to the job, this can
damage the credibility of the company. To solve these
problems, it is important for a company to make sure they
train their employees, especially those who will be
interviewing applicants. The interviewer must have
interpersonal skills. They should not make quick decisions
about those they interview, and they should never use
stereotypes. The emphasis should never be placed on any
one characteristic, especially if the job requires the
applicant to be skilled in multiple areas.
Reliability of the Interview:
In the interview context, reliability is consensus, or
agreement, between two interviewers on their assessment
of the same candidates. This is called Interrater Reliability.
Research shows that it is rather weak.

Similarity Error: Interviewers are positively predisposed to

candidates who are similar to them (in hobbies, interests,
personal background). They are negatively disposed to
candidates who are unlike them.
Contrast Error: When several candidates are interviewed in
succession, raters tend to compare each candidate with
the preceding candidates instead of an absolute standard.
Thus an average candidate can be rated as higher than
average if he or she
comes after one or two poor candidates and lower than
average if he or she follows an excellent candidate.
First Impression Error: Some interviewers tend to form a
first impression of candidates rather quickly, based on a
review of the application blank or on the first few moments
of the interview. Thus, this impression is based on
relatively little information about the candidate.
Nevertheless the initial judgment is resistant t change as
more information or contradictory information is acquired.
In addition, the interviewer may choose subsequent
questions based on the first impression, in an attempt to
confirm the positive or negative impression.

Traits Rated and Halo Error: Halo error occurs when either
the interviewers overall impression or strong impression
of a single dimension spreads to influence his or her rating
of other characteristics. For instance, if a candidate
impresses the interviewer as being very enthusiastic, the
interviewer might tend to rate he candidate high on other
characteristics, such as job knowledge, loyalty and
dependability. This is especially likely to happen when the
interviewer is asked to rate many trait

RECRUITMENT
Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower sources. It involves the
creation of a pool of available human resources from-which the organisation can draw when it
needs additional employees. Recruiting is the process of attracting applicants with certain skills,
abilities; and other personal characteristics to job vacancies in an organisation. According to
Denerley and Plumblay (1969), recruitment is concerned with both engaging the required number
of people, and measuring their quality. It is not only a matter of satisfying a company's needs, itis
also an activity which influences the shape of the company's future. The need for recruitment may
arise out of: (i) vacancies due to promotion, transfer, termination, retirement, permanent
disability, or death; (ii) creation. of vacancies due to business expansion, diversification, growth,
and soon.
Recruitment has been regarded as the most important function of personnel administration.
Unless the right types of people are hired, even the best plans, organisation charts and control
systems will be of no avail. A company cannot prosper; grow, or even survive without adequate
human resources. Need for trained manpower in recent years has created a pressure on some
organisations to establish an efficient recruitment function.'
RECRUITMENT PURPOSE

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially qualified candidates to meet
organizational need. Its specific purposes are to:
Determine the present and future requirements of the organisation in conjunction with the
personnel planning and job analysis activities.
Increase the pool of job candidates with minimum cost.
Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the number of under qualified
or overqualified job applicants.
Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected, will leave the
organisation only after a short period of time.
Meet the organisation's legal and social obligations regarding the composition of' its workforce.
Start identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates.
Increase organisational and individual effectiveness in the short and long term.
Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting. techniques and sources for all types of job
applicants.

RECRUITMENT POLICY
Recruitment policy may involve a commitment to broad principles such as filling vacancies with
the best qualified individuals. It may embrace several issues such as extent of promotion from
within, attitudes of enterprise in recruiting its old employees, handicaps, minority groups, women
employees, part-time employees, friends and relatives of present employees. It may also involve
the organisation system to be developed for implementing recruitment programme and
procedures. A well considered and pre-planned recruitment policy, based on corporate goals,
study of environment and the corporate needs, may avoid hasty or ill-considered decisions and
may go a "long way to man the organisation with the right type of personnel. A good recruitment

policy must contain the following elements:

Organisation's objectives - both short term and long term.
Identification of the recruitment needs.
Preferred sources of recruitment.
Criteria of selection and preferences.
The cost of recruitment and financial implications of the same.

A recruitment policy in its broadest sense involves a commitment by the employer to (i) find the
best qualified persons for each job; (ii) retain the best and most promising of those hired; (iii)
offer promising opportunities for life-time working careers; and (iv) provide programmes and
facilities for personal growth on the job.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
To be successful, the recruitment process must follow a number of steps. These are:
Defining the job
Establishing the person profile
Making the vacancy known
Receiving and documenting applications
Designing and using the application form
Selecting
Notification and final checks
Induction.

SOURCES OF MANPOWER SUPPLY

Once the job analysis is completed and the job specification or behavioural competencies are
identified, the next stage is to consider how to attract people who meet the requirements. A key

decision is about whether to recruit internally or externally.

Before an organisation actively begins recruiting applicants, it should have a knowledge of the
sources of supply and methods of tapping them. The sources of supply do not remain constant but
vary from time to time. The sources of supply of manpower can be divided into two groups internal and external sources. Internal sources relate to the existing working force of an
enterprise while external sources relate to the employment exchanges, colleges, institutes, and
universities. The particular sources and means by which workers are recruited vary greatly. It
depends upon management policy, the types of jobs involved, the supply of labour relative to
demand, and labour market. In deciding which recruitment source to use, consider (a) the nature
and size of the company; (b) the level of vacancies to be filled up; (c) the number of vacancies to
be filled up; (d) budget allocation; and
(e) the time period to fill the vacancy.
Internal Sources: Internal sources are the most obvious sources. These include personnel already
on the pay-roll of an organisation, i.e., its present working force.

Case Study 1:
Powermat, Inc. has encountered difficulty over the last few years in filling its middle-management
positions. The company, which manufactures and sells complex machinery, is organised into six
semi-autonomous manufacturing departments. Top management believes that it is necessary for
these departmental managers to know the product lines and the manufacturing process, because
many managerial decisions must be made at that level. Therefore, the company originally
recruited employees from within. However, they soon found that employees elevated to the
middle-management level often lack the skills necessary to discharge their new duties.

A decision then was made to recruit from outside, particularly from educational institutes with
good industrial management programmes. Through the services of a professional recruiter, the
company was provided with a pool of well qualified management graduates. Some of them were
hired and placed in lower management positions as preparation for advancement to the middlemanagement jobs. They all left the company, however, within two years of their recruitment.
Management reverted to its former policy of promoting employees from within and experienced
basically the same results as before. Faced with the imminent retirement of employees in several
key middle management positions, the company decided d to call in a consultant who could
suggest solutions.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the problem of recruiting in this company?
2. If you were the consultant, what would you recommend?

SELECTION PROCESS
Recruitment and selection are the two phases of the personnel practices and procedures
complimentary to each other. Recruiting consists of whatever activity is necessary to bring in
enough applicants for specific positions so that there is opportunity for real selection. Recruiting
is done mainly through three common sources i.e., advertisement, employment exchanges or
private employment agencies, and present employees. In addition, educational institutions,
labour unions, casual applications and deputations are also utilised. After identifying the
potential applicants, the next step taken is to evaluate their experience and qualifications for
making a selection. As has been quite often said, selection is essentially a process of picking out
the best suited personnel for the organisation's requirements.
The selection of unskilled labour or of semi-skilled labour for particular jobs does not cause much
of a problem and therefore, an elaborate selection procedure is not required for it. But for

supervisory and higher levels and specialist jobs, particularly in the public undertakings, private
companies and industries, the need for a sophisticated selection procedure has been felt and is
now being introduced. The selection practices and procedures vary from one organisation to
another, depending upon the situation and needs of the organisation, as well as the level on which
the selection is made.
Generally the selection activities will begin with an initial screening interview and conclude with
the final employment decision. Usually, the selection process consists of seven steps: (I) initial
screening interview, (2) completion of the application form, (3) employment tests, (4)
comprehensive interview, (5) background investigation, (6) physical examination, (7) final
employment decision. Each of these steps represents a decision point requiring some affirmative
feedback for the process to continue. Every step in the selection process tries to expand the
organisation's knowledge about the applicant's background, abilities and motivation, and it
increases the information from which decision makers will make their predictions and final
choice.
An important technique in selection is the use of application blanks in which the questions are
structured and determined in advance. The main items of information requested on application
blanks are the name, address, age, marital status and dependents, education, experience, and
references. Other items on the application blanks vary considerably from one organisation to
another and from job to job.
These application blanks serve the dual purpose of providing preliminary information about the
candidate and aids the interviewer by opening up areas of interest and discussion. An application
blank serves the following purpose:
They provide the candidate's first formal introduction to the company.
They generate data in uniform formats and hence make it easy to make cross comparison of the
applicants.

The data so generated may serve as a basis to initiate a dialogue in the interview.
Data in the application blank can be used for purposes of analysis and research in personnel
Though the information sought in application blanks may vary according to the level of the
position and the organisation, most application blanks seem to contain personal data, marital
data, physical data, educational data, employment data, extra-curricular data, and references.
Formal application blanks are of two kinds:
1. Preliminary application blanks which seek only information on the personal and educational
qualifications and experience of the applicant, help the company to decide whether a candidate
qualifies in the first round. These are used for short-listing the candidates for subsequent
selection..
2. The comprehensive application blanks seek very detailed information from applicants who
have been short-listed in a preliminary screening. The purpose of this application blank is to
develop a comprehensive profile of the applicant and identify areas that would have to be further
explored in the interview to assess the suitability of the applicant to the job.
SELECTION PROCEDURES
While selection procedures must satisfy a number of requirements, according to Roe - and
Greuter (1989), it is important that they fulfill four main functions:
Information Gathering: This involves generating information about the organisation, the job,
career paths, employment conditions on the one hand; and, on the other, about candidates,
including their experience, qualifications and personal characteristics.
Prediction: Using information on past and present candidate characteristics as a basis for making
predictions about candidates' future behaviour.
Decision-Making: Using the predictions about candidates' future behaviour as a basis for making
decisions about whom to accept or reject.
Information Supply: Providing information on the one hand, about the organisation, the job, and

employment conditions to candidates, and, on the other, provides information about the results
of the selection process to the various parties involved - line managers, personnel specialists, and
others. While many options are available to organisations in designing and developing selection
procedures, an important consideration is that all the four functions should be carried out
adequately.
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1. Outline the steps in the personnel selection process.
2. What are the common interview problems? How can they be overcome?
3. Explain in some detail how you would go about analysing and evaluating the effectiveness of an
employee selection programme.
4. "Tests often do not reflect an individual's true ability." What are your views on this statement?

CASE 2:
The Bharat Paint Company recruits sales people to sell its products to retail stores. The company
looks for employees who have the energy, ability to work hard, and ability to speak
enthusiastically and intelligently about the company' products. In addition to skill; the company
expects flexibility, accuracy, and patience from its sales employees.
Nirmala has applied for a sales job. The interviewer who is going to interview her noted the
following entries on her application blank:
Nirmala is 26 years old.
She has completed one year of college education.
She has held two jobs since leaving school- clerk in a school (two years), and sent assistant in a
financial organization.
There is a gap of one year in between. Nirmala indicates on her application that sh was sick
during that period and was undergoing medical treatment.

Discussion Questions
1. If you were the interviewer, what objectives would you set for your interview with Nirmala?
2. How would you phrase your questions?