Course Name: BCOMH

Semester Number: V Semester

Subject Code: BCOMH-502
Subject Name: Human Resource Management
Faculty Name: Himanshu Upadhyay
Designation: Assistant Professor
Topics: Recruitment: Meaning, Process,
Factors Affecting, Sources and Purpose
 Introduction

Recruitment to Human Resource Acquisition Process

Unit: 2 - Subject Code: BCOMH-502-Subject Name: Human Resource Management 3

 Meaning of Recruitment
▪ Recruiting is the discovering of potential applicants for actual or
anticipated organisational vacancies.

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 Definitions of Recruitment
▪ According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of
searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to
apply for jobs in the organisation.”
▪ According to Dales S. Beach, “Recruitment is the
development and maintenance of adequate manpower
resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour
upon whom the organisation can depend when it needs
additional employees.”

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 Process of Recruitment
▪ Recruitment refers to the process of identifying and attracting
job seekers so as to build a pool of qualified job applicants.
▪ The process comprises of five interrelated stages, viz.:
▪ Planning,
▪ Strategy development,
▪ Searching,
▪ Screening, and
▪ Evaluation and control.
▪ The ideal recruitment programme is the one that attracts a
relatively larger number of qualified applicants who will survive
the screening process and accept positions with the
organisation, when offered.
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 Process of Recruitment conti..

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 1. Recruitment Planning
▪ The first stage in the recruitment process is planning.
▪ Planning involves the translation of likely job vacancies and
information about the nature of these jobs into a set of
objectives or targets that specify the:
a)Number of Contacts: Organisations, nearly always, plan to
attract more applicants than they will hire.
b)Type of Contacts: This refers to the type of people to be
informed about job openings.

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 2. Strategy Development
▪ Once it is known how many and what type of recruits are
required, serious consideration needs to be given to:
▪ 'Make' or 'Buy’:
▪ Firms must decide whether to hire less skilled employees and
invest on training and education programmes, or they can hire
skilled labour and professionals.
▪ Essentially, this is the 'make' (hire less skilled workers) or
'buy' (hire skilled workers and professionals) decision.
▪ Technological Sophistication:
▪ The second decision in strategy development relates to the
methods used in recruitment and selection.
▪ This decision is mainly influenced by the available technology.
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 Strategy Development conti..
▪ Where to Look:
▪ In order to reduce costs, firms look into labour markets most likely to
offer the required job seekers.
▪ Generally, companies look into the national market for managerial and
professional employees, regional or local markets for technical
employees, and local markets for clerical and blue-collar employees.
▪ How to Look:
▪ How to look refers to the methods or sources of recruitment.
▪ There are several sources and they may be broadly categorised into (i)
internal, and (ii) external.
▪ When to Look:
▪ An effective recruiting strategy must determine when to look-decide on
the timings of events-besides knowing where and how to look for job
applicants.
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 3. Searching
▪ Once a recruiting plan and strategy are worked out, the search process can
begin. Search involves two steps:
a) Source Activation:
▪ Typically, sources and search methods are activated by the issuance of an
employee requisition.
▪ This means that no actual recruiting takes place until line managers have
verified that a vacancy does exist or will exist.
b) Selling:
▪ A second issue to be addressed in the searching process concerns
communications.
▪ On one hand, organizations want to do whatever they can, to attract
desirable applicants.
▪ On the other, organizations must resist the temptation of overselling their
virtues.

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 4. Screening
▪ Screening of applications can be regarded as an integral part of
the recruiting process, though many view it as the first step in
the selection process.
▪ The selection process will begin after the applications have
been scrutinised and shortlisted.
▪ The purpose of screening is to remove from the recruitment
process, at an early stage, those applicants who are visibly
unqualified for the job.
▪ Effective screening can save a great deal of time and money.

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 5. Evaluation and Control
▪ Evaluation and control is necessary as considerable costs are incurred
in the recruitment process.
▪ The costs generally incurred are:
a) Salaries for recruiters.
b) Management and professional time spent on preparing job
description, job specifications, advertisements, agency liaison, and
so forth.
c) Cost of advertisements or other recruitment methods, that is, agency
fees.
d) Cost of producing supporting literature.
e) Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses.
f) Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain
unfilled.
g) Cost of recruiting suitable candidates for the selection process.
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Factors Influencing Recruitment

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 Sources of Recruitment

Internal Sources External Sources

a) Present Employees a) Professional or Trade Associations

b) Advertisements
b) Employee Referrals
c) Employment Exchanges
c) Former Employees
d) Campus Recruitment
d) Previous Applicants
e) Walk-ins, Write-ins and Talk-ins

f) Consultants

g) Contractors

h) Displaced Persons

i) Radio and Television

j) Acquisitions and Mergers

k) Competitors

l) E-Recruiting
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 Internal Sources

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 1. Present Employees
▪ Promotions and transfers from among the present employees can
be a good source of recruitment.
▪ Promotion to higher positions has several advantages.
i. It is good for public relations;
ii. It builds morale;
iii. It encourages competent individuals who are ambitious;
iv. It improves the probability of a good selection, since information on
the individual's performance is readily available;
v. It is cheaper than going outside to recruit;
vi. Those chosen internally are familiar with the organisation; and
vii.When carefully planned, promoting from within can also act as a
training device for developing middle-level and top-level managers.

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 Present Employees conti..
▪ Promotion can be dysfunctional to the firm as the advantage of
hiring outsiders who may be better qualified and skilled is
denied.
▪ Promotion, to be effective, requires using job posting, personnel
records, and skill banks.
▪ Job posting is not followed for senior positions which are
generally filled with people hired from outside.
▪ Examining personnel records may help discover employees
who are doing jobs below their educational qualifications or skill
levels.
▪ Another way to recruit from present employees is transfer
without promotion.

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 2. Employee Referrals
▪ Employees can develop good prospects for their families and friends
by acquainting them with the advantages of a job with the company,
furnishing cards of introduction, and even encouraging them to apply.
▪ Some companies even offer "finders fees" in the form of monetary
incentives for a successful referral.
▪ When used wisely, referrals can be an effective way of recruiting.
Many prospects can be reached at a very low cost.
▪ Employee referrals include the possibility of inbreeding, manifesting
in groups of people quitting one firm and joining another.
▪ Employee referrals carry with them the cultural practices of the
previous firm.
▪ Employee referrals form cliques of their own, demand unacceptable
privileges and often threaten to quit if demands are not met.

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 3. Former Employees
▪ Some retired employees may be willing to come back to work
on a part-time basis or may recommend someone who would
be interested in working for the company.
▪ Sometimes, people who have left the company for some reason
or the other are willing to come back and work.
▪ An advantage with this source is that the performance of these
people is already known.

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 4. Previous Applicants
▪ Although not truly an internal source, those who have
previously applied for jobs can be contacted by mail, a quick
and inexpensive way to fill an unexpected opening.
▪ Although 'walk-ins' are likely to be more suitable for filling
unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, some professional openings
can be filled by applicants to previous jobs.

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 Advantages of Internal Recruitment
a) It creates a sense of security among employees when they are assured that
they would be preferred in filling up vacancies.
b) It improves the morale of employees, for they are assured of the fact that they
would be preferred over outsiders when vacancies occur.
c) It promotes loyalty and commitment among employees due to sense of job
security and opportunities for advancement.
d) The employer is in a better position to evaluate those presently employed
than outside candidates.
e) Time and costs of training will be low because employees remain familiar with
the organisation and its policies.
f) Relations with trade unions remain good.
g) It encourages self-development among the employees.
h) It encourages good individuals who are ambitious.
i) It encourages stability from continuity of employment.
j) It can also act as a training device for developing middle and top-level
managers.
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 Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment
a) There are possibilities that internal sources may “dry up”, and it may
be difficult to find the requisite personnel from within an organisation.
b) It often leads to inbreeding, and discourages new blood from entering
and organisation.
c) As promotion is based on seniority, the danger is that really capable
hands may not be chosen.
d) The likes and dislikes of the management may also play an important
role in the selection of personnel.
e) This method simply perpetuates the old concept of doing things that
creative problem solving may be hindered by the lack of new talents.
f) Some companies complain of unit raiding in which divisions compete
for the same people.

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 External Sources

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 1. Professional or Trade Associations
▪ Many associations provide placement services for their members.
▪ These services may consist of compiling job seekers' lists and
providing access to members during regional or national conventions.
▪ Many associations publish or sponsor trade journals or magazines for
their members.
▪ These publications often carry classified advertisements from
employers interested in recruiting their members.
▪ Professional or trade associations are particularly useful for attracting
highly educated, experienced or skilled personnel.
▪ In this source recruiters can zero in on specific job seekers,
especially for hard-to-fill technical posts.

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 2. Advertisements
▪ These constitute a popular method of seeking recruits.
▪ Want ads describe the job and the benefits, identify the employer,
and tell those who are interested and how to apply.
▪ For highly specialised recruits, advertisements may be placed in
professional/business journals.
▪ Newspaper is the most common medium.
▪ There are three important variables that influence the response rate
to advertisement; identification of the company, labour-market
conditions, and the degree to which specific requirements are
included in the advertisement.
▪ Experienced advertisers use a four-point guide called AIDA to
construct their advertisements.

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 Advertisements conti..
▪ Most experts are of the opinion that advertisements must
contain the following information:
i. The job content (primary tasks and responsibilities);
ii. A realistic description of working conditions, particularly if
they are unusual;
iii. The location of the job;
iv. The compensation, including the fringe benefits;
v. Job specifications;
vi. Growth prospects; and
vii.To whom one applies.

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 3. Employment Exchanges
▪ Employment exchanges have been set up all over the country
in deference to the provisions of the Employment Exchanges
(Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959.
▪ The Act applies to all industrial establishments having 25
workers or more each.
▪ The Act requires all the industrial establishments to notify the
vacancies before they are filled.
▪ These offices are particularly useful in recruiting blue-collar,
white-collar and technical workers.

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 4. Campus Recruitment
▪ Colleges, universities, research laboratories, sports fields and
institutes are fertile ground for recruiters, particularly the institutes.
▪ The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institutes
of Technology (IITs) are on the top of the list of avenues for recruiters.
▪ In some companies, recruiters are bound to recruit a given number of
candidates from these institutes every year.
▪ The campus recruitment is so much sought after by the recruiters
that each college, university department or institute will have to have
a placement officer to handle recruitment functions.
▪ Campus recruitment is often an expensive process, even if the
recruiting process eventually produces job offers and acceptances.

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 5. Walk-ins, Write-ins and Talk-ins
▪ Direct applications can also provide a pool of potential employees
to meet future needs.
▪ From employees' viewpoint, walk-ins are preferable.
▪ While direct applications are particularly effective in filling entry-level
and unskilled vacancies, some companies compile pools of potential
employees from direct applications for skilled positions.
▪ Write-ins are those who send written enquiries.
▪ Talk-ins are becoming popular nowadays.

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 6. Consultants
▪ Agencies in the profession are retained by organisations for
recruiting and selecting managerial and executive personnel.
▪ Consultants are useful in as much as they have nation-wide
contacts and lend professionalism to the hiring process.
▪ They also keep prospective employer and the employee
anonymous.
▪ Most consultants charge fees.

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 7. Contractors
▪ Contractors are used to recruit casual workers.
▪ The names of the workers are not entered in the company
records and, to this extent, difficulties experienced in
maintaining permanent workers are avoided.

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 8. Displaced Persons
▪ Siting and implementation of a project in an area would result in
displacement of several hundred inhabitants.
▪ Rehabilitating the displaced people is a social responsibility of
business.
▪ Such people are a source of recruitment, not only for the project
which caused the displacement, but also for other companies
located elsewhere.
▪ Rehabilitation of displaced persons is mandated by the
government, and the World Bank has made it a conditionality
for granting assistance to the concerned country.

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 9. Radio and Television
▪ Radio and television are used but sparingly, and that too, by
government departments only.
▪ Companies in the private sector are hesitant to use the media.
▪ Radio and television can be used to reach certain types of job
applicants such as skilled workers.

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 10. Acquisitions and Mergers
▪ When organisations combine into one, they have to handle a
large pool of employees, some of whom may no longer be
necessary in the new organisation.
▪ Consequently, the new company has, in effect, a pool of
qualified job applicants (although they are current employees).
▪ As a result of the merger or acquisition, however, new jobs may
be created as well.
▪ Both new and old jobs may be readily staffed by drawing the
best-qualified applicants from this employee pool.

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 11. Competitors
▪ Rival firms can be a source of recruitment.
▪ Popularly called ‘poaching’ or ‘raiding’, this method involves
identifying the right people in rival companies, offering them
better terms and luring them away.
▪ There are legal and ethical issues involved in raiding rival firms
for potential candidates.
▪ From the legal point of view, an employee is expected to join a
new firm only after obtaining a 'no objection certificate' from
his/her present employer.
▪ The ethical issue is more significant than the legal one.

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 12. E-Recruiting
▪ There are respective company websites devoted in some manner to job
posting activities.
▪ Currently, employers can electronically screen candidate’s soft attributes,
direct potential hires to a special website for online skill assessment, conduct
background checks over the Internet, interview candidates via
videoconferencing, and manage the entire process with web-based software.
▪ Companies benefit immensely through cost savings, speed enhancement and
extended worldwide candidate reach which the Internet offers.
▪ From the job seekers' perspective, the Internet allows for searches over a
broader array of geographic and company postings than was possible before.
▪ Broader exposure might result in many unqualified applicants applying for
jobs.
▪ Recruiters are likely to miss out many competent applicants who lack access
to Internet.

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 Advantages of External Recruitment

a) It will help in bringing new ideas, better techniques and improved methods
to the organisation.
b) The cost of employees will be minimised because candidates selected in
this method will be placed in the minimum pay scale.
c) The existing employees will also broaden their personality.
d) The entry of qualitative persons from outside will be in the interest of the
organisation in the long run.
e) The suitable candidates with skill, talent, knowledge is available from
external sources.
f) The entry of new persons with varied expansion and talent will help in
human resource mix.
g) Scope for resentment, heartburn and jealousy can be avoided by
recruiting from outside.

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 Disadvantages of External Recruitment
a) Orientation and training are required as the employees remain
unfamiliar with the organisation.
b) It is more expensive and time-consuming. Detailed screening is
necessary as very little is known about the candidate.
c) If new entrant fails to adjust himself to the working in the
enterprise, it means yet more expenditure on looking for his
replacement.
d) Motivation, morale and loyalty of existing staff are affected, if
higher level jobs are filled from external sources. It becomes a
source of heart-burning and demoralisation among existing
employees.

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 Purpose for Recruitment
a) Determine the present and future requirements of the firm in conjunction with
its personnel-planning and job-analysis activities.
b) Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.
c) Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the
number of visibly underqualified or overqualified job applicants.
d) Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected,
will leave the organisation only after a short period of time.
e) Meet the organisation's legal and social obligations regarding the composition
of its workforce.
f) Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be
appropriate candidates.
g) Increase organisational and individual effectiveness in the short term and
long term.
h) Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all
types of job applicants.
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