WH MBA

HRM

Recruitment
 Meaning
• The process of finding people to work for a
company
• The recruitment process includes analyzing
the requirements of a job, attracting
employees to that job, screening and selecting
applicants, hiring, and integrating the new
employee to the organization.
 Purpose of Recruitment

• Activities that will identify potential employees,

communicate job and organizational attributes
to them and convince them to apply
• Key to success is finding qualified individuals
who have knowledge, skills and abilities
(competencies) to do the job
• Effective recruiting will free managers to spend
more time and effort on other management
activities
 Recruitment Process
1. Decide on the objective for the recruiting
process
2. Identify the best sources for recruitment
3. Craft the recruitment message
4. Familiarize oneself with the job duties and
requirements of the position
In small business, managers are involved in
all stages. In large businesses, recruiters take
the lead
 Internal Recruitment
• Gives opportunities for promotion to
employees
• Word of mouth is simplest, but not always
most effective
• Job posting is most common formal method:
posting note on bulletin board, note in
company newsletter, or on company intranet
Other Methods of Sourcing Internal Candidates
• Employee inventory: a searchable database to
identify employees who meet certain job
requirements
• Performance appraisals or supervisor feedback on
candidates
 Pros and Cons of
Internal Recruitment
Pros:
– Most cost-effective
– Existing employees already familiar with company
– Employees motivated by opportunities for
advancement
– Managers have access to applicants’ past
performance
Cons:
– Sometimes companies want new ideas
– Need for diversity
 External Recruitment

• Source should be dictated by nature of the

job, location, and skill level needed
• Relevant labor market: location in which one
can reasonably expect to find a sufficient
supply of qualified applicants
 Advertising
Should use multiple sources and keep them up-to-date
• Newspaper is most popular (Sunday vs. weekday)
• Wall Street Journal or USA Today for high-level finance or
corporate jobs
• Downside is expense
• Bulletin boards at colleges, U.S. Department of Labor, or
professional organizations
• Internet
• CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com
• Company Web sites may contain a “Careers” link
• Cost is negligible
 College Recruiting

• Sending recruiters to college campuses to

attract employees right out of college
• Recruiters usually have multiple openings
• May speak to student organizations or alumni
groups
• Internships are sometimes offered to evaluate
performance and allow student to get to know
organization
 Employment Agencies and Search Firms
• May benefit small HR departments to make
recruiting process more efficient
• Public employment agencies provide career
guidance, testing, training, and placement for
free
• Private employment agencies provide job
search assistance for a fee
• Contingency recruiting agencies are paid a fee
or percentage of new hire’s salary upon
completion of search and placement
 Search Firms (cont’d)

• Retained agencies paid a retainer by

employer to conduct job search (also called
executive search firms or headhunters)
• On-demand recruiting services charge based
on time spent recruiting rather than per hire
 Other Recruitment Sources
• Professional Associations—often provide
placement services or job listings as a service
to members
• Temporary Employees may often become
permanent employee (temp to hire)
• Employee Referrals—employees can receive a
bonus if their referral is hired and many
referrals tend to have lower turnover and
greater job satisfaction
 Pros and Cons of
External Recruitment
• More costly than internal recruitment
• May upset existing employees if internal
applicants don’t get the job
• Give firm the opportunity to bring in
employees with fresh perspective
• Allows company to target specific
competencies that current employees may
not possess
Preparing Recruitment Advertisements

Creating a value proposition and branding will help

applicants differentiate one company from another
Recruitment value proposition should include:
– Information about job’s duties, working environment,
rewards
– Company’s corporate image and values
– Level of compensation and leadership development
opportunities
– Employer branding—how stakeholders perceive the
company
 Writing the Recruitment Message

• Convey the value proposition, brand, and

company-related information
• Include brief description of job and its
minimum requirements
• Individuals are attracted to jobs for which they
have more information
• Gear a high quality message to target audience
 Realistic Job Preview
• Balanced recruitment message will have the best
long-term results
• Realistic job preview (RJP) will enable applicants to
screen themselves out of application process
• RJP will help decrease turnover and increase
satisfaction of new hires
 Recruitment Follow Up
• Maintaining communication with
prospective employees conveys your
company’s interest in them
• Let each applicant know their status by
sending a personalized letter
• Measure effectiveness of recruitment effort
with yield ratios, cost-per-hire, time to fill,
and managers’ feedback
 Content of Recruitment Message
• Advantages of working for the organization
• Competencies sought
• Positive “story” about why employees would
want to work for company
• Cost leadership strategy: message may focus
on efficiencies and cost reductions
• Differentiation strategy: message may focus
on customer experience
 Choice of Recruitment Methods
• Word-of-mouth (employee referrals) is low-
cost
• Trade publications and Web sources target
individuals with specific backgrounds or skills
• More established firms have more formal
recruitment processes
• Succession planning and replacement charts
may help internal recruiting
 Managing Recruitment

• Smaller companies require managers take

lead in recruitment process
• Larger companies will have staffing
departments
• Companies should focus on specific job
information, reputation of company, and
compensation and benefits package
 Internal vs. External Recruiting

• Many companies attempt to fill position

internally before recruiting externally
• Too much focus on internal recruiting may
make the company too insular
• Too much focus on external recruiting will
make employees feel less valued and lead to
turnover
 Appeal of the
Recruitment Message

Not all applicants will focus on same things when

seeking a new job:
– Company’s culture
– Development of their careers
– Opportunities to create innovative products
– Values of work/life balance
– Tasks of the job itself
– Benefits and compensation level
 Recruitment Process
Can enable a company to track and screen applications and
resumes and search by identified KSAs
• Enterprise resource planning—enables a company to
integrate information from different functional areas of
the company
• Recruitment application package—links to company’s
Human Resource Management System
• Application service provider (ASP)—a company that hosts
software on its own Web site so company doesn’t need
to
 Other Impacts on Recruiting
• Computer skills required for all types of
jobs including manufacturing
• Global recruiting impacts recruiting
message as well as sensitivity to
country laws, norms and values—
method may vary by country
 Challenges to Truth-in-Hiring
• Employers trying to aggressively attract
employees in tight labor market may mislead
• Employees who are terminated may seek
recourse against former employers
• Job candidates may be lured away from
existing job with promises that fail to
materialize

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Ways to Reduce Truth-in-Hiring
Claims

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 Ethics and Regulatory Issues
• Code of ethics should be shared with applicants during
recruitment process
• Poaching (taking employees from competitors) may
backfire when new employees leave for the next best
offer
• Recruitment activities cannot discriminate, firms should
use multiple sources for applicants
• Recruiters should be trained on behavior and what
questions to ask job applicants
• Careful attention to recordkeeping of resumes and
applications
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