Chapter 4 Recruitment Human resources are the most important assets in an organization.

Recruitment often represents the first contact that a company has with potential employees. It is through recruitment that many individuals will come to know a firm and eventually decide whether they wish to work for it. A well-planned and well-managed recruiting effort will result in high-quality applicants, whereas a haphazard and piecemeal effort will result in mediocre ones. Quality employees cannot be selected when quality candidates do not know of job openings, are not interested in working for the company, and do not apply. Recruitment should inform qualified individuals about employment opportunities, create a positive image of the company, provide enough information about the jobs so that applicants can make comparisons with their qualifications and interests, and generate enthusiasm among the best candidates so that they will apply for the available positions. This includes candidates from outside of the organization (external recruitment), as well as current employees interested in different jobs within the company (internal recruitment). Recruitment costs includes hires at all levels (professional an d managerial hires are the most expensive ) and advertising costs, recruiter and candidate travel, agency/search firm fees, relocation costs, and the recruiters salary and benefits. Figure 4-1 depicts the recruitment process. It begins with a determination of the organizations current and anticipated (short- and long-run) personnel needs and a decision to reconcile supply and demand through recruitment. Regardless of whether the company elects to recruit from internal or external sources, its recruitment activities must be designed and implemented in a manner consistent with all relevant laws and regulations. Of particular significance are those laws and regulations that deal with the discriminatory employment practices.

4.1 External Recruitment 4.1.1 Determination of External Labor Markets and Recruiting Yield Individuals who have certain combinations of qualifications in common may be considered to belong to the same labor market. Labor market classifications vary on the personnel literature, but some common ones are blue collar, clerical, professional and technical, and managerial. In this classification scheme, blue collar includes skilled and semiskilled workers (e.g. auto assembly line), clerical includes office support personnel (e.g. secretary), professional and technical include specialists such as accountants, engineers, and scientists, and managerial includes professional management personnel. Because the various labor markets require different recruiting approaches, it is important that they be targeted in advance. Another important concern is the intensity of the recruitment effort for particular job openings. Historical recruitment data may help with this determination. As with many organizational activities, timing may also be important. A firm may bring together the historical data and a timetable to form a set of time-based recruiting goals. Also, recruiting yields (e.g. how many applications received) at various points should be monitored and compared to these goals to ensure that recruiting does not fall behind schedule.

4.1.2 Methods of External Recruitment Once the labor markets and recruiting yields have been determined, the best means for contacting, informing, and creating interest in potential applicants must be selected. The firm may select one or more recruitment strategies to accomplish this. A recruitment strategy consists of a plan combining recruitment personnel, resources, and recruiting methods. The recruiting strategy must be designed and implemented in a manner consistent with all relevant laws and regulations. Table 4-1 lists various methods employers use to contact external applicants. TABLE 4-1 EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT METHODS Professional or trade associations Print and electronic media advertisement Employee referral Public employment service Private employment agencies Executive search firms Special events Campus recruitment Vocational guidance counselors Self-initiated walk-ins and write-ins Computer data bases A. Professional or Trade Associations Many associations provide placement services for their members. These services may consist of compiling descriptive text on, or listings of, job-hunting members and their qualifications and providing access to members during regional or national conventions. Further, many associations publish or sponsor trade journals or magazines for their membership. These publications often carry classified advertisements from employers interested in recruiting their members. B. Print and Electronic Media Advertisements According to The Newspaper Advertisement Bureau, U.S., $2.18 billion is spent annually on help wanted newspaper advertisements. Employers use newspaper advertisements for many reasons. 1. Job openings can be announced quickly. 2. They are fairly inexpensive compared with other methods, and more than one position can be included in the same advertisement. 3. Newspaper advertisements offer flexibility to employers (freetimetable, blind advertisements). The composition of printed advertisements requires care because the attractiveness or cleverness of the advertisement may have a significant impact on its effectiveness. The composition of printed advertisements also requires care in order to ensure that no violation of EEO laws and regulations takes place.

Many companies are turning to special publications as a recruitment method. These include special employment issues of newspapers and magazines, regional and national employment newspapers, and company brochures for direct mailings. The use of electronic media in recruitment has also increased. Radio, cable TV, and electronic bulletin boards have all proven to be effective competition for the printed medium. C. Employee Referral ()

Often when current employees hear of job openings in their firm, they will inform their friends or relatives and encourage them to apply, that is employee referral. Such referrals were prohibited by many companies in the past to prevent close interpersonal relationships from unfairly affecting personnel actions. More recently, the hiring of family and friends of current employees through referral has become recognized as an inexpensive way to obtain loyal and dependable new employees and has been encouraged. But heavy dependence on employee referrals may cause problems, because employees are likely to refer someone fairly similar to themselves. Unfair hiring practices may result, too. D. Public Employment Service In US there are some agencies who list all those individuals out of work who are eligible and wish to receive unemployment compensation, as well as many first-time or less steadily employed job seekers. The forced nature of registration at such agencies in order to receive unemployment benefits has created a negative impression of their usefulness as a source of new hires. Public employment agencies are an excellent source of blue-collar and hourly workers. E. Private Employment Agencies Private employment agencies can serve as an excellent source of qualified applicants for a wide range of job openings. These agencies typically specialize in the skill level or profession of the applicants that they provide, and they charge fees to either the applicant or the organization (fee paid) for successful placements. Such fees vary from established fixed fees to percentages of the successful applicants yearly salary. F. Executive Search Firms Executive search firms direct their efforts toward finding high-level managerial and professional talent for organizations. Their fees are rather high (sometimes as much as 33 percent of a years salary for the successful applicant, plus expenses), but they provide a specialized service that may require personnel skills not available in the employers own personnel department. Further, it is often said that the best talent is already employed. To the extent that this is true, executive search firms may provide high-quality talent by raiding or luring employees away from other organizations. These firms are sometimes called headhunters because of this behavior. G. Special Events On occasion, an employer may wish to recruit applicants at special events such as job fairs. Job fairs may be sponsored by a chamber of commerce, educational institution, or government agency. These special events not only offer a potential source of applicants for the employer but also serve as a good public relations gesture. They represent an opportunity for an employer to become better known in the community and to link that employers name

with a well-respected sponsor. In addition, some organizations may hold open houses for the community. These open houses provide an opportunity to demonstrate community involvement, as well as to make employment possibilities more obvious and attractive to attendees. (take Motorola as an example) H. Campus Recruitment Many entry-level professional and managerial jobs require a college degree. Each year employers spend thousands of dollars to send recruiters to college campuses around the nation. Campus recruitment programs account for more than 50 percent of college-educated talent hired each year. Campus recruiters serve two functions. They act as the organizations representatives to individuals who typically have no firsthand knowledge of the firm, as well as first-level screening agents for the organization. Thus they are part of both the recruitment and the selection process. I. Vocational Guidance Counselors Vocational guidance counselors are professionals who assist individuals in selecting careers compatible with their abilities, interests, and values. They may be found in high schools, vocational schools, universities, government agencies, and occasionally may be affiliated with private employment agencies. Employers are typically most interested in contacting those counselors employed in high schools and vocational schools, since they come in contact with large number of young people. Making these counselors aware of employment and career opportunities available to their graduates within the organization can result in a significant number of applications for employment. In addition, school vocational guidance counselors may invite the firms representatives to discuss career opportunities with the student body at special events, such as career days, or in academic classes when appropriate. These individuals are significant links to many young people as they prepare to enter the workforce. J. Self-initiated Walk-ins and Write-ins Some applicants either write directly to the organization or simply present themselves to the personnel department to express an interest in employment. The willingness of an organization to consider such applications is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, they represent a good source for many unskilled or semiskilled applicants interested in full- or part-time work. Second, they provide an opportunity to add individuals to the applicant pool who might not have been targeted by other methods but may nevertheless be qualified for employment. Third, failure to accept such applicants may result in unintended discriminatory hiring practices K. Computer Data Bases Some firms have created a business opportunity for themselves by providing up-todate applicant data for employers. They solicit resumes from job candidates using the many methods available to employers. They enter applicant data into data bank, maintaining and updating it as necessary. An employer pays a fee for access to the data bank, reviews the applicant information, and contacts applicants who may be interested in employment. College recruiting has many types of computer data bases. The most common type, the resume data base, requires students to enter information about themselves into a data base that is then edited and made available to employers on a subscription basis by the company

providing the service. Another approach, electronic want ads, puts students and alumni in electronic contact with employers. A third type of data base, occupational and company description, provides information on companies and occupations at a general level. It may contain a description of a company, the name of its top personnel officer, sales and earnings, a rating of its salaries and benefits, and the outlook for the company and the industry, or it may simply contain information on many different private and public sector careers. 4.1.3 Enhancement On occasion, incentives are coupled with the use of some of the methods just discussed. For example, premiums or bounties may be paid to current employees for every successful applicant that they recommend. Similarly, incentives may be offered to applicants if they accept the job they are offered. Some firms offer a spouse relocation service to interest prospective applicants from dual-career families. Companies also appreciate the usefulness of housing assistance for employees as a recruiting tool. Other companies use their entire package of employee benefits as recruiting enhancements, including educational support, flexible work schedules, and prorated benefits for part-time workers. Dependent care programs that provide onsite or reimbursement for child care and elder care also being used to attract applicants. 4.1.4 Evaluation of External Recruitment Methods From the employers perspective, the quality of the recruitment program may be evaluated in different ways. Ultimately, all the methods of evaluation come down to the suitability of the applicants generated for the position. Suitability may be measured by he percentage of total applicants found to be qualified, the number of qualified applicants relative to the number of available positions, the quality of the subsequent performance for new hires, and the turnover rate of new hires overall and by recruitment source. Of course, the costs of recruitment must be considered for whatever measure is used in order to determine the efficiency of the overall progress and the various methods employed. Another important dimension in evaluating the success of the recruitment effort is the degree to which the applicant pool is representative of the community or the relevant labor market. The composition should provide an opportunity for participation for all types of individuals. 4.2 Internal Recruitment In order to better understand what internal recruitment is, it must be distinguished from internal staffing. Internal staffing involves the actual selection of employees for promotions, demotions, transfers, and layoffs. Such decisions are often made without the active and voluntary participation of current employees. Internal recruitment, on the other hand, involves generating active, voluntary participation. 4.2.1 Methods of Internal Recruitment A. Job Posting Job posting is the most common way. It requires that management post or otherwise circulate listings of available job openings. The listings provide information contained in the job description and job specification, as well as information concerning compensation. Employees indicate their interest formally, either through their immediate supervisor or through the human resource department. In some organizations, the job posting program is

coupled with a skills inventory, this inventory of employee skills, attributes, and performance data is used to match current employees with the requirements of the job openings. 4.2.2 Evaluation of Internal Recruitment The evaluation for internal recruitment focuses on the degree of employee participation, as well as the quality of those employees choosing to participate. Of equal importance, but more difficult to measure, is the impact of internal recruitment on employee moral. It allows employees to feel more a part of the organization and to express an interesting in advancement or improvement to management. 4.3 External and Internal Recruitment An organization needs to do carefully considered decision for choose internal applicants or external ones to fill positions. External recruitment provides an opportunity for future employees to represent all population groups at all levels in the organization. But internal recruitment need to consider the relationship between the use of it and EEO. Internal recruitment can work to the organizations advantages in a number of wa ys. Internal applicants know the organization better, have a performance history within the organization that can be examined, may be less expensive than external applicants (depending on the position). Unfortunately, two major problems may occur with internal recruitment: a lack of creativity in problem solving caused by organizational inbreeding and an increase in political behavior among employees if it is perceived that such behavior may secure a desirable job opening. 4.4 Summary and Conclusion

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